Walter Wanderley - see artist discography

Ernie Watts "Afoxe" (CTI, 1991)
A glossy collaboration between MPB superstar Gilberto Gil and North American jazz saxophonist Ernie Watts. Although on the whole this album is pretty overproduced and commercial, Gil's contributions actually include some of his better material for this time period. On the other hand, there's the overwrought soul vocals of Sharon Bryant, which fill about an equal amount of disc space. Iffy, but has its moments.

Paul Winter Sextet "Jazz Meets The Bossa Nova" (Columbia, 1962)
Saxophonist Paul Winter devoted a sizeable chunk of his career to promoting and exploring Brazilian (and later, African) music. Although he gets points for flying his band down to Rio and getting in on the Brazil action early in the game, this is much more of a standard-issue jazz album than it is a bossa nova crossover. In fact, it's mainly latin-jazz, and commonplace stuff at that, although on a couple of tracks, the drummer musters up a pretty good samba beat.

Paul Winter & Carlos Lyra "The Sound Of Ipanema" (Columbia, 1964)
Now, this is more like it! His accompaniment here is understated, though a bit staid. What makes this record so sweet is Carlos Lyra's gorgeous guitar and intimate vocals, as well as all the great songs he wrote. Sergio Mendes and Milton Banana sit in on piano and drums, respectively, and though Winter is slightly less swinging than the "authentic" bossa musicians, this is quite a nice little record. Recommended!

Paul Winter "Rio" (Columbia, 1965)
Here, Winter's explorations into bossa nova continue. But even with the contributions of Luiz Eca, Roberto Menescal and Luis Bonfa, this album is merely soporific, having settled into soft jazz. It lacks spark and sparkle.