When Burl Audio invited Brazilian singer and songwriter Carla Hassett to record the bossa nova song from 1961, “Adriana” (by Roberto Menescal), at the iconic EastWest Studios in Los Angeles, she hesitated to reconnect with the 60-year-old genre. After years of playing Brazilian music in clubs, she felt tired of the demands to play the same few Jobim classics that Americans know and love. Carla says, “I felt that the genre had been reduced to a cliché” and longed to introduce a deeper level of Brazilian music to her audience.
But Burl Audio (which manufactures high-quality recording equipment) was eager to 
capture the authentic swing of bossa nova. “I asked the guys at Burl to dig deep into the vault, and when they brought ‘Adriana,’ I knew we were going to make a really cool record.”
The owner of Burl Audio and lead designer, Rich Williams, carefully selected the track for Carla and her band for its exquisite groove in 5/4 time and intimate vocal style. With Carla on guitar and vocals, bass and drums borrowed from Sergio Mendes’ band, piano, percussion, brass, and flute, the song came to life in the same room where Sinatra once recorded. After recording “Adriana,” Carla and the band gained extra studio time. Eager to keep the vibe going, Carla turned to two of her own songs that echoed the spirit of Antonio Carlos Jobim. From her studio, Carla then completed the recording and mixed the two additional tracks, while “Adriana” remained in the hands of Burl Audio and went straight to vinyl. “Sempre Odara” is the first of the two additional songs recorded that night. With Burl Audio’s technology, highly skilled musicians, and an iconic studio, the recording session celebrated the perfect pairing of musical and technological excellence, resulting in a pure expression of Brazilian happiness.
There is no mystery about the origin of Carla’s musical identity. The São Paulo-born singer-songwriter grew up in a Brazilian community in Chicago, studying piano and guitar from an early age, and composing and recording her own songs on her yellow Panasonic tape recorder before reaching her teenage years. In addition to absorbing the Brazilian music that her parents and extended family 
enjoyed listening to at home, Hassett absorbed rock, blues, funk, and all the other popular sounds in the Windy City. It wasn’t long before she became a professional, playing and singing with the best bands in Chicago at the time, and lending her voice to jingles for national advertising campaigns.
Carla moved to Los Angeles and built a career singing backing vocals on tours and in the recording studio with names like Billy Idol, Sergio Mendes, Gino Vannelli, actor/musician Gary Sinise, Grammy-winning soul legend Solomon Burke, Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, Mike Patton, and a host of Latin music superstars. Carla has backed Lila Downs, Natalie Cole, and Caetano Veloso when he was honored at the Latin Grammys. Hassett also lent her voice to the soundtracks of the films Rio, Rio 2, Netflix’s Like Father, and Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle.