Soon after that I heard an imported album by Joao Gilberto, whom many people consider the father of the bossa nova (it really means nothing more than new thing), and this only intensified my interest in this remarkable, swinging, subtle, lyrical music, particularly the tunes of one Antonio Carlos Jobim.
When early in 1962 an opportunity came to me to spend six months in Latin America, including Brazil, I seized it, partly because I had long felt that we in North America knew far too little about the millions of people we share the Western Hemisphere with. In that regard, things haven't changed much. But part of the reason I wanted to go was to find out about this new music, this bossa nova.
And so in May or thereabouts, which is our spring but their autumn, I was in Rio de Janeiro. A music publisher had given me the telephone number of Joao Gilberto. He spoke no English and turned over the telephone to his wife, Astrud, who spoke it at least a little. She gave me Jobim's phone number, I called, and he invited me that evening to his home a short distance from the sea at Ipanema, a long, curved sand beach which is one of the glories of that city.
When I entered the small house, Joao Gilberto was sitting on a sofa surrounded by a vocal quartet called the Carioca Boys. He was playing guitar and, with them singing harmony, rehearsing a song by Jobim called "So Danco Samba". By now I had made a study of Jobim's tunes, and I understood a lot of the Portuguese lyrics. He and I went to the kitchen and he poured Scotch for both of us. I remember standing by the refrigerator with him when he said, "I'm crazy, but he" — indicating Joao in the other room — "is more crazy." Most of our conversation was in French, however. Jobim spoke little English then and I little Portuguese. His ancestry is French, hence the name. I told him I believed many of his songs could be translated into English, and I thought I knew how to do it. He encouraged me to try, and before I left Brazil, I had written English lyrics for "Corcovado" and "Desafinado", which became known respectively as "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" and "Off Key".
When Jobim came to New York for a Carnegie Hall concert, I introduced him to Gerry Mulligan, whose music—by the testimony of both Antonio and Joao—was an important influence in the development of bossa nova. Jobim told me: "The authentic Negro samba in Brazil is very primitive. They use maybe ten percussion instruments and four or five singers. They shout and the music is very hot and wonderful.
"But bossa nova is cool and contained. It tells the story, trying to be simple and serious and lyrical. Joao and I felt that Brazilian music had been too much a storm on the sea, and we wanted to calm it down for the recording studio. You could call bossa nova a clean, washed samba, without loss of the momentum. We don't want to lose important things. We have the problem of how to write and not lose the swing."
They didn't lose it. And they influenced American jazz almost as deeply as American jazz had influenced
And so in May or thereabouts, which is our spring but their autumn, I was in Rio de Janeiro. A music publisher had given me the telephone number of Joao Gilberto. He spoke no English and turned over the telephone to his wife, Astrud, who spoke it at least a little. She gave me Jobim's phone number, I called, and he invited me that evening to his home a short distance from the sea at Ipanema, a long, curved sand beach which is one of the glories of that city.
When I entered the small house, Joao Gilberto was sitting on a sofa surrounded by a vocal quartet called the Carioca Boys. He was playing guitar and, with them singing harmony, rehearsing a song by Jobim called "So Danco Samba". By now I had made a study of Jobim's tunes, and I understood a lot of the Portuguese lyrics. He and I went to the kitchen and he poured Scotch for both of us. I remember standing by the refrigerator with him when he said, "I'm crazy, but he" — indicating Joao in the other room — "is more crazy." Most of our conversation was in French, however. Jobim spoke little English then and I little Portuguese. His ancestry is French, hence the name. I told him I believed many of his songs could be translated into English, and I thought I knew how to do it. He encouraged me to try, and before I left Brazil, I had written English lyrics for "Corcovado" and "Desafinado", which became known respectively as "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" and "Off Key".
When Jobim came to New York for a Carnegie Hall concert, I introduced him to Gerry Mulligan, whose music—by the testimony of both Antonio and Joao—was an important influence in the development of bossa nova. Jobim told me: "The authentic Negro samba in Brazil is very primitive. They use maybe ten percussion instruments and four or five singers. They shout and the music is very hot and wonderful.
"But bossa nova is cool and contained. It tells the story, trying to be simple and serious and lyrical. Joao and I felt that Brazilian music had been too much a storm on the sea, and we wanted to calm it down for the recording studio. You could call bossa nova a clean, washed samba, without loss of the momentum. We don't want to lose important things. We have the problem of how to write and not lose the swing."
They didn't lose it. And they influenced American jazz almost as deeply as American jazz had influenced
them. As the years went on, Jobim continued to develop. The samba is by no means the only rhythm indigenous to Brazil. Africa's influence runs very deep, particularly in the north, and the musical folklore is very rich. In later years Jobim reflected in his music this varied musical tradition; the bossa nova years were behind him. Increasingly his songs reflected his interest in the ecology of the planet and its disruption. "We are building a desert, my friend," he said to me once in Los Angeles.
tracks
tracks
01. Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) (4:17)
02. Vivo sonhando (Dreamer) (2:39)
03. So danco samba (3:39)
04. Desafinado (Off Key) (2:47)
05. Aguas de Marco (Waters of March) (3:35)
06. O grande amor (5:29)
07. Agua de beber (2:53)
08. Chovendo na roseiro (Double Rainbow) (3:15)
09. O morro nao tem vez (6:55)
10. Fascinating Rhythm (2:12)
11. Insensatez (How Insensitive) (2:57)
12. Inutil Paisagem (Useless Landscape) (3:11)
13. Favela (3:25)
14. Por todo minha vida (2:06)
15. Triste (2:43)
16. Borzeguim (4:23)
Aquas de Marco
Borzeguim
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