Celebrated American jazz and soul vocals paired with new Brazilian backing tracks! The Brazil Connection arrives just in time for the World Cup in Brazil. Award winning production duo, the Berman Brothers (Frank and Christian) found the original multi-track masters of songs from Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Sly & The Family Stone, The Isley Brothers and more. They then used state of the art separation technology from Science of Sounds to extract exquisitely pristine and detailed vocals. Once those were in the can they teamed up with Studio Rio for entirely new and authentic backing arrangements. Studio Rio is an all-star cast of Brazilian musical pioneers from the bossa nova and samba genres, including Roberto Menescal and Brazilian musical legend Marcos Valle. The results breath new life into the old standards, infusing them with Brazilian joie de vivre. They are at once joyful and timeless, seeming like never before heard alternate takes. It's as if the American recording artists all took a secret trip down to Rio back in the day. Definite summer soundtrack material.

• music label: Legacy Recordings 2014

reviewed by Señor Sueño Latino 06/2014