Vinicius Cantuaria: Tucuma

The cultural resurgence of bossa nova in America is a good thing: Brazilian pop music is simply too beautiful to be forever branded "Girl From Ipanema"-style kitsch. It's fitting, then, that star Brazilian songwriter Vinicius Cantuaria has for the past several years called New York home. His simple, gorgeous music has resonated with hipsters, as evinced by the great line-up that plays on his latest record, Tucuma. Working with Cantuaria are such jazz stalwarts as guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Joey Baron, violinist Erik Friedlander, fellow Brazilian Nana Vasconcelos, Brazilian transplant Arto Lindsay, occasional bassist Sean Lennon, and, on one track, Laurie Anderson. Yet the album rarely strays from Cantuaria's sedate voice and uncomplicated acoustic-guitar work, achieving with "Amor Brasileiro" and "Maravilhar" an emotional directness that transcends the language barrier, though the lyrics are printed in both Portuguese and English. It's on "Sanfona" and "Aviso ao Navegante" that Cantuaria's more individualistic, non-traditional influences stand out: The songs feature some surprisingly snazzy elements, including cool synthesizer work on the former and Friedlander's haunting cello on the latter. Tucuma is less exciting than Cantuaria's last album, Sol Na Casa—which featured a lot of input from composer Ryuichi Sakamoto—but it's also more organic. Tucuma's tracks range from breezy originals to a couple of collaborations with Lindsay, whose own recent output has been steeped in the bossa nova, but the album is clearly Cantuaria's show. Even when he's teamed with Vasconcelos for a cover of Caetano Veloso's "Joia," it's his mellow voice that stays on top.