Bebel Gilberto

Personnel: Bebel Gilberto (vocals, background vocals); Carlinhos Brown (acoustic guitar, nylon-string guitar, berimbau, piano, keyboards, vibraphone, bongos, tabla, sound effects, background vocals); Cézar Mendes, Masa Shimizu, Pedro Baby (acoustic guitar); London Session Orchestra (strings); Dirceu Leite (flute, clarinet); Paulo Levi, Zé Luis Oliveira (flute); Grégoire Maret (harmonica); Didi Gutman (piano, keyboards, bass synthesizer, vibraphone, programming); Marius de Vries (piano, keyboards, agogo, programming); Joao Donato (piano); Guy Sigsworth (keyboards, drums, programming); Jorge Helder (acoustic bass, electric bass); Tito Duarte (upright bass, background vocals); Mauro Refosco (congas, bongos, cuica, shaker, surdo, percussion); Boghan Costa (congas, talking drum, cymbals, background vocals); Marcos Suzano (talking drum, cymbals, pandeiro, shaker, wood block, caxixi, hand claps, percussion); Marcelo Costa (pandeiro, surdo, wood block, percussion); Alexis Smith, Pascal Gabriel, Sean McGhee (programming); MASA, Miúcha (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Tom Elmhirst; Andy Bradfield; Sean McGhee.
Recording information: A R Studios, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Angel Studios, Islington, London, England; Frou Frou Central, London, England; Ilhas Dos Sapos Studio, Salvador De Bahia; Looking Glass Studios, New York, NY; Strongroom Studios, London, England; Studio Milk, London, England.
Photographer: Mario Testino.
Unknown Contributor Role: Léo Bit Bit.
Arrangers: Didi Gutman; Marius de Vries; Bebel Gilberto; Chris Elliott.
For her second studio album, Bebel Gilberto largely forgoes the electronic tinges of TANTO TIEMPO, in favor of a more straight-ahead bossa nova sound that often evokes the music of her father, the legendary vocalist/guitarist Joao Gilberto. On the breezy opener, "Baby," Gilberto lovingly adopts some of the vocal mannerisms of the song's writer, the renowned Brazilian troubadour Caetano Veloso, while gentle acoustic guitar guides the tune along. The majority of these songs, however, are penned (at least in part) by Gilberto herself. "Simplesmente" casts a dreamy keyboard-laden spell, while "O Caminho" is a melancholy, piano-driven number. Throughout the album, the focus remains on Gilberto's gorgeously smooth voice as she sings in both Portugese and English. BEBEL GILBERTO finds the vocalist easing even more comfortably into her family's musical heritage, and the result is a relaxed, confident set of songs.