Wendy Luck - See You In Rio (2006)

Since launching her career with a four-year engagement as lead vocalist and flutist with the N.Y.C.'s Rainbow Room Big Band and the Latin jazz ensemble Southern Exposure, Wendy Luck has built a fascinating career performing with some of jazz/avant-garde greats, including Don Cherry, Dave Holland, and Ornette Coleman. Having performed everywhere from Italy and Morocco to Greece, Egypt, and Israel, she's developed some serious wanderlust which has spilled over into her solo recordings. Her first two albums of originals were recorded in Egypt inside the Great Pyramid (The Ancient Key) and in temples along the Nile (The Ancient Journey). On See You in Rio, she shifts continents and sensibilities at the suggestion of pianist, producer, and arrangement Cliff Korman. Recording in Rio with the rhythm section of João Bosco's band and in N.Y.C. with percussionist Cyro Baptista and bassist Sergio Branda, Luck artfully mixes her soothing, laid-back and sensuous vocals and gentle flute melodies (sometimes on the same song, sometimes separately) on a set that includes a few lovely originals ("A Man Who Loves") but is mostly focused on wonderful indigenous compositions that truly define the magic of Brazilian music; some of the composers Luck covers are Joyce, Astor Piazzolla, Djavan, and Jobim. It's generally a low-key celebration, but it brings all the sultry, sun-splashed magic of the genre to life beautifully.