Simply put, this timeless recording is the touchstone for Bossa Nova’s worldwide success. The music is irresistibly romantic, the production and musicianship sublime.
Few pop albums of any kind have matched its success. ‘Getz/Gilberto’ was nominated for seven Grammies in 1964, coming away with four awards (for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Instrumental Jazz Performance – Small Group, and Best Engineered Record – non classical) edging out both Barbra Streisand and the Beatles. The album entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ single followed a year later.
Sales success? ‘Gezt/Gilberto’ went straight to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #2 as a certified million selling album, and it stayed there for 96 weeks until finally giving way to the Beatles and the musical sea change that followed.
‘The Girl from Ipanema’ quickly propelled Astrud Gilberto to international stardom. The rest of the group was equally impressive: singer João Gilberto shared top billing with saxman Getz, while Antonio Carlos Jobim’s piano lead the rhythm section of bassist Tony Williams and Brazilian drummer Milton Banana. João’s wife Astrud, who had dreams of a singing career but had not yet seriously pursued it, came along for the experience of it all.
Today’s CD versions assemble 10 tracks, but the original vinyl LP held eight: six of the songs came from Jobim who partnered with several lyricists including Vinicius de Moraes, Newton Mendonça (who co-wrote many of Jobim’s songs from the 1950’s), and former Downbeat magazine editor Gene Lees, who contributed not only the English lyrics for ‘Corcovado’ but the liners notes for the record as well. With a nod to the past, two sambas - Dorival Caymmi’s ‘Doralice’ from 1945 and 1943’s ‘Pra Machuchar Meu Coração’ by Ary Barroso – were rearranged for the framework of the new Bossa style and João Gilberto’s softly romantic voice.
For his part, Getz plays at his lyrical best with each solo improvisation as eloquent and well structured as to make it effortless to follow every note. In fact his tenor sax solos have been committed to memory by hundreds of thousands of fans that whistle or hum along with them at ease.
But that’s only part of the story. Here’s the rest of it.
This album was as much a milestone for its young producer as it was for the musicians. In 1960, Creed Taylor had just opened the new Verve Records label and had already met Jobim and many of Bossa’s top names during trips to Brazil. In November of 1962, he arranged an introductory meeting between Stan Getz, Jobim and João Gilberto in the rehearsal studio at Carnegie Hall, only a few days after the legendary Bossa Nova concert there.
They discussed the idea of recording an album together and the notion began to simmer with Taylor, who was already turning Bossa Nova into a US pop success with an album called ‘Jazz Samba’, by pairing jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd with Getz and an all-American rhythm section. It was the first of five Bossa Nova albums for Getz, all recorded within an 18-month span.
"It wasn't as loose as it could have been, because there weren't any Brazilians involved and the players didn't quite understand that behind-the-beat style that was this thing called Bossa Nova,” recalled Taylor, in an interview with David Simons of ‘Acoustic Guitar’. “In fact, that cowbell figure on ‘Desafinado’ drove me nuts! But I thought the tunes were real catchy, even if that stiffness was, oddly enough, the original attraction. And it just opened the door for that wave of Brazilian talent.”
When Taylor assembled his Brazilian stars in wintry New York at the “dingy but effective’ A&R studio in March of 1963, his vision for ‘Getz/Gilberto’ was clear in his mind and he chose the only Bossa song with a history of success outside of Brazil to showcase his new style.
In fact, of all the songs on the album, ‘Desafinado’ (Out Of Tune) provided the common thread, which had weaved its way through so much of Bossa’s storied success here in the US. João Gilberto first recorded the song in Rio during the summer of 1959, Dizzy Gillespie had added it to his Latin repertoire, and jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd brought the sheet music back with him to the US after returning from Brazil in 1961. Less than a year later, Creed Taylor produced the aforementioned ‘Jazz Samba’ and the single ‘Desafinado’, became a top 20 hit.
The ‘Getz/Gilberto’ version is markedly softer on the ears than the original, especially when you consider that the song’s lyrics, penned jointly between Jobim and Mendonça, were meant to poke fun at some of Rio’s less talented (but nonetheless popular) nightclub singers in the 50’s – a message that was cleverly disguised as a story of forlorn love.
Creed Taylor’s direction slowed the pacing for these songs and the Brazilians eventually got Getz to relax his style a bit more. That’s when a moment of musical magic occurred, forever captured for our enjoyment.
The entire project took just two day to complete and it was on the second day that Astrud met with her husband and Stan Getz to make a case for singing on the recording. Stan said ‘No’ and João was non-committal. Bu Creed Taylor liked the idea and Astrud’s English was fine, so they went ahead, adding her voice to two songs.
The result instantly transformed both ‘Corcovado’ and ‘The Girl From Ipanema’. Astrud’s charming voice changed the landscape of American music, taking the Bossa fad away from the jazz world to pop radio here in the US, even as Bossa’s run was ending in Brazil.
Once it was completed, the ‘Getz/Gilberto’ masters sat on Creed Taylor’s desk, pushed onto the back burner while Taylor moved ahead with several other Bossa projects: Two more with Stan Getz and amazingly, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s first album under his own name, ‘Antonio Carlos Jobim The Composer of Desafinado Plays’, by matching the Brazilian up with pop arranger Claus Ogerman.
Of these, clearly ‘Getz/Gilberto’ was the best, but Astrud’s singing had posed a problem. Should Taylor release the album as a prestigious jazz recording or try to follow up the pop success of ‘Jazz Samba’?
A year went by and still, no decision had been reached. But the more he listened it the two tracks with Astrud’s voice, the more he became convinced that the album had what it took to be a chart topper. 15 months after it was recorded, ‘Getz/Gilberto’ was released to begin its meteoric rise.
Astrud would go on to chart her own destiny, but the magic of this recording will always remain with João and Stan; the Brazilian singer and the American jazzman, and the passionate beauty that resulted from stellar musicianship and Taylor’s creative vision.
The success of ‘Getz/Gilberto’ created big changes for its major players. With his earnings, Stan Getz bought a New York mansion. He would soon put his Bossa Nova era behind him, forever to remain a high-water mark in his long career.
It’s said that Astrud Gilberto was paid on the standard union rate of $120 dollars for her work, but those who focus on this seeming injustice fail to recognize the opportunity that she created for herself: She immediately decided to tour with Stan Getz and continued to develop her singing career with Creed Taylor. For Bossa Nova fans, she became the ‘Girl from Ipanema’.
João Gilberto stayed on in New York with two Grammy awards, but without his soon-to-be ex-wife. Jobim also made New York his ‘on and off’ home, splitting time between the US and Brazil by recording and touring until he came to the attention of Frank Sinatra a few years later.
Creed Taylor reaped the success of those seven Grammy nominations in 1964 when he was approached by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss of A&M Records and asked to consider a partnership. The result was the creation of Creed Taylor’s own label, CTI Records, which went on to produce and promote many other Brazilian musicians as well as early contemporary jazz artists including Wes Montgomery, Grover Washington, Jr. and George Benson.
Perhaps Gene Lees summed it up best in his ‘Jazzletter’: “Creed Taylor was treating the music with respect and dignity. Were it not for Creed Taylor, I am convinced, Bossa Nova and Brazilian music generally would, after the Carnegie Hall mockery, have retreated in to itself, gone back to Brazil... and become a quaint parochial phenomenon interesting to tourists, instead of the worldwide music and the tremendous influence on jazz itself that it in fact became. Brazil doesn't know what it owes Creed Taylor. He would record Walter Wanderley, Milton Nascimento, the Tamba 4, and others.”
Three Brazilians, two days in a studio and one legendary recording. For anyone wanting to add to the Brazilian section for his or her CD collection, the ‘Getz/Gilberto’ album is a great place to start.
A final note: Today’s CD release exactly matches the original song ordering as it appeared in 1964, however time limitations for the LP version resulted in earlier fades on some songs. Every effort was made with the digitally re-mastered tracks to capture as much of the original recording as possible.
