TITLE: Bossa Nossa
LABEL: self-released
Richmond’s Quatro Na Bossa specialize in bossa nova, the cool Brazilian style that brings a jazzy, poetic sensibility to samba rhythms. The band was founded by vocalist Laura Ann Singh and guitarist Kevin Harding in 2003, and they’ve stayed busy for 10 years with gigs local and national, teaching and private events. Bossa nova was all the rage back in the 1960’s; now it’s just one of the many influential musical styles Brazil has exported, and frankly it’s due for a revivial. On their second album, Quatro Na Bossa provide a bossa nova primer and a snapshot of where the band is at today. The album starts and ends (tracks 1 and 10) with superb interpretations of two classic compositions by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. The other standouts are 6 (made famous by Joao Gilberto) and the two originals, a Harding-composed instrumental (4) and one from the pen of Singh and Bio Ritmo’s Marlysse Simmons (they work together in two other projects, Miramar and Os Magrelos). Harding is a master of Brazilian guitar, always subtle and rhythmically propulsive. And Singh sings bossa nova as though she grew up on Copacabana; she’s actually a native of that Portuguese hotbed Kingsport, TN. Quality stuff here.
TOP TRACKS: 1 4 6 8 10
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 2 3 5 7 9
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