Top 5 Brazilian albums (any genre)

[BWV 1080]

Baden Powell - Os Afro Sambas (I actually slightly prefer Baden's remake to the original w/ Vinicius De Moraes)
Jobim - Stone Flower
Sepultura - Roots
Gil Gilberto - Rafavela
Banda Black Rio - Maria Fumaca

[ritter]

Very skewed towards bossa nova and its descendant MPB (musica popular brasileira), but this would be my list:


I'm a great fan of Elis Regina since before her untimely death, and this album contains one of her best creations, Joao Bosco's and Aldir Blsnc's O Bêbado e a Equilibrista.

[asin]B00000G9EP[/asin]A late (1978) live album by Elis, with another outstanding song, Querellas do Brasil (by Maurício Tapajós and, again, Aldir Blanc).

[asin]B00003IR39[/asin]Gal Costa gives wonderful renditions (recorded live) of Tom Jobim's hits. Highlights include Corcovado and A felicidade.

The husky voice of the mature Sarah Vaughan could not seem to be the most adequate for bossa nova, but the results are admirable. The Brazilian accompanists, led by Helio Delmiro on the guitar, are fantastic. Vaughan's renditions of e.g. Dindi and Double Rainbow (aka Chovendo na roseira) are really something.

Let me think of a fifth one  ...

And here is Elis in my favourite O Bêbado e a Equilibrista, with its beautiful, subtle political lyrics (you can turn on English subtitles on YouTube).

https://www.youtube.com/v/L-vLEgZTSTw

[vers la flamme]

Off the top of my head: