Karrin Allyson has combined with a group of excellent players to create an extraordinary CD that's nothing less than a samba/bossa nova pleasure cruise. She's tracked 14 tunes by songwriters of the likes of Jobim, Chico Buarque, Rosa Passos and Vinicius de Moraes, and performs them in excellent Portuguese as well as English. Her vocals are a revelation: She brings a distinctive approach to this material; her interpretations are incredibly simpatico. Listen to the directness and musicality of her take on the Jobim classic "Desafinado." Her handling of "Imagina" shows her total grasp of the cinematic quality of this Jobim-Buarque original. For sheer, breathless romanticism, take a spin through Allyson's languid cover of Rosa Passos' "Outono (Stay)." Her Portuguese is wonderful, Rod Fleeman's guitar solo is Rio soulful, and Paul Williams' English lyrics are truly the language of love. —Philip Van Vleck