Bossa nova is a well-known style of Brazilian music developed and popularized in the 1950s and 1960s. The phrase bossa nova means literally "new trend". A lyrical fusion of samba and jazz, bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s initially among young musicians and college students. Since its birth, it has remained a vital part of the standard jazz repertoire.
Origin of the Term "Bossa Nova"
In Brazil, the word "bossa" is old-fashioned slang for something that is done with particular charm, natural flair or innate ability. As early as 1932, Noel Rose used the word in a samba:
"O samba, a prontidão e outras bossas são nossas coisas, são coisas nossas" ("The samba, the readiness and other bossas are our things, are things from us").
The exact origin of the term "bossa nova" still remains uncertain. Within the artistic beach culture of the late 1950s in Rio de Janeiro, the term "bossa" was used to refer to any new "trend" or "fashionable wave". In his book Bossa Nova, Brazilian author Ruy Castro asserts that "bossa" was already in use in the 1950s by musicians as a word to characterize someone's knack for playing or singing idiosyncratically. Castro claims that the term "bossa nova" might have first been used in public for a concert given in 1958 by the Grupo Universitário Hebraico do Brasil (University Hebrew Group of Brazil). This group consisted of Sylvinha Telles, Carlinhos Lyra, Nara Leão, Luizinho Eça, Roberto Menescal, et al. In 1959, Nara Leão also participated in more than one embryonic display of bossa nova. This included the 1st Festival de Samba Session, conducted by the PUC's (Pontifícia Universidade Católica) student union. (This session was then chaired by Carlos Diegues, a law student that Leão ultimately married.) While these early musicians were likely using the term "bossa nova" as a generic reference to this novel musical style, the term took hold as the definition of their own specific artistic creation to this day.
Origins and History of "bossa nova" Musical Style
The bossa nova musical style evolved from samba but is more complex harmonically and less percussive. As opposed to Samba's origins in the favelas, bossa nova emerged primarily from the upscale beachside neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. Certain similar elements were already evident, even influences from Western classical music like Gershwin's Cuban Overture with its characteristic 'Latin' clave rhythm. The influence on bossa nova of jazz styles such as cool jazz is often debated by historians and fans, but a similar "cool sensibility" is apparent.
The development of bossa nova is largely credited to artists working in the 1950s including Johnny Alf, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto. One of the first bossa nova songs was "Bim-Bom" by Gilberto.
Other songs that popularized the style included Dorival Caymmi’s "Saudade da Bahia" and Elizete Cardoso’s's recording of "Chega de Saudade" on the Cancao do Amor Demais LP, composed by Vinicius de Moraes (lyrics) and Antonio Carlos Jobim (music). The song was released soon after by Gilberto.
An early influence on bossa nova was the song "Dans mon ile" by French singer Henru Salvador, featured in the 1957 Italian movie Europa di notte by Alessandro Blasetti; the song was distributed in Brazil and covered later by Brazilian artists Eumir Deodato (Los Danseros en Bolero - 1964) and Caetano Veloso (Outras Palavras - 1981). (In 2005, Henri Salvador was awarded the Brazilian Order of Cultural Merit for his influence on Brazilian culture. He received this honor from then singer and Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil in the presence of President Lula.
The initial releases by Gilberto and the internationally popular 1959 film Orfeu Negro ("Black Orpheus", with score by Luiz Bonfa) brought significant popularity of this musical style in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America. It soon spread to North America via visiting American jazz musicians. The resulting recordings by Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz cemented its popularity and led to a worldwide boom with the 1963 recordings of Getz/Gilberto. Numerous bossa nova recordings by famous jazz performers followed, including those of Ella Fitzgerald (Ella Abraca Jobim) and Frank Sinatra (Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim).
The first bossa nova single to achieve international popularity was perhaps the most successful of all time, the Getz/Byrd recording of "Desafinado". This 1962 song and the Grammy Award-winning recording Girl from Ipanema sung by Astrud Gilberto and Joao Gilberto 1964 introduced many people to the bossa nova, and it became a jazz standard. From the popularity of this song, the genre would then endure and withstand substantial "watering down" by popular artists throughout the next four decades.
Instruments
Classical guitar: Bossa nova is most commonly performed on the nylon-string classical guitar, played with the fingers rather than with a pick. Its purest form could be considered unaccompanied guitar with vocals, as exemplified by Joao Gilberto. Even in larger, jazz-like arrangements for groups, there is almost always a guitar that plays the underlying rhythm. Gilberto basically took one of the several rhythmic layers from a samba ensemble, specifically the tamborim, and applied it to the picking hand.
Piano: Though not as prominent as the guitar, the piano is another important instrument of bossa nova; Jobim wrote for the piano and performed on it for most of his own recordings. The piano has also served as a stylistic bridge between bossa nova and jazz, enabling a great deal of cross-pollination between the two. In addition to the piano, the electronic organ is also prominently featured on many classic bossa nova tracks, such as "(So Nice) Summer Samba" by Walter Wanderley.
Percussion: Drums and other percussion are generally not considered essential bossa nova instruments. Nonetheless, there is a distinctive bossa nova drumming style like that of Helcio Milito and Milton Banana, characterized by continuous eighths on the high hat (mimicking the samba Pandeiro) and tapping of the rim or "rim clicks" in a clave pattern. The bass drum usually plays on "1-&3-&1".
Strings: Lush orchestral accompaniment is often associated with bossa nova's North American image as "lounge" music. It is present in many of Jobim's own recordings, and in those of Astrud Gilberto. Dusty Springfield would both feature and epitomize this element on her Philips recording of "The Look of Love", a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and one of the most respected American pop interpretations of the bossa nova. (That version is not the Phil Ramone version Springfield first recorded.) The unique aural texture of bossa strings, when used, is an important secondary characteristic of the genre. Bossa nova is at heart a folk genre, and not all bossa nova records have strings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bossa_nova
Notes by the Blog Author
Most guardians at the gate of jazz denounce soundtracks, stating that a soundtrack can never be jazz. The reason is probably because soundtrack music is performed to exactly match certain events, and therefore there is an improvisational element theoretically required by jazz but, by definition, missing in jazz. Bossa Nova has wriggled around this prohibition in that the soundtrack for Black Orpheus was absolutely essential in broadening the audience for early Bossa Nova.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Bossa Nova represented a reopening of the notion of melody with jazz; it is a near opposite to bebop. Stylistically, it is distinctly different from Blues. The melancholy sensuality of Bossa Nova is never self-pitying or whiny, it infers that such sadness is necessary, respectable, and ultimately antagonistic to pity.
An early and vitally important part in the popularization of Bossa Nova in America came from WMAL disk jockey Felix Grant [subject of an earlier blog entry], whose Album Sound show in the Washington, D.C., area relentlessly played Bossa Nova in the early 1960s. Saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd were essential to the success of Bossa Nova in the United States. Grant put these artists on the airwaves extensively.
Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote "The Look of Love" for the movie Casino Royale, itself a parody of James Bond movies. Brazilian Sergio Mendes went back to his Bossa Nova roots to create a brassy Brasil 66 version using Janis Hansen as the lead vocalist. This cover got a lot of airplay in 1968, especially on rock and roll stations.
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