SOUL & BOSSA   -   Lisa Ono

YEAR:  2007

LABEL:  Avex/Universal

TRACK LISTING:  For Once In My Life,  (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay,  You've Got A Friend,  Family,  Overjoyed,  Georgia On My Mind,  I Got You (I Feel Good),  Nada Mais/Lately,  I Can't Stop Loving You,  Unchain My Heart,  What's Going On

BONUS TRACK:  Eu Voce (for Asia only!)

IMPRESSIONS:  The current queen of bossa nova!  The word I've seen applied to this album which most fits is probably "dulcet".  Here we have Japanese/Brazilian bossa nova champ Lisa Ono singing mostly (but not all) covers of well-known songs.  My absolute favourite song on the album is Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" which is almost better than the original.  Surprisingly, Ono even transforms James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)" into a legitimate bossa nova song!  The only misstep on the album is her too-chirpy version of "Georgia On My Mind".  Other than that, this easy, laid-back bossa nova album sounds like a modern-day Astrud Gilberto recording. 

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  For Once In My Life,  (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay,  You've Got A Friend,  Family,  Overjoyed,  I Got You (I Feel Good),  Nada Mais/Lately,  Unchain My Heart,  What's Going On

FACT SHEET:  SOUL & BOSSA is Lisa Ono's 23rd album.  Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Lisa Ono moved with her family to Tokyo, Japan at the age of ten.  Since then she has spent half the year in Japan and the other half in Brazil.  She acts as something of an ambassador of Brazilian music ("MPB") to Japan.  Her father opened a Brazilian restaurant in Japan in which she sang mostly bossa nova and samba.  Ono recorded her first album ("CATUPIRY") in 1989 and has released about an album a year since then mostly in Portugese.  The Stevie Wonder song "For Once In My Life" was written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden.  Steve Cropper and Otis Redding wrote "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay".  Carole King wrote "You've Got A Friend".  Stevie Wonder wrote "Overjoyed" and "Lately"; the latter song was here adapted by Romero Bastos.  Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael wrote "Georgia On My Mind" (and NOT Johnny Mercer).  James Brown wrote "I Got You (I Feel Good)".  Don Gibson wrote "I Can't Stop Loving You".  Bobby Sharp and Teddy Powell wrote "Unchain My Heart".  "What's Going On" was written by Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye and Renaldo Benson.  "Family" was written by Lisa Ono and Bill Cantos.