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
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
craze, and introduced several standards of the genre (including
Ary Barroso
's
"Bahia"
and
Antonio Carlos Jobim
"Desafinado"
"Samba de Uma Nota So"
[aka
"One Note Samba"
]). But above all,
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
records to the U.S. and introducing
to the style -- have the perfect touch for
's delicate, airy texture. For his part,
Byrd
was one of the first American musicians to master
's difficult, bubbling syncopations, and his solos are light and lilting. Meanwhile,
's playing is superb, simultaneously offering a warm, full tone and a cool control of dynamics; plus,
's gently off-kilter harmonies seem to stimulate
's melodic inventiveness even more than usual. But beyond technique,
intuitively understands the romanticism and the undercurrent of melancholy inherent in the music, and that's what really made
such a revelatory classic. Absolutely essential for any
jazz
collection. ~ Steve Huey