Two vocal giants, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, devoted whole albums to Antonio Carlos Jobim’s songbook. Even some of the most famous pop groups of that era were inspired by the hip sound that had first emanated from Rio’s beach cafes groups such as The Beatles (“And I Love Her”), The Kinks (“No Return”), and The Beach Boys (“Busy Doin’ Nothin’”) brought a bossa nova flavor to some of their songs, while a plethora of big-name singers covered Brazilian material. Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Wes Montgomery, Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy Smith, and Oscar Peterson are just some of the big names that embraced the seductive sound of Brazilian music in the 60s. The concert’s critical and commercial success inspired a raft of jazz musicians who were excited by the improvisational possibilities that bossa nova presented. ![]() They witnessed bossa nova’s prime progenitors – Jobim, Gilberto, Bonfá, plus the singer-songwriters Roberto Menescal and Carlos Lyra – performing with Getz, Byrd, and pianist and soundtrack composer Lalo Schifrin. The auditorium was packed to the rafters with almost 3,000 attendees, including many jazz musicians curious to hear the exciting new music up close. Indeed, the saxophonist would continue to record bossa nova songs on a regular basis right up until his death, in June 1991.Īmerica’s awareness of bossa nova music was heightened by a concert held at Carnegie Hall at around the same time as Jazz Samba’s release, on Wednesday, November 21, 1962. Jazz Samba not only helped to sow the seeds of North America’s love affair with Brazilian music, it also gave new impetus to Stan Getz’s career. Its success (it spent 70 weeks on the US pop album charts, peaking at No.1) was aided by its high-flying single, a blissful version of Jobim’s “Desafinado,” which made No.15 on the US Hot 100 in November 1962 and later won a Grammy. Bossa Nova comes to AmericaĪided by producer Creed Taylor, Getz and Byrd were recorded in All Souls Unitarian Church, in Washington, DC, and the results were released as Jazz Samb a on Verve Records in April 1962. Back in Washington, DC, saxophonist Stan Getz saw Byrd’s band live, heard them play some bossa nova tunes he liked and requested they record an album together. By 1961, American musicians visiting the country – among them flutist Herbie Mann and guitarist Charlie Byrd – had played alongside Brazilian musicians and enjoyed a first-hand experience of the burgeoning bossa nova movement. Between 19, Jobim worked on Gilberto’s albums in Brazil, helping to establish the quiet-voiced singer/guitarist as a new star in his native country.īut Gilberto’s fame soon spread outside of Brazil. Among the first singers to record his songs were Elizete Cardoso and Sylvia Telles (who both recorded entire albums of his material in the late 50s) along with another singer called Maysa, whose purportedly hedonistic lifestyle led to her being called “the Janis Joplin of bossa nova.” Most significant of all, however, was João Gilberto. In the wake of Black Orpheus’ success, which quickly proved a global phenomenon that helped to export the emerging bossa nova sound, Jobim’s fame rapidly accelerated. Rather than repurpose the music that Jobim had written for de Moraes’ play, Camus commissioned some new music from the composer, which included the classic song “Felicidade” the director also featured two songs by another rising Brazilian singer/composer, Luis Bonfá, one of which was “Manhã de Carnaval,” which like “Felicidade” became one of the cornerstones of the burgeoning bossa nova movement. ![]() His play proved profoundly influential, inspiring the 1959 award-winning movie Black Orpheus, filmed by the French director Marcel Camus using Black Brazilian actors. De Moraes reworked the ancient Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, transplanting the action to a Rio favela during carnival time. (He also embarked on a career as a singer/songwriter in the 1960s). ![]() He had risen to fame in Brazil as the composer of music for a 1956 play called Musicas De Orfeu Da Conceição, written by the Rio-born poet and playwright Vinicius de Moraes, who crucially, would go on to become one of Jobim’s most important collaborators. ![]() One of its key architects was Antônio Carlos “Tom” Jobim (1927-1994), a classically-trained Rio De Janeiro-born pianist who also played the guitar, sang, and wrote songs. The birth of Bossa Novaīossa nova’s story really began in 1956. Many musicians – particularly jazz ones – were attracted by the music’s delicate melodies, lush harmonies, and slinky syncopation, and began recording authentic Brazilian material as well as reconfiguring standard songs using bossa nova-influenced rhythms. After the phenomenal success of “The Girl From Ipanema,” bossa nova fever gripped the US.
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