A vocals/guitar set-up with Leila Pinheiro and Nelson Faria can only be interesting. And it is! Guitarist Nelson Faria has the quality to inspire the performances of the musicians he's teamed up with. Even an experienced singer as Leila Pinheiro clearly benefits from his presence. On Céu e Mar her voice gains warmth from the refined guitar work of Nelson Faria.

Singer, pianist and composer Leila Pinheiro (1960, Belém) has been around for about thirty years, during which she sold over a million albums. She feels at her best in a bossa nova repertoire, although she doesn't shy away from different styles. Her unique voice touches the music with a nostalgic sentiment, one that seems to wake-up that mysterious feeling of saudades.

On Céu e Mar the duo chose for a nice selection of the Brazilian songbook. The accompaniment by Nelson Faria is, as always, spotless. He generously frames the performance of Leila but at the same time he attracts the attention with his beautiful sound and fine technique. Leila Pinheiro can't do anything else than to respectfully react to that six-string beauty. It's great to hear their interpretations of the sometimes forgotten classics. As always it's proven that the work of João Bosco is hard to touch. While listening to "Bala com Bala," one might feel a secret desire for the interpretation of its composer. It's an ungrateful job to sing Bosco's repertoire. "That Old Devil Called Love," a blues written in 1944 by Doris Fisher with lyrics of Allan Roberts, also struggles a bit with an apparent lack of spontaneity. But they still sound good; it's only because the other ten tracks on this CD are so highly enjoyable, that that the above mentioned remarks bubble up. The absolute highlights are the superb performed "Armadilhas de um Romance" and "O Amor É Chama." On these songs the singer and the guitarist form a perfect harmony, just like the sky and the sea (céu e mar). "Sucedeu Assim" is the most beautiful highlight. Love and respect trickles down from this performance of Jobim's bossa.

Of course the CD by these two musical mastodons was already a winner as soon as it was recorded. This is one of those albums that you can buy with your eyes closed!

You can visit both artists at their web sites: Leila Pinheiro and Nelson Faria.

K.S.