Ivan Lins is one of the most treasured and recorded Brazilian composers in the world and a melodist with few equals. The winner of four Latin Grammy Awards, Lins has recorded nearly fifty albums since 1970; they contain countless songs, notably “Madalena” and “Começar de Novo” (To Begin Again), that have become standards in his country. “Love Dance,” co-written with his longtime arranger, Gilson Peranzzetta, and lyricist Paul Williams, is Lins’s English-language classic.

Its performers include Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Mark Murphy, Shirley Horn, Blossom Dearie, Carmen McRae, George Benson, Nancy Wilson, Barbra Streisand, and Quincy Jones, who helped maneuver Lins’s U.S. breakthrough in the early ‘80s.

On September 15th, 2023 Resonance Records — the award-winning diamond of independent jazz labels — will release My Heart Speaks, the most extravagantly lush album of Lins’s career. Performing rare gems from his catalog, the composer is backed by the 91-piece symphony of Tbilisi, capital of the Republic of Georgia.

Kuno Schmid, the extraordinarily prolific Los Angeles-based composer and arranger, wrote the orchestral charts. One of Schmid’s fans was his legendary predecessor, Johnny Mandel, who earned one of his five Grammys for an arrangement of Lins’s “Velas,” featured on Jones’s album The Dude. Mandel called Schmid’s work “so good that I’m jealous.”

1. Renata Maria
2. The Heart Speaks (Antes e Depois) Dianne Reeves, Vocal
3. Não Ha Porque (There’s No Reason Why)
4. I’m Not Alone (Anjo de Mim) Tawanda, Vocal
5. Congada Blues
6. E Isso Acontece (And This Happens)
7. Easy Going
8. Corpos (Bodies)
9. Missing Miles Randy Brecker, Trumpet
10. Rio (Rio de Maio) Jane Monheit, Vocal
11. Nada Sem Você (Nothing Without You)

On an album that boasts appearances by Randy Brecker, Dianne Reeves, Jane Monheit, and an exciting newcomer, Tawanda, winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, Lins’s reedy, heartfelt voice (which is itself one of the iconic sounds of Brazilian pop) first brings us the lavishly luxuriant balladry of Renata Maria (about a dreamlike goddess) and the simply sumptuous The Heart Speaks (Antes e Depois) with Dianne Reeves, and then brings us the all-embracing warmth of Não Ha Porque (There’s No Reason Why) and the glistening I’m Not Alone (Anjo de Mim) with Tawanda (an English version of Lins’s classic “Anjo de Mim”).

Holding a feast of discoveries for Lins’s American fans, this highly innovative repertoire continues onward with the vibrant Congada Blues and the impassioned E Isso Acontece (And This Happens) and they are in turn backed by the smoothly exuberant Easy Going and the heavenly Corpos (Bodies) [which actually dates from the darkest years of Brazil’s military dictatorship], and they are in turn backed by the magically sophisticated Missing Miles (featuring Randy Brecker on trumpet, Rio (Rio de Maio) with Jane Monheit, coming to a close on the impassioned Nada Sem Você (Nothing Without You).

The inspiration for My Heart Speaks grew from Night Kisses, 2020’s tribute album of Ivan Lins songs by jazz reedman Eddie Daniels. Dave Grusin and Bob James joined the project, as did Schmid’s strings for The Harlem Quartet.

Lins’s core band on this album spans several countries. Josh Nelson is a Los Angeles-based pianist whose work was called “lyrical, harmonically rich, and elegant” in DownBeat. Uruguayan guitarist Leo Amuedo has been a fixture of Lins’s groups for over a decade. Cuban bassist Carlitos Del Puerto founded the Grammy-winning Latin band Irakere.

Musical Personnel:
Ivan Lins (vocals), Dianne Reeves, Jane Monheit, Tawanda (featured vocals), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Josh Nelson (piano), Leo Amuedo (guitar), Carlitos Del Puerto (bass), Mauricio Zottarelli (drums & percussion). With special thanks to the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra.

Ivan Lins - Renata Maria [Official Audio]

Official Purchase Link

Ivan Lins @ Instagram