by Scott Yanow
It is a bit ironic that guitarist Laurindo Almeida found himself in the 1960's jumping on the bossa-nova bandwagon a bit late for he had actually pioneered the movement a decade earlier. The Brazilian guitarist plays well enough on the 11 bossa tunes included on this out-of-print Lp (mostly originals plus covers of &The Girl From Ipanema,& &Manha De Carnaval& and &Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars&) but the arrangements (which sometimes utilize the whistling of Jack Marshall, George Field's harmonica and flutist Harry Klee among others) are commercial and overly concise; all but two of the songs are under three minutes. Irene Kral's two vocals (quite early in her career) are a plus and the music is quite pleasing but there are no surprises.