Bossa nova, in Portuguese, literally means “the new thing,” and the style that a group of Brazilian musicians including Jo[t {a}]o Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim developed in the ’50s was at least a new hybrid — part samba, part jazz, deliciously complicated but meant to be played with a touch so light that it seemed easy.
When jazz saxophonist Stan Getz collaborated on an album with a few of the architects of the new Brazilian sound, Gilberto suggested that his wife Astrud — who had never sung professionally — try her hand at a couple of tunes. Her performance on the English translation of Jobim’s tune “Garota de Ipanema” was as natural and quiet as breathing. It’s the recording that brought bossa nova to an international audience; in the popular imagination, singer, song and style all blended into one another (it’s a song about a girl who’s like a song, set on the beach of Rio de Janeiro). Eventually, its airy chords became a symbol for its entire form, and for an outsider’s romantic vision of sunny, faraway places.
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