Bossa nova is not unfamiliar to Diana Krall, but 2009's Quiet Nights is her first record devoted to the gently swaying rhythm. Teaming up again with arranger Claus Ogerman, who last worked with Krall on 2001's The Look of Love and who also frequently collaborated with bossa nova godfather Antonio Carlos Jobim, Krall winds up with a mellow, lazy album that recalls the relaxed late-night sophistication of Jobim's duet album with Frank Sinatra, which Ogerman also happened to arrange and conduct. It's not just the sound, it's the songs: how '60s standards like Bacharach/David's "Walk on By" sit next to three Jobim tunes, a song by Marcos Valle ("So Nice"), and a few American Songbook standards placed at the beginning, the better to ease listeners into purer bossa nova at the end.

Jane Duboc is an experienced singer and composer. Having worked with names such as Toninho Horta, Djavan and Sivuca, she has appeared on more than 100 albums. Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta composed several themes especially for her, and is an awarded professional. Since her childhood, she studied classical piano and acoustic guitar at the conservatory. At this time, she led several vocal and instrumental groups which were presented in school festivals, with good TV coverage. In March, 1996, together with saxophonist/conductor Roberto Sion, she inaugurated a major convention center in Japan, recording there the CD From Brazil to Japan, then touring all Japan.

Putumayo Presents: Brazilian Beat features 11 tracks that cover the spectrum of MPB, or Brazilian popular music, in its current forms. Of course, bossa nova and samba are here, virtually part of the nation's musical DNA by now. Some of it's not even Brazilian – BungaLove, for example, are Italian, but play perfectly convincing Brazilian music, while singer Monica da Silva was born in the U.S. yet manages a laid-back, suave groove on "Ai Então." There's plenty of Brazilian-flavored funk, with both Bruna Caram and Rogê carrying on and updating the '70s sound, adding more beats to the mix. What's apparent from this selection is that there is plenty of good Brazilian music around, building on the traditions that have been forged over the years, and that in artists like Tita Lima and Fino Coletivo the future is in sure hands.

After a six-year span since making her final recording for Concord, singer Eden Atwood's triumphant return to the studio exudes a confidence that some writers think was lacking in her earlier work. With first-rate arrangements by pianist Bill Cunliffe and a supporting cast including alto saxophonist and flutist Pete Christlieb, guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Darek Oles, drummer Joe LaBarbera, and percussionist Scott Breadman, Atwood delves into memorable tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim ("Meditation," "The Girl From Ipanema," and "He's a Carioca") as well as bossa nova treatments of Duke Ellington's overlooked gem "Don't You Know I Care?," Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is the Ocean?," and the Beatles' "The Fool on the Hill" with equal success…

Astrud Gilberto has never been properly anthologized by Verve Records; although they've released a number of compilations over the years, none of them have been definitive, and most of them have been rather skimpy. 1987's The Silver Collection, originally released only in Europe but later imported to North America, is an idiosyncratic selection. It omits "The Girl From Ipanema," her biggest hit, includes all 11 tracks from her 1965 release The Astrud Gilberto Album, and adds on a selection of singles and album tracks recorded from 1965 to 1970 with no particular logic. All that said, however, it's still one of the best compilations available of this idiosyncratic but brilliant singer's '60s material. Jazz purists turn up their noses at Gilberto, correctly pointing out her near total lack of technical ability. However, the Brazilian songbird's appealingly plain voice, with its deliberately wobbly pitch (the "desafinado" style celebrated in Antonio Carlos Jobim's song of that title), total lack of vibrato, and deadpan phrasing, is a delight for those attuned to its charms.

At the end of the 60s and early 70s Brazil was a dream. It was fashionable everywhere in Europe and therefore in France too. One thinks of "Samba Saravah" from the Un homme et une femme OST, Françoise Hardy and her record produced by Tuca, Isabelle Aubret and her "Casa Forte" or France Gall with "Zozoi". Three Brazilian musicians exiled in France, Edson Lobo (bass), Fernando Martins (piano) and Nelson Serra (drums) form the Trio Camara. They met a group of friends who loved Brazilian music, all professional musicians, but who wanted to remain anonymous, hence the name of the band: Les Masques (The Masks). Claude Germain (Les double six), José Bartel, Marie Vassiliu, Pierre Vassiliu… Indeed the singers forming Les Masques are from being unknown. In 1969 they entered Studio Davout with le Trio Camara to record "Brasilian Sound"…