Samba Collection

Dutch guitarist Christian Sievert — part of the same Low Country bossa nova scene as Lars Albertsen and Nelson de Lamotte — debuted in 2002 with the straightforwardly titled Samba Collection. Perhaps surprisingly, Sievert wrote 9 of the 14 tracks; even more surprisingly, his originals are the better tracks on the album, far more interesting than the umpteenth renditions of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Agua de Beber" and Milton Nascimento's "Cravo e Canela." (The latter song does score points with Kaspar Winding's excellent clavinet work and some sterling percussion by Miguel Duarte.) Sievert's vocals are agreeably gruff and tossed off. Although he sounds nothing like João Gilberto, he sounds as if Gilberto is his biggest vocal influence, as a similar diffidence permeates his vocals. In true bossa nova style, the European jazz influences are present as well as the Brazilian ones; the fluid, fast-paced guitar solos on tunes like the hyperkinetic "Samba Sim" owe as much to the gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt as they do to carnival.