Product Description
Partly because of its Brazilian collaborators and partly because of {|The Girl From Ipanema,|} {|Getz/Gilberto|} is nearly always acknowledged as the {|Stan Getz|} {|bossa nova|} LP. But {|Jazz Samba|} is just as crucial and groundbreaking; after all, it came first, and in fact was the first full-fledged {|bossa nova|} album ever recorded by {|American jazz|} musicians. And it was just as commercially successful, topping the LP charts and producing its own {|pop|} chart hit single in {|Desafinado.|} It was the true beginning of the {|bossa nova|} craze, and introduced several standards of the genre (including {|Ary Barroso|}'s {|Bahia|} and {|Antonio Carlos Jobim|}'s {|Desafinado|} and {|Samba de Uma Nota So|} [aka {|One Note Samba|}]). But above all, {|Jazz Samba|} stands on its own artistic merit as a shimmering, graceful collection that's as subtly advanced -- in harmony and rhythm -- as it is beautiful. {|Getz|} and his co-billed partner, guitarist {|Charlie Byrd|} -- who was actually responsible for bringing {|bossa nova|} records to the U.S. and introducing {|Getz|} to the style -- have the perfect touch for {|bossa nova|}'s delicate, airy texture. For his part, {|Byrd|} was one of the first American musicians to master {|bossa nova|}'s difficult, bubbling syncopations, and his solos are light and lilting. Meanwhile, {|Getz|}'s playing is superb, simultaneously offering a warm, full tone and a cool control of dynamics; plus, {|Byrd|}'s gently off-kilter harmonies seem to stimulate {|Getz|}'s melodic inventiveness even more than usual. But beyond technique, {|Getz|} intuitively understands the romanticism and the undercurrent of melancholy inherent in the music, and that's what really made {|Jazz Samba|} such a revelatory classic. Absolutely essential for any {|jazz|} collection. ~ Steve Huey
