Various Artists Nicola Conte Presents Viagem Review

2008 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of bossa nova and this 15-track tribute to seminal, if now largely forgotten, Brazilian-accented and jazz samba-influenced cuts proves to be a sparkling start to the birthday celebrations. Compiled by Italian acid jazz innovator and eclectic champion of all things stylish and laid back, Nicola Conte – a recommendation in itself – Viagem offers prime examples of the hi-octane jazz-influenced bossa nova and African-tinged samba that made Brazil the global centre of all that was musically chic, sophisticated and oh-so-cool for an all too brief period in the Sixties.

Sourced from the Sao Paulo-based RGE, Som Mairoa and Fermata labels, this is sizzling stuff indeed with every track a pleasure. Tenório Jr's pacey Nebulosa opens proceedings with a piano line that ripples through your body like a double shot of espresso injected straight into your veins. Don't panic, the warm, blessed-out Samadhi from the same keyboard master will bring you gently back down at the album's close. Tenório Jr also makes his presence felt in Wanda Sá's persuasively tongue-in-cheek take on the Tom Jobim-penned classic, Vivo Sonhando.

And talking of classics: era-defining Canto de Ossanha gets a bright, brisk harmony-laden brush-up courtesy of Trio Maraya while the delightfully named Claudia & Brazilian Octopus slice into Albanese/Pereira's magnificently upbeat Gosto de ser como Sou with vivaciously cheeky panache.

Sublimely bridging bossa nova and jazz, the Zimbo Trio's Zimbo Sambo is a gift for jazz-dance purists (and the rest of us, too, for that matter). Ditto a hypnotically addictive take on the Jorge Ben anthem, Vamos embora uau from the Bossa-Jazz Trio.

And there's lots more here! Just one complaint, however: nice packaging but a little more background on individual tracks and artists wouldn’t go amiss.

This is the first volume in a DJ-compiled series of bossa nova discs from Far Out Recordings this year and it's hard to imagine that any will be better than this one. Go on, treat yourself.