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Performer: Vinícius de Moraes
Distributor: Caroline Distribution

Notes: This is an excellent collection of 24 songs by poet and singer Vinicius de Moraes, including immortal classics like "Garota de Ipanema," "Minha Namorada," "Chega de Saudade," "A Tonga da Mironga," and "Samba da B�n�ao." Unlike most other collections of de Moraes' work, this album offers a good overview of songs composed and performed by him together with all three of his major composing partners: Toquinho, Tom Jobim, and Baden Powell. This, of course, makes Best Loved one of the best and most complete de Moraes collections yet released. For all fans of de Moraes' uniquely warm and comforting brand of bossa nova poetry, this CD is one of the best opportunities to listen to it. However, one cannot help but wonder why "Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar," surely one of the most beautiful declarations of love ever written, wasn't included. ~ Philip Jandovsky Part of Wrasse's ongoing attempt to recover and spread the greatest Brazilian music, this compilation of works by Vinicius de Moraes perhaps falls into a rarer category than some of the others. De Moraes is well known within Brazilian music circles as one of the primary movers in the bossa nova scene, as well as a major contributor to other styles. However, he's known primarily as a lyricist. Here, listeners get to hear him sing. Not that it's terribly difficult to find recordings of de Moraes himself, but his works were generally wildly successful internationally when performed by other artists, and those are the recordings that are better known (a case in point: "The Girl from Ipanema"). The bulk of the works here come from his most fertile period of work, from the late '50s through to the early '70s, around the time of his departure from Brazil's diplomatic service. The songs sound somewhat rougher than the more familiar versions performed by other artists, but at the same time, there's a bit more urgency in the voice of de Moraes that comes with the deal. The works are incredible for their own time or any other, and this album is one of the best there is to hear de Moraes in performance. Worth a spin for any fan of Brazilian music. ~ Adam Greenberg

The late Brazilian poet, playwright, journalist, and diplomat Vinicius De Moraes was also, almost incidentally, one of the fathers of bossa nova. While producing his celebrated 1954 play, ORFEU DA CONCEICAO (later filmed as BLACK ORPHEUS), de Moraes was introduced to composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, and the two forged a songwriting cottage industry that produced some of the earliest and most enduring bossa nova classics, such as "Girl from Ipanema" and "No More Blues." Before his death in 1980, de Moraes co-wrote hundreds of sambas and bossa novas performed by artists like Joao Gilberto, Chico Buarque, and Toquinho.

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