Monday, March 31, 2014

Desafinado - Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd

Samba Week!


Song: Desafinado
Artist: Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd
Album: Jazz Samba




Let's take a bit of a detour this week...

Over the past six months or so I've started to get into Samba, the Brazilian dance and musical genre which started in the beginning of the 20th Century and has roots in Africa, from the West African slave trade and African religious traditions.  Samba has become a key cultural expression of Brazil and Brazilian Carnival.  It became popular in the 30s and 40s with the likes of actress Carmen Miranda helping it receive more attention.  The late 50s and 60s saw the sub-genre Bossa Nova become popular, which morphed through the 70s and 80s into Samba Funk, etc.  (There are many sub-genres)

At this point I am no expert, but have found myself oddly drawn to this type of music as of late and a bit of Jazz in general.  So this week will simply highlight some great, classic records I've discovered and can serve as a light 101 course or dipped toe into the world of Samba.

While not the first Samba album I heard (we'll get to that later) Jazz legend Stan Getz's collaboration with guitar virtuoso Charlie Byrd Jazz Samba from 1962 is a great starting point.

Jazz Samba is considered the first American Jazz Bossa Nova albums to hit the scene and helped build excitement for the genre.  Getz won a Grammy for best Jazz Performance in 1963 for the first track, "Desafinado" which was written by Antonio Carlos Jobin & Newton Mendonça.

I love listening to this album in the morning on weekends, and it's a nice way to ease into a Monday AM.  I'll be building a Samba playlist via Spotify this week which you can follow below.



Enjoy!

Desafinado
Samba Dees Days

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