João Gilberto often gives his best performances before a live audience, where his guarded privacy is coaxed into the open by an enthusiastic public. Nonesuch’s success with its first Caetano Veloso album, released in 1986, was in many ways a precursor for Live in Montreux, and a welcome reminder that intimacy speaks most directly away from the clutter of a large production.

In Montreux, it was simply Gilberto and his guitar for accompaniment. Vulnerability and a wealth of interpretive subtlety mark the recording. These 11 tracks are a virtual Gilberto best-of collection, with classics by Jobim, Veloso, Ary Barroso, Chico Buarque, and others, along with several rarely heard songs certain to be embraced by Brazilian music fans throughout the world. Here is the ultimate proof, if more were needed, of the lasting impact, and continued musical vitality of one man and the music he helped create.

—Gerald Seligman