Margareth Menezes - Elegibo (1990)

This fine singer is in a heavily U.S.-influenced avant-Afro vein. Conscious hip eclecticism is duller than less pretentious and more local styles, still, Menezes does it better than many and a couple of the cuts really come together (unlike one notably silly reggoid, sub-soul number sung in bad English), and her band has plenty of rather un-Brazilian big-band-salsa kick.~© John Storm Roberts, Original Music /TiVo