One of the best Brazilian recordings you’ll hear this year comes from an American cellist who has toured with everyone from Cirque du Soleil to A.R. Rahman and assorted Broadway musicals. Bent loves the choro style and has devoted plenty of time to mastering the lilting grooves and melodic complexity of the form. Her debut solo album, recorded in Rio de Janeiro, showcases her driving bow work against spectacular backing from a crew of Brazil’s top-tier players. Not just straight ahead either, this has some very cool improvisational flights not usually associated with this South American string band style.