If you buy this CD, just skip the first mediocre track, an over-produced instrumental medley, before listening to the entire album.
Here's a review I wrote on Amazon several years ago:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000G9AT/ref=m_art_li_4/102-9379332-7628919?s=music&v=glance&n=5174A masterpiece by Brazil's reigning princess of Bossa Nova, March 15, 1999
Reviewer: A music fan
Isso e Bossa Nova is, quite simply, one of the greatest interpretations of Bossa Nova classics ever recorded. For those of you not familiar, Bossa Nova is a style of Brazilian music that first developed and became very popular in the early 1960s. It was a dramatic turn in Brazilian music, which had been dominated by samba -- a relatively fast, multi-rythmic dance and party music. The earliest pioneers of Bossa Nova, influenced by American "cool jazz" tried to dramatically quiet down Samba while retaining its essential rythmic complexity. Bossa Nova crossed over to the U.S. in the 1960s, particularly through collaborations between American jazz musicians and the greatest Bossa Nova composers and musicians, such as Tom Jobim and Joao Gilberto. The center of gravity of Brazilian musical culture has moved on, but some musicians, like Leila, lovingly preserve and re-interpret Bossa Nova, just as many great singers in the U.S. continue to sing the great jazz "standards." Ironically, Leila has produced many other albums, but to my ears, many are "over-produced," sounding like 1970s jazz fusion. In this album, her producers pared down the accomanying musicians, letting Leila's voice and vision emerge with crystal clarity. What is so remarkable about this album is the combination of reverence for the great composers and the impact of Leila's profoundly personal, new interpretations. Her voice is crystal clear and pure; her pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese lyrics is playful (even if you don't understand a word of her language). Plus it simply swings -- it's one of the most rythmically moving collections I've ever heard -- while being very quiet and intimate. Two of my favorite singles are Sabe Voce and Samba de Pergunta. Sabe Voce is a beautiful monologue presumably by a poor person to a rich person about the nature of love. Samba de Pergunta is a beautiful, haunting, contemplative and mysterious bossa nova-samba about a woman who is disappearing into her own private thoughts. I can't tell you how beautiful this music is. I bought this CD about two years ago, and my musical education has ended here: I can play it over and over, only growing more fond of it, finding more subtleties in the poetry of the lyrics, the complexity of the poly-rythms and the sophistication of Leila's interpretation. This is one CD to purchase without hesitation and treasure for the rest of your life!