South American Jazz/Funk

Buena Vista Social Club was released in June 1997 and has since come to be regarded as a classic, selling 7 million copies worldwide.

In this collection, we have curated new finds alongside old, treasured tracks that hold a special place in our hearts, selecting music inspiring us from the Brazilian, Latin, soul, disco, gospel, cosmic, dancehall and downtempo genres.

This collection features sixteen of the most renowned salsa and Latin soul singles released on Fania Records, and its subsidiaries, between 1964-1978, making it the perfect introduction to the legendary catalog.

África Brasil is a 1976 release by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben. It was Ben's 14th studio album and a milestone in his career with a switch to electric guitar and funk music leaks.

A transatlantic collaboration between five musicians from the UK jazz collective Steam Down (and DoomCannon) plus eight musicians from Colombia's folk, jazz, hip-hop, salsa and electronic scenes and groups such as Ondatropica, Frente Cumbiero and La Perla.

A fabulous, under-the-radar classic, that will enrich any collection.

Recorded in 1978, it’s a latter-period gem from the larger than life legend, combining the glitz and glamour of disco’s heyday with Maia’s raw funk and soul roots.

‘Buena Vista Social Club At Carnegie Hall’ is the second album released by the original Buena Vista Social Club™; this extraordinary collection of Cuba’s greatest musicians includes Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, Eliades Ochoa, Omara Portuondo, Compay Segundo, Cachaíto López and Guajiro Mirabal.

The music of Dom Salvador e Abolição is a funky and smooth blend of samba, soul, rock, jazz, forro and baião. The band’s sound was a major influence on the successful group Banda Black Rio. Som, Sangue e Raça still stands out for its catchy and groovy melodies and shows the wide range of the band. All this makes this samba/soul classic a must for all mu- sic collectors.

This wonderful self-titled album by pianist, singer and composer, Johnny Alf, was first released on vinyl in 1966 by Rozenblit.

Coming almost two decades after the release of the original Grammy-winning, self-titled LP, the new album is a collection of previously unreleased tracks - some of which were recorded during the original album's sessions in Havana and others from the years that followed. The studio tracks on Lost and Found were recorded at the 1996 Egrem studio sessions in Havana and during a period of rich and prolific creativity stretching into the early 2000s following the recording of the original album.

Global pointing Brazilian jazz trio Caixa Cubo releases their new album Agôra, that sparkles with electric funk and Herbie-esque eclecticism. It features a myriad of guest vocalists and musicians including Brazilians Xênia França and Zé Leônidas, Jembaa Groove's Ghanaian singer Eric Owusu and South African artists Bongani Givethanks & Mpho Nkuzo

Joao Gilberto (1931-2019) was a true legend of bossa nova.

This collection not only celebrates Henri Debs’ unmatched legacy but also offers a snapshot of Caribbean music’s golden age, cementing Disques Debs as a cultural institution.

Between the release of his first album in 1962 and today, Marcos Valle has released twenty-two studio albums traversing definitive bossa nova, classic samba, iconic disco pop, psychedelic rock, nineties dance and orchestral music.

Another stunning compilation compiled by Bob Stanley. Latin Freestyle was a dizzying, passionate, ultra- modern music.

Classic Brazilian album from 1977, featuring the incredible Nao Adianta and a brilliant cover of Jorge Ben’s Que Nega E Essa. Luiz Carlos Fritz (Fritz Escovao), Joao Parahyba and Nereu Gargalo aka Trio Mocoto are most well-known as Jorge Ben Jr.’s backing band. 

Mati Zundel aka Lagartijeando returns to Wonderwheel with his new album 7 Caminos, representing the paths of choices in life that shape our destiny.

Some crate-digging compilations are often the result of someone hand-picking their choice favourites from another country’s musical history, perhaps unaware or uninvolved with its cultural lineage in the process.

1964 live performance in New York at the Cafe Au Go Go by the New Stan Getz Quartet featuring vocals by Astrud Gilberto. Musicians Stan Getz, Gary Burton, Gene Cherico and Joe Hunt.

After making her professional debut as the cool, breathy voice behind the historic 1964 crossover smash “The Girl from Ipanema”, Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto became a major force in popularizing the bossa nova sound.

On this 1970 album recorded in Los Angeles, Donato departs from his Brazilian bossa nova roots, incorporating an eclectic, and electric,                mix of funk, fusion and psychedelic pop.

The 'Renaissance Man' of Brazilian pop, Marcos Valle (born in Rio de Janeiro in 1943) is a singer/songwriter/producer who has straddled the country's music world from the early days of the bossa nova craze well into the fusion-soaked sounds of '80s MPB and into the 21st Century.

Named after the small wood cabin at the bottom of their garden where the album was recorded, Cabana is a deeply personal record of memory, self-discovery and imagination.

Recorded in Rio de Janeiro in 1959 and originally released on Phillips in 1960, this was Baden Powel's debut album.

Gilberto With Turrentine is an album by Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto and American saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.

Salsoul is the 9th studio album by trailblazing Filipino-African American singer Joe Bataan, featuring his classic single ‘Mujer Mia’.

"Released in 1974 with a 'quadraphonic' sound. Brilliant songs by a cohesive band that knew how to materialize a memorable and original fusion project at an international level.

Originally released in 2003, Marcos Valle's Contrasts combined early noughties production techniques with his trademark Brazilian songwriting brilliance.

A Toda Cuba Le Gusta, the classic debut album by the Afro Cuban All Stars. The first in a trilogy of extraordinary albums recorded by World Circuit in a single two-week session at Havana’s EGREM studios, 1996.

Brazilian singer/song writer Joao Gilberto was a legend of bossa nova.

The album features smooth vocals, rich harmonies, and vibrant rhythms, capturing the essence of the era’s musical Innovation.

A majestic and magnetic classic where every track is a surefire winner.

Pique is the sensational debut solo album from Dora Morelenbaum, one of the key talents spearheading Brazil's new musical wave. 

Dom Salvador, released in 1969, is a landmark album by Brazilian pianist and composer Dom Salvador.

Reissued for the first time outside of Brazil, Todos Os Olhos is one of the most important Brazilian records of all time.

It’s the 25th anniversary of this criminally under-appreciated compilation of Brazilian pop music (New! More! Better!), so Luaka Bop put it on vinyl for the first time. 

This is the sound of Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Venturing into unchartered dimensions, the album breaks with traditionalism and combines jazz and new electronic instruments into a contemporary concept that is both cosmic and sensual, a sound where timbre and space play a crucial role. Here, no track sounds like the other.

In 1974 Ana Mazzotti recorded her first album Ninguem Vai Me Segurar, enlisting the in-demand arrangement talents of Azymuth’s original keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertrami who co-wrote several of the tracks and plays organ, piano and synthesizers on the album. 

Previously unreleased 70s album by Joyce. Not long after the dawn of her career, as a teenager in Rio de Janeiro, Joyce was declared one of the greatest singers by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

In 1966, Bertrami went back into the studio, but this time stripping the format back to a trio set up.