From Tributes and reunions to Sequels and rising stars
2024’s Best of Brazilian Music Showcase! The top singles, albums, videos, and stories!
Our exclusive end-of-year list for “the world’s best music” is an annual tradition at Connect Brazil, so welcome to The Best of Brazilian Music Showcase for 2024!
Each year, we highlight the top fan-favorite songs, stories, and memorable milestones of the past 12 months.
And you’ll enjoy the stories that accompany each one.
- Listen to The Best of Brazilian Music ’24 broadcast on The Sounds of Brazil, from December 29, 2024, to January 12, 2025.
- Join our e-letter list and read a current issue.
- Watch for our Rhythm & Romance Music Showcase on February 1st!
2025 marks the 25th anniversary of our streaming station, and that’s where you are sure to hear next year’s ‘Best of’ albums, singles, and musicians!
Happy listening,
Scott Adams, Midday Host
The Sounds of Brazil’s streaming station at Connectbrazil.com
2024’s Best of Brazilian Music Showcase
Ryan DeHues | The Actress from Private Parlour (Bossa Vibes)
Choosing the top spot for our Best of Brazilian Music list is always a thoughtful decision. Fairly, several artists are always in consideration. But Ryan DeHues’s story, from young protégé to the introductory track for JAZZIZ magazine’s Brazilian CD sampler merits our selection.
A bold decision to seek out the Parisian neo-bossa duo Double Françoise, and then stay to record with them turned out to be a career-defining move. And it serves as inspiration for any aspiring musician with a dream.
Yes, 2024 has been a year to remember for Bossa Nova crooner Ryan DeHues. Catch up with him here to discover “what’s next”.
Ryan DeHues
Buy it here: From the Artist via Bandcamp | Amazon Music | Apple Music | Spotify
Listen free: XODO | Bossa Nova Love Affair | New Music: Brazil | Brazilian Jazz | Our Streaming Station
Sergio Mendes | ‘The Christmas Song’
We said adeus to Sergio Mendes this year. Brazil’s greatest musical ambassador got his start by playing Rio’s Zona Sul hot spots in the late 50s. He was part of the legendary Bossa Nova at Carnegie Hall concert in 1962. Always entrepreneurial, Sergio knew the importance of opportunity. “I either get to open or close the show. And I’m not accompanying anyone,” he said.
Sergio opened.
In 2020, Director John Scheinfeld’s long-rumored documentary In The Key Of Joy made its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on January 18th.
The documentary includes archival footage and family photos. Interviews with Mendes’s contemporaries provide insight, plus music from throughout his career. It’s a great read. You can buy the DVD below.
Somehow, Sergio Mendes always seemed larger than life. His musical presence has become his eternal legacy. And for his millions of fans worldwide, he could create personal memories from a single song or a simple smile. And that will never change. That’s why we picked this video: A Christmas song from a Japanese fan. Thank you, Sergio.
Sergio Mendes
- Browse our collection of Sergio Mendes stories here.
- Discover our review of the Sergio Mendes documentary, In The Key Of Joy.
Buy In The Key Of Joy: Amazon (DVD)
Buy the album Celebration: A Musical Journey: Amazon (2-CD, Streaming)
Listen free: Bossa Nova Love Affair | Brazilian Jazz | BossaNovaville | The Sunday Brazilian Brunch | Our Streaming Station
Arkadia Jazz All-Stars | Joanne Brackeen – ‘Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars’ from Thank You Tom Jobim
It’s fair to say that this jazzy digital album, Thank You, Tom Jobim had a running start for 2024.
Released in time for Antonio Carlos Jobim’s January birthday, this five-star collection also started the countdown to his centennial year in 2027. “Another Jobim compilation”, you say? Not at all. The Arkadia Jazz All-Stars features accomplished artists who have earned more than 40 Grammy Awards. Many are NEA Jazz Masters.
If you like depth and diversity in your Brazilian jazz you are sure to be pleasantly surprised. Read our exclusive review here and then listen here.
Before you know it, January will be here again.
The Arkadia Jazz All-Stars
Buy it here: From Arkadia at Bandcamp | Amazon Music | Apple Music | Spotify
Listen free: Brazilian Jazz Instrumentals | Brazilian Jazz | New Music: Brazil | Our Streaming Station
Connect Brazil Recommends:
2024’s Best of Brazilian Music Showcase
Lee Ritenour & Dave Grusin | Songs from Brasil
Guitarist Lee Ritenour and pianist Dave Grusin are old friends who have much in common. Do you know that both are classically trained? And both love Brazilian music. It began when Dave invited Lee to sit in on an early Grusin album.
They took that idea to another level in 1985 with Harlequin, an album that remains epic in the annals of Brazilian jazz as America’s introduction to the passionate voice of Ivan Lins.
For many, the first two minutes and twenty seconds of Harlequin‘s title song forever changed our perceptions of Brazilian music. Forty years on, this album is both reflective and inspiring.
Lins returns with his ‘Vitoriosa’, and throughout, Brasil shines with vocalists Tatiana Parra, Celso Fonseca, and guitarist Chico Pinheiro, plus harmonicist Grégoire Maret.
Settle in with this live concert video with Lee, Dave, and Tatiana performing several songs from Brasil.
Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin
- Buy Here | Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify | Bandcamp
Listen free: Brazilian Jazz | New Music: Brazil | Bossa Nova Love Affair | Women Of Brazilian Song | Our Streaming Station
Eliane Elias | ‘At First Sight’ from Time And Again
2024 has been one of those years. An Elias Year. Brazil’s popular pianist and vocalist has released a new album pretty much every other year since 2009.
Could it be that’s where the title Time And Again comes from? Each of these eight songs revolves around a different concept of time. From reflection to yearning to the uniquely elusive meaning of Brazilian saudade, Eliane Elias sings stories amplified by this album’s underlying theme.
Top music reviewers have found Time And Again irresistible. So, we’ve rounded up their best comments, opinions, and insights to help you learn more about one of Eliane Elias’s most compelling recordings.
- Read Connect Brazil’s Review Roundup of Time And Again here.
- Read Connect Brazil’s exclusive review of Eliane Elias’s Time And Again here.
- Browse all recent Eliane Elias stories here.
Eliane Elias
Website | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter
- Buy it here: From Candid | Amazon Music | Apple Music | Spotify
Listen free: Brazilain Jazz | New Music: Brazil | Women Of Brazilian Song | Sunday Brazilian Brunch | Bossa Nova Love Affair | Our Streaming Station
Ella & The Bossa Beat | ‘Why Don’t We’ from Paradise
Four years. That’s all it’s taken for Ella & The Bossa Beat to create its own space in the ever-expanding universe of Brazilian music.
Back then, we wrote: “Ella Borges’s musical roots are generational. Her father, Magrus is as talented a percussionist and composer as any on the planet. Together, they share a talent for remarkable music-making.”
Today, that’s an understatement. Their third album Paradise marks a turning point for Ella Borges as a performer and songwriter. 2024 saw Ella & The Bossa Beat wow crowds from Rio to Sao Paulo to Milan and a brace of singles (including ‘Dindi’, plus ‘Areia’ and ‘Amanhecer’ with Toco), heralded the album’s arrival.
We sat down with Ella Borges, seeking answers to 10 questions we all want to know. It’s a personal and inspiring read that shows a bright future for Brazilian jazz.
- Read ’10 Questions with Ella & The Bossa Beat’ here.
- Catch up with our recent stories on Ella & The Bossa Beat here.
Events
- Ella & The Bossa Beat at Heidi’s Jazz Club in Cocoa Beach Fl, December 22, 2024
- Ella & The Bossa Beat at The Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, FL, February 20, 2025
Sounds
- Website | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Soundcloud
Buy it here: Amazon Music | Apple Music | Spotify
Listen free: XODO! | Brazilian Jazz | Women of Brazilian Song | Bossa Nova Love Affair | New Music: Brazil | Our Streaming Station
Connect Brazil Recommends:
2024’s Best of Brazilian Music Showcase
Antonio Adolfo | ‘Just One Of Those Things’ from Love Cole Porter
Antonio Adolfo is making history. The Dean of the Brazilian Piano continues his annual tradition of gifting Brazilian jazz fans like us with a new album. And by doing so, he’s curating an amazing collection of five-star recordings, each with its own focus.
This year, Love Cole Porter centers on Adolfo’s personal observations: “Since I was a child, the music of Cole Porter has been a part of the soundtrack of my life. His music also captured the hearts of Brazilians, especially in the city of Rio de Janeiro, where I was born and raised.”
Adolfo’s passion for performance is matched by the love he has for arranging. His group of world-class Brazilian jazz musicians is at the heart of this album. They lift Antonio Adolfo’s arrangements to an acoustic vibrancy that stands out, without drawing our attention away from Porter’s music. We all know the songs. But you’ve never heard them like this. Sensational.
There’s more (much more) to explore on Antonio Adolfo’s homepage.
Antonio Adolfo
Buy it here: Amazon Music | Antonio Adolfo Music
Listen free: Brazilian Jazz | Brazilian Jazz Instrumentals | New Music: Brazil | Our Streaming Station
JAZZIZ | Spring Issue 2024 – Brazil: Rio Rhythm
One of 2024’s most memorable moments was the arrival of the JAZZIZ Spring issue devoted to Brazilian Music.
The beating heart cover of Brazil: Rio Rhythm is symbolic, not only for the issue and its contents but also for the artists and albums that we love.
This special issue spotlights the latest from Ivan Lins, Eliane Elias, Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin, Antonio Adolfo, and Ed Motta. Discover Claudia Villela, and Hermeto Pascoal. Plus Daniela Soledade and guitarist Nate Najar, Sergio Mendes’s reedman Scott Mayo Luciana Sousa, Bebel Gilberto, and Ryan DeHues.
Brazil: Rio Rhythm is available in digital, and the print edition with the accompanying sampler CD.
JAZZIZ
Subscribe here: JAZZIZ Subscription Options
Listen free: Brazilian Jazz | New Music: Brazil | Women of Brazilian Song | Our Streaming Station
Laufey | ‘From The Start’ from Bewitched
It’s not a surprise that Laufey would appear in a Connect Brazil Showcase sooner or later. What’s surprising is that this Grammy-winning 25-year-old Icelander is making a Bossa Nova name for herself as easily as she has with pop and jazz.
A self-admitted Astrud Gilberto fan (“Bossa Nova is so great!”), Laufey burst onto our streaming station’s playlists with Typical of Me in 2021. Everything I Know about Love followed in 2022, and Bewitched and A Night at the Symphony in 2023. A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl was released on December 6th.
True, Laufey’s Bossas appear only sporadically on these albums, but her talent with jazz and pop is undeniable and always welcome.
Laufey
Buy Bewitched here: Amazon Music
Listen free: Cafe Copacabana | New Music: Brazil | Bossa Nova Love Affair | Sunday Brazilian Brunch | Our Streaming Station
Claudia Villela | ‘Cartas Ao Vento’ from Cartas Ao Vento
When it comes to the art of Brazilian jazz, only one word can truly define it. Improvisation. Improvisation is the balancing point for any jazz musician.
That’s where vocalist and arranger Claudia Villela thrives. It is also the reason that her album Cartas Ao Vento (Letters to the Wind) is one of 2024’s best Brazilian jazz albums.
Earlier this year, we wrote: “Villela’s new album easily embraces jazz, by illuminating the diversity and passion of Brazilian music.” Our wide-ranging interview with Claudia Villela reveals a very personal side of her artistry, to explain the spontaneous mastery of improvisation.
Claudia Villela
- Website | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | X (Twitter)
- Buy Here | Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify | Bandcamp
Listen free: XODO | New Music: Brazil | Women Of Brazilian Song | Our Streaming Station
2024’s Best of Brazilian Music Showcase
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