by Alex HendersonEntirely instrumental, Echoes of Brazil finds Badi Assad making the acoustic guitar her sole focus and paying tribute to some of Brazil's many heroes of the instrument. This splendid CD may not be the last word on Brazilian guitarists (who have played a crucial role in samba, choro, bossa nova, tropicalismo and Brazilian classical), but Assad does a fine job of reminding us what some of them contributed. It would have been impossible to tell the entire story on a single CD, and she makes no pretense of her tribute being all-inclusive. Assad, whose only accompaniment is acoustic bassist David Finck, salutes everyone from Garoto and Laurindo Almeida to Egberto Gismonti, Baden Powell and Luiz Bonfá. Much to her credit, she doesn't become a slavish imitator of any of them, and consistently demonstrates that she is a distinctive and impressive representative of the guitar herself.