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One of her best!

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 03/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Brazilian vocalist Maysa Matarosso was considered one of the best bossa nova singers of the early 1960s, although I think some of her "classic" work can be a little hard to wade through at times. Still, even I gotta admit that this album is a winner. I mean, her hair looks terrible, but that has nothing to do with the music inside, which is a dense, challenging mix of modern jazz styles. The opening track offers a cool, dark sound, reminiscent of Miles Davis's pre-fusion atonalities; then the band moves on to tightly crafted big band-ish material, inspired perhaps by the likes of Stan Kenton and other classical-influenced jazz modernists. Maysa's vocals are notably stronger and more concise than on her early work... She even busts out with some French chanson that sounds just like the real thing! Bossa-jazzers Erlon Chaves and Chico de Moraes are the principal arrangers, and their hands are steady and sure... So far this is the best of Maysa's early albums that I've heard... definitely worth checking out!"