Antonio Carlos Jobim – Getz / Gilberto

I’d been listening to jazz since before I could walk, listening to my uncle’s Heathkit system with it’s single huge mono speaker planted center stage in the middle of the room. At 13 in 1964, all I could do was stand there with my hands on my hips saying, “It’s so open Bee, so restrained, but expansive, so clean.” This album is an in the pocket celebration of Bossa Nova (which approximately translates to “new wave), a Brazilian genre originating from samba and jazz, characterized by its 2/4 time signature, an understated but dynamic drum beat, finger-picked guitars and soft, romantic vocals.

In its day, this was a top selling album, an easy going and melodic twist, the music Roy Lichtenstein was listening to as he painted his Ben-Day dots, yet wrapped within all of that ease are stories told and retold, notes that were able to pull me far deeper into the mix than I ever dreamed was possible. There are certainly no pretenses to be found here, nothing to be discussed or rationalized, no essential groundings, though as I suggested, don’t go thinking this is dismissive easygoing material either, it’s a seminal festival of the sound and the genre, as fresh and clean today as it was then, played from the heart, directly to your ears.

You’ll be hard pressed not to hear cool hipster likes of Gerry Mulligan, Miles Davis or Chet Baker hanging in the background, smiling with contented centered relaxation. The album won four Grammys and stayed on the charts for two years, peaking at no. 2 only because 1964 & 1965 belonged to The Beatles.

*** Miles Davis famously said “Joao Gilberto would sound good reading a newspaper.”

Review by Jenell Kesler