This really is the stand-out track from Ed Motta's 2000 album, "As Segundas Inten��es Do Manual Pr�tico". On this album, and in albums since, Ed seems to span jazz-latin reluctantly with pop. The rest of the album, bar a couple of tracks, is a fairly straight forward pop affair, but the song writing on his albums since have been a lot more adventurous and in this vein, but nothing has matched it since.

This is another one of those latin songs that was translated to English for the benefit of those that never heard of Roberto Carlos or his original version of this very popular song (Detalhes). It is a beautiful yet tragic love song. I prefer the original, although this version's orchestration and vocals are very similar to the original.

I love this song, it reminds me why I love Brazilian music. Its very sexy, sultry and classically bossa nova. There about 50 versions, but this one I enjoy a lot. Any other recommendations?

So anyone who's seen The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou or City of God will recognize Seu Jorge as the handsome, dark-skinned actor with the gravelly voice. In Life Aquatic he plays Pele, the Brazilian safety officer on board Zissou's boat and the bard that plays Portuguese language covers of David Bowie songs. Although this is changing, even in Brazil he's better known as an actor than a musician. His second solo album (he used to be in a band called Farofa Carioca), Cru, was released last fall in France and was impossibly hard to find until recently. Tive Razao was the first release from this album and is fairly representative and is the shining peak as well. Based around an acoustic guitar riff and Seu Jorge's multi-tracked vocals, the song just floats in this melancholy haze like some of the best Chico Buarqu de Hollanda ballads. The production on this song (and the album) is much more sparse than the previous album, but much more original as well. Jorge even uses what I think is a theremin to add a slight spookiness to the preceedings. The lyrics mean something like, "I had an excuse" or "I had a reason."

I didn't entirely get Ed Motta until I listened to this album. For me this is his perfect mix of sacred and profane styles, his soul and his jazz. Only his third album and his first two employ retro styled instrumentation, it sounds like a 1970s session from Luther Vandross without the glitzy disco production. Ed's voice sounds so great paired with the Fender Rhodes which dominates this album. The arrangements are complicated, unpredicatble but entirely accessible. Entre e Ouca, which means "Enter and Listen," has a mid-tempo disco feel with a bouncing bass line, sharp guitar lines and that rhodes. I like his newer, more challenging albums as well, but this sound immediatly speaks to me like the best crafted pop songs.