Ivan Lins: My Heart Speaks

Brazilian singer and composer Ivan Lins has recorded about fifty albums since 1970 but has not recorded one in over ten years. Now, this multiple Latin Grammy-Award winner remerges with the superb and inviting My Heart Speaks, perhaps the most impressive and lush recording of his long, distinguished career. An important feature here is the extraordinary collaboration with the 91-piece Tblisi Symphony Orchestra, the most popular orchestra from the Republic of Georgia in Eastern Europe, under the direction of Maestro Kakhidze; that is where the "lush" element of this beautiful recording comes to the fore.

Producer George Klabin, founder of Resonance Records, hired his "long-time friend and brilliant arranger" Los Angeles-based composer and arranger Kuno Schmid to serve as co-producer and arranger on all eleven songs. Klabin then assembled an all-star group of players featuring pianist Josh Nelson, Brazilian guitarist Leonardo Amuedo, bassist Carlitos del Puerto and Brazilian drummer Mauricio Zottarelli. Special guest trumpeter Randy Brecker, on the tune "Missing Miles," accompanying Lins on wordless vocals, rounds out the cast for the instrumentals of each track. Special guest vocalists Dianne Reeves, Jane Monheit and, winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, rising star Tawanda were added later.

On tap here is a wonderful vocal jazz album with a repertoire of bossa nova, samba and other Brazilian tones warmly expressed by Lin's hushed voice on eight gorgeous songs from his extensive catalog—all voiced in Portuguese on such songs as the buoyant opener "Renata Maria," "Nao Ha Porque," "Congada Blues," "Easy Going" and others.

The guest artist performances begin with the title track "The Heart Speaks," featuring the dynamic Dianne Reeves on an absolutely lovely melody which reaches right into the heart. Singer Tawanda demonstrates why she is a talent to look out for, with an emotional performance on the love song "I'm Not Alone" while the incomparable Jane Monheit is the last guest vocalist, appearing on "Rio (Rio de Maio)" with another standout performance.

When one hears the music of Ivan Lins' My Heart Speaks it may become clearer that Lins is not just singing but feeling emotion, intensity and love, telling a story through the music. As penned in the notes by James Gavin, "Lins sings with a still-boyish vulnerability and yearning," after numerous legacy albums "None of them is as sumptuous as this." That about says it all; this is indeed one heart-felt gem of an album.

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