Most of this album is wonderful, with great performances by Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, and Shirley Horn. Gal Costa is good, but she lets the quality of her voice waver a bit too much at times. Jon Hendricks is a bit obnoxious on his tracks, and while I have the deepest respect for Jobim as a composer and musician, his vocals (especially in his later years) seem a bit forced and melodramatic--totally against the underlying feeling of the music he helped give birth to, bossa nova. Pick it up if you love everything about Jobim and bossa nova, but casual listeners should probably pass and get the verve compilations of Gilberto/Getz/Jobim.

You can't base your opinion about this album, just by listening to it..you've got to watch the live performance, it's absolutely magnificent. You get to experience such an emotional power put upon all the music.. I think that's what makes this album so great: the way Jobim, Gal and the others give themselves to their sound, it's all just so true, so natural.. Jobim's performance on Luiza made me sit still from the first note till the very last one faded.. and I'm afraid since I listened (and watched) to it, I was nevermore able to enjoy another version, althoug I recognize that, for instance, Chico Buarque's one is quite good.. but there's no way anyone will ever love that song as Jobim did, and he let it all out so truthfully that we might as well just love the man and his legacy, which includes this wonderful encounter.. Well, buy it if you want to feel it; don't, if you're planning on examining the work until the last detail..

This cd could be titled "Herbie Hancock and friends", as the pianist initiated and leaded this beautiful project. Some tracks are a bit disappointed, but other are completely worth it: Chega De Saudade, whistled and sang by the great Jon Hendricks, is a real wonder....as is the last tune, Girl from Ipanema, on which the same Hendricks sings "Take the A-train".

This was also for me a good opportunity to discover the funk drummer Harvey Mason on true jazz tunes.

And last, but not least, the album cover is BEAUTIFUL :-)

Jobim recorded this live album with friends. While the music is excellent on the whole, Gal Costa's performance is really annoying, although I like Gal Costa very much. She even has a double album (Gal Costa Canta Tom Jobim) where she only things Jobim and she does it perfectly, but I think she had a bad day when this album was made.