Chega De Saudade (1959)

"João Gilberto's debut album, 1959's "Chega De Saudade", was one of the most important bossa nova recordings, and credited by many as the album that launched bossa nova as a major popular music genre. The 12 songs introduce several of bossa nova's most beloved trademarks: breezy, soothing melodies and vocals; tight arrangements with seamless blends of clipped guitar strokes and light orchestration, and, of course, the bossa nova rhythm. This 2010 reissue adds a lot of bonus material, starting with 3 1959 Gilberto recordings from the film Orfeo do Carnaval, among them another classic, "Manha de Carnaval." Also included are 11 1957-59 Brazilian recordings by artists óther than Gilberto that are tightly or loosely aligned with the early bossa nova movement. Gilberto was involved in most, but not all, of these as a songwriter or guitarist (among them three versions of Gilberto's "Ho-Ba-La-La"). Those 11 enjoyable tracks show different slants on the early bossa nova sound." (Richie Unterberger, Allmusic)