A virtuous, subtle, and passionate musician, guitarist, singer, and composer Luiz Bonfa (1922-2001) is considered one of the main architects of bossa nova and one of the greatest masters of 20th-century Brazilian popular music. As a composer and performer, Bonfa was first and foremost a representative of the bold, lyrical, richly orchestrated, and emotionally charged samba-canção style, which preceded the arrival of João Gilberto's more refined and understated bossa nova style. Here is one of his greatest albums, *Plays and Sings Bossa Nova*, on which he collaborates with stars such as Leo Wright, Oscar Castro-Neves, and Lalo Schifrin. This superb edition includes Bonfa's classic version of his song "Manhã de Carnaval" (aka "Black Orpheus"), among many other tracks.