Journey to the Amazon

1	Batucada 2:11
2	Cochichando 3:34
3	Porro 4:01
4	Julia Florida Waltz, Op. 8, No. 4 3:57
5	Chants for the Chief No. 1: A Chamada des Ventos/Cançao Noturna 5:31
6	Chants for the Chief No. 2: Uirapurú Do Amazonas Cavaleiro Sem Armadur 4:26
7	Canción de Cuna Lullaby 1:28
8	El Marabino 2:26
9	Aire de Joropo 2:18
10	Waltz No. 3 (Natalia) 2:44
11	Seis Por Derecho 2:47
12	Historia Do Luar (Choro) 5:19
13	Lago de Janauca 3:43
14	A Hug for Pixingha 1:28
15	Cochichando 2:45
16	Choro Alegre (A Hug for Tiberio) 1:44
17	Cavaleiro Sem Armadura 4:05

Barnes & Noble

The guitar has always led a double life, favored by both classical composers and pop musicians. This is especially true in Latin America, where the lines between "popular" and "serious" music aren't so clear-cut. On this album, classical guitarist Sharon Isbin teams up with New Age saxophonist Paul Winter and Gaudencio Thiago de Mello, a percussionist from Amazonian rainforest, for a program of music by Brazilian, Cuban, Venezuelan, Paraguayan, and Colombian composers. Isbin dances through the sensuous syncopations of these jazz-inflected pieces and makes her guitar sing the folklike melodies with disarming simplicity. She's backed up brilliantly by de Mello, who does a whole lot more than just beat the drums. Playing more than two dozen percussion instruments from South America, he evokes the exotic sounds of the rainforest itself. Andrew Farach-Colton

All Music Guide

Journey to the Amazon is a fascinating collaboration between classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, saxophonist Paul Winter and percussionist/composer Thiago de Mello. The three musicians explore South American, particularly Brazilian, rhythms and songs, devising a mesmerizing fusion of worldbeat, jazz and classical. While this certainly isn't music for purists, it's adventurous and evocative, and it often fulfills its grand ambitions. Leo Stanley

Gramophone

The guitar has a wide range of tone colour, which Isbin exploits with skill and taste in traversing the gamut from tenderness to joyously rhythmic energy.... Waste no time in getting your hands on this disc.