Big Band Bossa Nova [PA] [Digipak]

Performer: Stan Getz
Artist: Doc Severinsen; Clark Terry; Jim Hall; Bob Brookmeyer; Hank Jones
Distributor: UMD

Notes: Personnel: Stan Getz (tenor saxophone); Gary McFarland (conductor); Doc Severisen, Bernie Glow, Joe Ferrante, Clark Terry, Nick Travis (trumpet); Ray Alonge (French horn); Tony Studd, Bob Brookmeyer, Willie Dennis (trombone); Ray Beckenstein (flute, clarinet); Gerald Sanfino (flute); Eddie Caine (alto flute); Babe Clark, Walt Levinsky (clarinet); Romeo Penque (bass clarinet); Hank Jones (piano); Jim Hall (guitar); Tommy Williams (bass); Johnny Rae (drums); Jose Paulo (tambourine); Carmen Costa (cabassa). Recorded in New York, New York on August 27 & 28, 1962. For many North American music fans, Stan Getz was the figure associated most closely with the Brazilian jazz craze in the early 1960s. Unlike classic albums like GETZ/GILBERTO, however, 1962's BIG BAND BOSSA NOVA sidesteps the delicate, airy quality of traditional bossa nova for a fusion music that folds in the bold, brassy sound of a large jazz ensemble. Bossa nova purists may take issue with the fusion, which loses something of the form's elegance in translation, but there's still plenty to appreciate here. Tight, swinging arrangements, Getz's superb playing, and an excellent selection of tunes (Luis Bonfa's "Morning of the Carnival" and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba" are highlights), make this a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Fresh from the sudden success of Jazz Samba and "Desafinado," Stan Getz asked the 28-year-old, strikingly gifted Gary McFarland to arrange a bossa nova album for big band as a follow-up. Getz is always his debonair, wistful, freely-floating self, completely at home in the Brazilian idiom that he'd adopted only a few months before. McFarland usually keeps things nice and spare (although "One Note Samba" is uncharacteristically cluttered and a bit too discordant for the material), letting his pungent voicings stab the air now and then, while allowing the soloists all the room they want within the confines of producer Creed Taylor's tight timings. Four of the eight songs are by McFarland (none of which would become standards), and Getz makes relaxed impressions with "Manha de Carnival" and "Chega de Saudade." Jim Hall takes the role of acoustic guitarist from Charlie Byrd with his usual fluidity, and Hank Jones ruminates in a boppish way on piano. This album also charted quite respectably (number 13) in the first flush of the bossa nova boom. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz possessed a full, luxuriant tone and a highly melodic improvisational sense. Though he produced consistently rewarding music for the duration of his near 50-year career, he achieved the greatest success in the early '60s when he led the American part of the bossa nova explosion. Indeed, this brilliant fusion of jazz and Brazilian rhythms yielded the tune, "The Girl From Ipanema," which became one of the biggest selling jazz records in history.

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