Joyce - Encontro Marcado (1969/2014)

Damn – what a great album! This is Joyce's second solo album – and it's a landmark in Brazilian music, stretching way past the bossa styles of her first release, into a groove that's free, jazzy, and open-ended, a real shift towards the genius of her work in the 70s and 80s. Arrangements are by Luiz Eca of the Tamba Trio – and they have a complicated jazzy approach that really lets Joyce open up as a singer, moving into the sort of territory that you'd expect from artists like Marcos Valle or Elis Regina. The album's a real gem, and it's so rare that it hardly got any global circulation at the time – despite Joyce's later fame at a worldwide level.