Celebrating The 50th Anniversary Of Jazz Samba
The Bossa Nova Breakfast celebrates the 50th Anniversary of “Jazz Samba”, by Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd, the recording that launched the worldwide bossa nova craze! This legendary session not only made international stars of the principal musicians involved, it also went on to win a Grammy for Best Jazz Performance, and became the first jazz album ever to reach No.1 on the Billboard Pop chart.
Recorded for Verve Records on February 13, 1962, “Jazz Samba” was released commercially in April of that year. The origin of the music contained on the album lies in a 1961 tour of Latin America by Charlie Byrd and his trio, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. While in Brazil, the American guitarist was able to hear authentic bossa nova performed by local musicians, absorb its intricate rhythms and patterns, and embrace the harmonic subtleties of the style. Byrd eventually returned from his trip with the collection of bossa nova records he’d purchased, and a desire to fuse the samba and bossa nova rhythms he had encountered with American jazz. Although other experiements combining jazz and Brazilian music had been recorded in California in the 1950s by guitarist Laurindo Almeida and saxophonist Bud Shank, it was not until the release of “Jazz Samba” that the music of bossa nova become a global phenomenon.
Saxophonist Stan Getz was already well-known to jazz fans at the time, but it was a series of recordings he released in the early 1960s, beginning with “Jazz Samba”, that would not only fuel the bossa nova craze, but also help to introduce him to a much larger audience, far beyond the typical reach of the era’s night clubs and jazz festivals. In the mind of the record buying pubic at the time, the sound of Getz’s sophisticated and lyrical tenor saxophone was forever linked with the music of bossa nova, bringing him worldwide acclaim, and several Grammy Awards.
Renowned Verve Records producer Creed Taylor had been brought in to supervise the session, and after a failed initial attempt with a somewhat different line-up of musicians, “Jazz Samba”, featuring Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, Bill Reichenbach, Buddy Deppenschmidt, Keeter Betts, and Joe “Gene” Byrd, was recorded at All Souls Church in Washington, D.C. The selections that make up this ground breaking release include compositions that were already a part of the bossa nova repertoire in Brazil, and some that would soon become jazz standards as well. They include “Desafinado” (which won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance in 1963), “Samba Triste”, “Baia”, “O Pato”, and “Samba de una Nota So” (One Note Samba). Far beyond the expectations of the musicians or the producer, “Jazz Samba” became a enormous hit, spending nearly 70 weeks on the Billboard charts, selling millions of copies, and launching a worldwide music sensation which lasted through much of the 1960s.
Tune-in to the Bossa Nova Breakfast as we feature music from “Jazz Samba”, as well as other classic and contemporary bossa nova recordings by João Gilberto, Sergio Mendes, Marcos Valle, Gal Costa, Rosa Passos, Celso Fonseca and more! The Bossa Nova Breakfast – Bossa Nova, Samba & Brazilian Jazz!
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