CD Reviews

MusicWeb International

Webmaster: Len Mullenger

[ Jazz index ] [Nostalgia index]  [ Classical MusicWeb ] [ Gerard Hoffnung ]


Reviewers: Tony Augarde [Editor], Steve Arloff, Nick Barnard, Pierre Giroux, Don Mather, James Poore, Glyn Pursglove, George Stacy, Bert Thompson, Sam Webster, Jonathan Woolf



BUY NOW
AmazonUK   AmazonUS

BRAZIL!

The Birth of Bossa Nova

Le Chant du Monde
274 24347.48

 

 

CD1

1. Chega de saudade – João Gilberto

2. Desafinado - João Gilberto

3. Manhã de carnaval – Elizete Cardoso

4. Lôbô bôbô só - João Gilberto

5. Chora tua tristeza – Carlos Lyra

6. Eurydice – Luiz Bonfá

7. Morena boca de ouro - João Gilberto

8. Insensatez – Alaide Costa

9. Bim Bom - João Gilberto

10. Outra vez – Elizete Cardoso

11. Saudade fêz um samba – João Gilberto

12. Canção do amor demais - Elizete Cardoso

13. Doralice - João Gilberto

14. Lamento no morro – Luiz Bonfá

15. Meditação - Maysa

16. Rapaz de bem – Carlos Lyra

17. Samba de uma nota só - João Gilberto

18. Se é tarde me perdôa - João Gilberto

19. Samba da Bênção – Vinicius de Moraes

20. Discussão – Sylvia Telles

21. Um abraço no Bonfá - João Gilberto

22. Dum…dum…dum…dum – Baden Powell

23. O pato - João Gilberto

24. A Felicidade – Agostinho dos Santos

25. Lição de Baião – Baden Powell

26. Samba da minha terra - João Gilberto

27. Rio – Lucio Alves

28. Deixa – Odette Lara/ Vinicius de Moraes

29. Este seu olhar - João Gilberto

30. Mas que nada – Jorge Ben & Copa 5

31. Berimbau - Vinicius de Moraes

32. Samba de uma nota so – Walter Wanderley

CD2

1. Desafinado – Stan Getz

2. Canção do olhar amado – Carlos Lyra

3. Recado bossa nova – Zoot Sims

4. Corcovado – Miles Davis/Gil Evans

5. Corcovado – Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto

6. O Barquinho – Laurindo Almeida

7. Agua de beber – Antonio Carlos Jobim

8. Samba dees days – Stan Getz

9. Atabaque – Laurindo Almeida/Bud Shank

10. Eu preciso de você – Astor Sylva

11. O pato – Stan Getz

12. Inquietaçao – Laurindo Almeida/Bud Shank

13. The Girl from Ipanema – Stan Getz

14. Samba triste – Stan Getz

15. Ciúme – Carlos Lyra

16. Vivo sonhando – Stan Getz

17. Loie – Ike Quebec/Kenny Burrell

18. So danço samba – Stan Getz/Luis Bonfá

19. Um abraço no Bonfá - João Gilberto

20. Joyce’s samba – Julian “Cannonball” Adderley

21. Manina de Maria – Stan Getz/Luis Bonfá

22. Tristeza de nos dois – Sergio Mendes

23. Clouds – Julian “Cannonball” Adderley

24. Ebony samba – Stan Getz/Luis Bonfá

This double album usefully surveys the phenomenon of the bossa nova and samples some of it finest exponents. The first CD opens with Chega de saudade, a number which became equally well-known under the title No More Blues. This was the first hit for João Gilberto, who recorded it in 1958 with “musical direction” by Antonio Carlos Jobim. João dominates the first album, contributing more than a third of the tracks. Gilberto might be regarded as one of the pioneers of the bossa nova, a distinction shared with Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, who together composed Chega de saudade.

Gilberto was a singer as well as a guitarist, and he had a gentle way of singing and playing which became the hallmark of the bossa nova. You might say it was a quieter form of the samba, with elements added from jazz. Gilberto also sings on the second track, Desafinado, which became one of the most familiar bossas. Another factor in the spread of the bossa nova was the 1958 film Black Orpheus, directed by Marcel Camus. It was shown widely across the world and its music, written by Jobim and Luiz Bonfá, included several bossas. The most popular song from the film was Manhã de carnival, which was composed by Luis Bonfa and is sung here by the pleasantly clear-voiced Elizete Cardoso, who was one of the first vocalists to record bossa novas. Another song from Black Orpheus is A Felicidade, which appears later on this CD. It was composed by Jobim, with words by Vinicius de Moraes. The film was very influential and it can be credited with assisting the popularity of the bossa.

This album contains a good cross-section of other musicians who performed and developed the bossa nova. They include singing guitarist Carlos Lyra, whose understated singing was well in the bossa tradition; the aforementioned Luiz Bonfa, a guitarist as well as composer (his guitar playing showed the influence of his classical training); Laurindo Almeida, a guitarist whose 1954 recordings with Bud Shank prefigured bossa nova; and Baden Powell, a versatile guitarist capable of a wide range of styles, including classical and jazz. One especially interesting inclusion is organist Walter Wanderley who, although he was Brazilian, is mostly associated with “lounge music”. His version of One Note Samba is a kind of lounge bossa: listenable but rather bland.

Although João Gilberto is richly represented on this double album, his wife Astrud is only credited on Corcovado in the second CD, although she also sings in The Girl from Ipanema, where her husband also does vocals and guitar. I am not too sorry about this thin representation of Astrud Gilberto, as I have never considered her a great vocalist, although her fragile voice is well suited to the soft bossa style.

The second CD introduces Stan Getz, a jazz musician who helped considerably to widen the appeal of the bossa nova, notably with his LP Jazz Samba, a 1962 collaboration with guitarist Charlie Byrd (see my review at http://www.musicweb-international.com/jazz/2013/Stan_Getz_EJC55582.htm ). The album included such memorable tunes as Jobim’s Desafinado and Samba de uma nota só (“One Note Samba”) and, my personal favourite, Charlie Byrd’s Samba dees days. Desafinado was a hit in the pop music charts and the album introduced many more people to the bossa. Getz had further hits in 1964 and 1984 with The Girl from Ipanema. Who could resist the seductive sound of Stan’s mellow tenor sax, which blended well with the lightly strumming guitars? Stan appears on ten of the tracks in the second CD, often joined by such bossa stalwarts as “Tom” Jobim, João Gilberto and Luiz Bonfá.

Stan’s espousal of bossa nova encouraged many other jazz musicians to take up the genre. On this album, they are represented by Zoot Sims, Miles Davis, Bud Shank, Ike Quebec, Coleman Hawkins and Cannonball Adderley. It is noticeable that most of these are saxophonists. It seemed as if all you needed to make a successful bossa nova group was to add a saxist to a guitarist.

But most of the jazz musicians who adopted the bossa treated it with respect. For instance, Zoot Sims’ Recado bossa nova stays very much in the Stan Getz style, although Miles Davis’s version of Corcovado ignores the samba rhythm to become a typically multi-faceted Gil Evans arrangement.

Jazz musicians assured the bossa nova of an extended life which lasts until today. Bossas have become a normal part of many jazzmen’s repertoire and are widely accepted in all kinds of music as one of the enduring genres: tranquil, but with the underlying thrill of Brazilian rhythms.

Tony Augarde

www.augardebooks.co.uk

Error processing SSI file


Return to Index


You can purchase CDs, tickets and musician's accessories and Save around 22% with these retailers: