Walter Wanderley

his rec's as himself are OK but i got one with Astrud Gilberto that is really great

Bossa Nova treads that fine line between being sweet as pie and being end-of-the-pier bland. I bought Novas Estruturas by Luis Carlos Vinhas the other day and was pleasantly surprised. Marcos Valle's Braziliance, for all its cool, just can't out of of the hotel lobby.

i like old Walt. the 60s Verve albums are very good (Rainforest, Batucada etc) - not heard any of his 70s ones (on CTI i think?). i think he did earlier ones in Brazil which may be less 'pop'. Bossa is often close to being cheesey, but i think Wanderley stays on the right side.

also recommended is Ed Lincoln (neither of them have very Brazillian sounding names), who's 'Cochise' is a dancefloor jazz classic (his other stuff is more like Wanderley but more groovy/cheesy and less straight bossa)