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TRIBUTE TO CHARLIE BYRD FRI & SAT, MAR 11 & 12

WITH CHUCK REDD & FRIENDS

Is it bossa nova, jazz samba, or Brazilian jazz? Each term has a different emphasis, and includes or excludes certain things.

All three terms emerged from the rich combination of jazz and Brazilian rhythms that began in the late 1950s, continued in vital and experimental ways through the 1960s, and continue to mark both Brazilian and international jazz and popular music.

Some combinations of jazz and Brazilian rhythm existed before the late 1950s. Great Brazilian music had previously incorporated jazz’s subtle harmonies and space for solo instrumental improvisers. And US jazz and popular musicians had experimented with Brazilian rhythms like maxixe—a kind of Brazilian ragtime—and samba.

But what unfolded in the late 1950s and early 1960s was something new. Brazilian and US jazz musicians and composers were drawn to each other with a new kind of magnetism, and found a new groove. That groove was so infectious that it changed music both in Brazil and in the US.

There were several key moments in the rise of the new sound, in both Brazil and in the US, and key factors that drew these musicians together and enabled them to collaborate so fluidly.

The New WaveA History of Bossa Nova and Its Global Influenceby Bryan McCann

“Chega de Saudade”The first key moment was the recording of João Gilberto’s 1958 recording of “Chega de Saudade,” a composition by Antonio Carlos Jobim with lyrics by Vinicius de Morais. Gilberto recorded the song with just guitar and vocals, in the apparently effortless, buoyant style that would come to define bossa nova. He played Jobim’s subtle chords deftly but without ornament, emphasizing the rhythm and the shifting harmony rather than his own virtuosity. And he seemed to be whispering in the listener’s ear as his vocals skipped along the rhythm like a smooth stone cast over the waves.

A few other Brazilian composers and arrangers had been experimenting with the kind of harmony Jobim used in “Chega de Saudade.” But Gilberto’s recording captured the essence of that experimentation and stripped away all the excess. He created a new model for the emerging music. “Chega de Saudade” became an unexpected hit, and one of the most influential recordings in the history of popular music.

Several other Brazilian guitarists began to follow Gilberto’s example, developing their own variations, while a cluster of composers and lyricists began to work in the same vein as Jobim and Morais. By the1960s, the new sound dominated the

The term bossa nova was not only fresh and appealing, it had a flexibility that matched the energy of the new sound.

FRI & SAT, MAR 11 & 12

nightclubs of Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, and was enjoying increased demand in its recording studios. Many of the musicians called it samba jazz or jazz samba. But the record producers were looking for a catchier term, and hit on bossa nova, the “new wave.” The term itself seemed to echo the cool sensuality of the music, and it stuck.

The term bossa nova was not only fresh and appealing; it had a flexibility that matched the energy of the new sound. João Gilberto did not only play in samba rhythm. One of his first great recordings was “Bim Bom,” a baião rhythm from Northeastern Brazil, usually performed in a rollicking style on accordion, bass drum, and triangle. Gilberto’s unorthodox baião, more swaying than rollicking, showed that bossa nova could be applied to a range of Brazilian rhythms, not just samba.

The Hard Bop DilemmaMeanwhile, jazz musicians in the US were also looking for a new sound. In the late 1940s, the most adventurous jazz musicians had invented bebop, an uptempo, occasionally frenetic style characterized by blistering improvisation. By the mid-1950s, bebop had morphed into hard bop, which slowed the tempos

down slightly but if anything placed even greater demands on virtuosic soloists. Improvisation was becoming almost a competitive sport.

Some jazz musicians turned away, trying to recover the lost, polyphonic collective sound of Dixieland jazz—critics derided them as “mouldy figs” for their old-school taste. By the late 1950s, a few musicians were going further than the hard boppers, playing improvisational jazz without a harmonic bed to lie down in. Their “free jazz” turned heads but did not yet catch on with many fans.

Some jazz musicians turned to Cuban rhythms, looking for a sound that would work on the dance floor as well as the bandstand. Jazz with Cuban rhythms came to be known as Latin jazz, and it offered a vibrant alternative to the hard bop, mouldy fig, and emerging free jazz scenes. But most Latin jazz tended to have a limited harmonic range and a standard structure, leading improvisers down the same paths.

By the early 1960s, a few jazz musicians longed for a sound that would offer the harmonic complexity and opportunity for improvisation of hard bop, the seductive rhythm of Latin jazz and the allure of something new. The sounds they started hearing from Brazil suddenly made all that possible.

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Jazz Samba AlbumOn a February night in 1962, at All Souls Unitarian

Universalist Church in Washington, DC, tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, guitarist Charlie Byrd,

and a crew of excellent US jazz musicians, including local bass player Keter Betts

and drummer Buddy Deppenschmidt, recorded a groundbreaking album of Brazilian compositions, performed in the new style. The recording had all the hallmarks of bossa nova, but these musicians were not yet using that term, and called it Jazz Samba instead—a name that, after all, reflected the album’s combination of extended jazz improvisation, complex harmony and samba rhythm.

Two of those sambas, “Desafinado” and “Samba de Uma Nota Só,” were composed by Jobim, and they are bossa classics. “Desafinado” means “out of tune,” a title that referred to the occasional dissonant notes in composition, and specifically to one key moment where the melody seems to be leading towards a harmonious resolution and instead falls on an unexpected flat note. In vintage Jobim style, however, the flat note leads towards new harmonies, a characteristic that defined the unresolved but seductive sound of bossa nova. “Samba de Uma Nota Só” means “One Note Samba,” a title that refers to the melody in the song’s verse, which indeed repeats a single note, in samba pulse, atop Jobim’s shifting harmonic sands.

As soloists, Getz and Barney Kessel used both the flat note in “Desafinado” and the repeated note of “Samba de Uma Nota Só” to great effect, using them as propulsions to innovative

improvisation. Betts and Deppenschmidt, the most eager adepts of the new style among the musicians, provided a

rhythmic foundation that ushered US fans into the Brazilian sound with just enough jazz to hang onto.

The album was produced by the masterful Creed Taylor, who used the grand space of All Souls in a way that seemed to

reveal the personality of each musician while preserving the

And it was released in April 1962 with a striking cover by Abstract Expressionist

painter Olga Albizu. Nothing was cooler.

Recording at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Washington, DC

In retrospect, most of the musicians felt they had not been at their best. It was a chilly, drizzly night, the hall seemed vast and cold, the performance was marked by false starts and miscues. The New York audience, in contrast, fell in love. The Carnegie Hall concert pushed bossa in the US beyond jazz fans to a broad, diverse audience.

In the wake of Carnegie Hall, it seemed like every jazz musician in the country cut a bossa record. Some were amazing, like Cannonball Adderley’s recording with Sergio Mendes and some of the other Carnegie Hall musicians. Some were adventurous but ungainly, like Quincy Jones’ pop bossa album. None struck gold, until Stan Getz returned to the form in 1964, this time with João Gilberto and a cohort of Brazilian musicians.

The Getz/Gilberto album of 1964, again produced by Creed Taylor, became the iconic bossa album. Its hit single, Jobim’s “A Garota de Ipanema,” is one of most-easily recognized and infectious recordings of all time. Both headliners were in vintage form, with Gilberto’s captivating phrasing and seductive guitar propelling Getz’s gliding improvisation. Gilberto’s then-wife, Astrid, sang an English translation of the lyrics, in a charmingly conversational, lightly-accented style. Bossa had its crossover pop hit.

warm collectivity of their sound. And it was released in April of 1962 with a striking cover by Abstract Expressionist painter Olga Albizu. Nothing was cooler.

Like “Chega de Saudade,” the Jazz Samba album seemed to synthesize the essence of changes in the air. It was not the first recording in the new Brazilian style by US jazz musicians, but it was the most infectious. It became a huge success in 1962, and an enduring landmark.

From Carnegie Hall to Getz/GilbertoA few months later, in November of 1962, a cohort of Brazil’s best bossa musicians made the trip to Carnegie Hall in New York City to showcase their sound. Antonio Carlos Jobim (known to his million friends as Tom) and João Gilberto both made the trip, as did Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal, the guitarists who adopted and adapted Gilberto’s approach. The teenage Sergio Mendes also came—the first of a generation of brilliant young musicians who grew up with bossa nova, and to whom its subtleties came as second nature.

João Gilberto and Felix Grant

It [Jazz Samba] became a huge success in 1962, and an enduring landmark.

Bossa and BeyondGetz/Gilberto was not only a hit in the US but globally—including Brazil itself. Even the most diehard nationalists had to recognize that Getz brought something new to bossa—an inspired control over improvisation that matched and meshed with Gilberto’s accompaniment. In an exciting way, this left bossa free to evolve.

Even the most die-hard nationalists had to recognize that Getz brought something new to bossa.

Over the next five years, Brazilian musicians like João Donato, Moacyr Santos and Maurício Einhorn took bossa in new directions. Their evolutions showed that bossa was fully integrated into Brazilian culture; it became a part of the shared musical vocabulary.

In both Brazil and the United States, bossa nova has gone in and out of style in subsequent decades. While it has occasionally been maligned as bland cocktail music, its intricacies have always drawn musicians, and its seductive qualities have always drawn listeners.

One of the most exciting bossa evolutions has been the emergence of techno-bossa over the last fifteen years. DJs working alone, as well as live bands incorporating DJs, have blended recorded sound into rich bossa collages. This methodology may alienate some purists, but bossa nova was never about purism. It has always been about finding felicitous combinations. And techno-bossa has brought a new generation of listeners to the bossa tradition.

Globally to locally—as demonstrated by the success of Saudade, the hit bossa album by DC’s own Thievery Corporation—bossa nova is not a static canon. There may be “mouldy figs” playing bossa nova, but they won’t get very far. It remains a style that attracts musicians ready to experiment, and listeners ready to fall in love.

One of the most exciting bossa evolutions has been the emergence of techno-bossa over the last fifteen years.

About the AuthorBryan McCann

teaches courses on

Colonial and Modern

Latin America at

Georgetown University.

His books investigate the

history of favela politics

in Rio de Janeiro, the

history of Brazilian radio

and popular music, and

the transformation of Brazil

since the 1980s.