I bought this recording without a list of the songs, only knowing that it had Jobim, Gilberto, and Baden Powell on it. I own around 40 Bossa Nova CD's, and I have to say that this is one of the best I have. The first disc is all recordings of Jobim tunes and performances by Powell, while the second is mostly stuff by some samba troupe. The sound quality of the recordings could be better, and basically no personnel/date info is included, but even these shortcomings cant detract from the beauty of the music. If you're really into bossa nova, by all means buy this collection.

I love this cd. I've owned it for years, and it's always been one of my favorites from the first note of the first track on the first cd. This is a double disc set which features music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell, Joao Gilberto and on the second cd, you have escolas do Samba. Oh... speaking of the artists... credit should be given to Luiz Bonfa and Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto. But to address a previous review - they did NOT just rip these off from those albums. They came from the album "Jobim", a vinyl from 1977. It's possible the Getz/Bonfa albums among others were on the old Versalile album, but all of the songs - down to the song titles - are there. But there's no doubt in my mind that the songs were lifted from that old LP.

The sound quality on this one is suspect like the previous reviewer said, which is an immediate red flag. I'd like to say that's because in the case of the 'Bonfa' songs, they were recorded back in the early 60's and probably taken straight off the "Jobim" vinyl. Poor excuse though - because on the Bonfa album itself, the sound quality is infinitely better than on this one. What's more, this sounds more like someone was playing the original record pressing and had a tape recorder set up against the speaker. For heavens sake, some of the songs are listed as 1 track even though there are actually TWO (yes, the songs you don't find on the old Bonfa/Getz/Gilberto albums are on the "Jobim" album)! Anyways, this one's not mastered particularly well, so if you're looking for a crisp, pristine sound this isn't for you. But the actual, original music is quite good. When I hear the sounds, I think of the summer and beautiful places. Songs that I enjoyed the most were Samba De Amor, 3 Note Samba, Cupids and this might be my favorite version of Estrada Blanca. From Baden Powell's tunes, Deve Ser Amor is fantastic. This cd - when you hear it, you almost picture it playing on an old recordplayer.

There is very little information on the musicians included (yet another red flag about the legitimacy of this), so I'd advise those wanting more information about the artist to look up some original workings by Luiz Bonfa (specificaly, "Luiz Bonfa Plays and Sings Bossa Nova") and Getz/Gilberto's albums and of course, "Jobim". Mystery solved! Those are all the artists. I'd also recommend the music of Getz with one of my all time favorite guitarists, Laurindo Almeida. Otherwise on this album... there isn't any info! At any rate, I suppose I recommend this release because the songs are quality. The songs are a mainstay in my collection, and at a relatively cheap price (although it is almost twice as expensive now as it was when I first bought it years ago) considering finding the "Jobim" album will be incredibly difficult. Finally - there is a similar album, which has some of these Baden Powell tracks, and instead of Antonio Carlos Jobim, features Laurindo Almeida. Same style, and it is great too.

I HAVE TO TELL ALL OF YOU: 6 and 1/2 from the first 10 songs in CD 1 are nothing but pieces from "Luis Bonfa plays" and "Jazz Samba Encore!" and others, wrongly titled as Jobim's products. I don't understand that, since the first reviewer has bought so many bossa nova CDs, he still doesnt realize this fact.