Album: The Ipanemas, Que Beleza (Far Out)

With four albums behind them, and only the slyvoiced singer and percussionist Wilson das Neves left from the original Rio studio band, Que Beleza could resemble the scraping of a barrel more than the scraping of a gourd.

After all, how many trombone and guitar instrumentals do you need? But then – almost uniquely these days – the album gets better the longer it goes on, with four vocals by a remarkable samba singer called Aurea Martins whose voice suggests a cross between Virginia Rodrigues and Elza Soares.