Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd: Jazz Samba (LP)

The words Bossa Nova are often synonymous with the name Stan Getz. But North Americans might never have known the bright sound of bossa nova if it weren't for Charlie Byrd. In 1961, Byrd returned from a tour of South America, where bossa nova music was booming. The style was an invention of singer Joao Gilberto and songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim - an adaptation of infectious Brazilian samba rhythms with the harmonic structures and "cool" surface of West Coast jazz. Byrd brought records for Getz to hear, they scheduled a session, and the result was "Jazz Samba" -- the first album of true bossa nova music by jazz artists, and the one that started the bossa nova craze in 1960s America. The original recordings were produced by Creed Taylor. Recorded February 13, 1962 at Pierce Hall, All Souls Unitarian Church, Washington, D.C. When guitarist Charlie Byrd toured South America in 1961, bossa nova was just booming there - a new style that fused Brazilian samba rhythms with the harmonic structures and cool sound of West Coast jazz. No sooner had he returned home than Byrd played tenor saxophonist Stan Getz the records he had brought back from Brazil. Soon after, they did their first sessions together, which would result in 1962's "Jazz Samba" - the first album of bossa novas played by jazz artists. And it was to trigger the huge bossa nova wave that quickly swept around the world. Verve Acoustic Sounds series: stereo, mastered in full analog by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the original tapes, QPR pressing (180 g), sturdy tip-on gatefold (Stoughton Printing), padded inner sleeve.