Various Artists - Vol. 2-Cafe Roma

Though this budget-priced two-disc compilation is billed as "an Italian jazz & lounge experience," you'd be hard-pressed to guess that it has anything to do with Italy based on the music itself, most of which sounds much more Brazilian or Cuban than anything else. A few tracks are actually sung in Italian and credited to Italian musicians, but since a bunch of others are sung in Portuguese, you have to really be paying attention to catch the linguistic switch. Still, what matters here isn't nationality; what matters is whether the music grooves, and that it does. Everything has a jazzy, swinging feel and just a faint whiff of European movie soundtracks from the 1960s, and even if regional favorites like Nicola Conte and Giacomo Bondi are unfamiliar names here in the States, no one with a pulse will be able to resist the hip-swaying charms of much of this program. Among the highlights are a fine adaption of the jazz standard "What a Difference a Day Makes," performed by Dynamic 4, and the invigorating (if misspelled) "Cosmic Odissey" by Spacestar. Things do occasionally get a bit soft in the middle, as on Vibraphile's enervatingly smooth "By Night," but for the most part this is stuff that will liven up any party.

1) Tema de la Onda - Nicola Conte Aldemaro Romero
2) 3Zozo12 - Lorraine Bowen Fabio Nobile Guido Pistocchi
3) Siempre - Monorama
4) Cafaldo - Mazachigno
5) Good Bye - Spira
6) From Paris to Rio - Latin Vibe
7) Spirit in the Yellow Sound - Do Mori
8) Ilus- Barriere Jim Porto Themis
9) Jet Set - Daniele Luppi
10) It's a New Day - Time Passing
11) Last Flight to Rome - Mazachigno
12) By Night - Vibraphile
13) Electrostatic - Urban Chill
14) Magic Soleil - Cool Water
15) Maracana' [Main Mix] - Bungalove
16) St. Denis Ceara [Panaphonic Remix] - Mona Gada
17) Fly in the Sky [Main Mix] - Pauline London
18) Salsera [Crisp Remix] - Barrio Jazz Gang
19) Love Can Sing - Pauline London
20) Espuma Bossa [Bossa-Lounge Cut] - Litiana Gimenez Panaphonic
21) Tropical Man's Revenge - Roby J.C. Sound
22) Clave - L.E.D
23) What a Difference a Day Makes - Dynamic 4
24) Blue Bossa Blan- Banda Nova
25) Spectrum [Radio Edit] - Barrio Jazz Gang
26) Cosmic Odissey [Nujazz Remix] - Spacestar
27) Walkin Sofa - L.E.D