(Vocal Jazz, World Fusion, Brazilian Jazz) Astrud Gilberto - Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour - 2001, MP3, 320 kbps

Like Nico, Astrud Gilberto's everywoman voiced has always had a polarizing effect on critics and fans alike. While her take on bossa nova is less than reverent and decidedly lightweight, the warmth and approachability she brings to each performance is stunning. Verve's lovingly compiled -- and blissfully affordable -- Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour is as solid a collection of her heady mixture of samba, jazz and pop as you're likely to find. Twenty songs, including the classic "Girl From Ipanema," wash in like waves from the warmest of oceans, carrying with them the soft, reverb-drenched soundtrack to summer. If the tropical heat of "Berimbau," the lazy and lonely pulse of Burt Bacharach's "Trains and Boats and Planes" and the upbeat swing of "Wish Me a Rainbow" don't instantly take the drudgery of your day away, then consider yourself hopelessly bitter. Highly recommended.

Astrud Gilberto - vocals
Marty Paich - arranger, conductor
Gil Evans - arranger, piano
Eumir Deodato - arranger
Joao Gilberto - guitar, background vocals
Toots Thielemans - guitar
Bud Shank - flute
Phil Bodner, Bill Hammond, Hubert Laws, Seldon Powell, Stan Webb - woodwinds
Stan Getz - tenor saxophone
Bernie Glow, Jimmy Nottingham, Ernie Royal, Marvin Stamm - trumpet
Ray Alonge, Earl Chapin, Tony Miranda - French horn
Wayne Andre, Warren Covington, Urbie Green, Tony Studd - trombone
John Horn - tuba
Walter Wanderley - piano, organ
Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Donato - piano
Ron Carter, Tommy Williams, Joe Mondragon - bass
Claudio Sion, Grady Tate - drums
Alan Douglas, Bobby Rosengarden - percussion