Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour

Performer: Astrud Gilberto
Artist: Gil Evans; Antonio Carlos Jobim; Joao Gilberto; Ron Carter; Toots Thielemans; Grady Tate; Stan Getz; Walter Wanderley
Producer: Bryan Koniarz (Compilation)
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Astrud Gilberto (vocals); Marty Paich (arranger, conductor); Gil Evans (arranger, piano); Eumir Deodato (arranger); Joao Gilberto (guitar, background vocals); Toots Thielemans (guitar); Bud Shank (flute); Phil Bodner, Bill Hammond, Hubert Laws, Seldon Powell, Stan Webb (woodwinds); Stan Getz (tenor saxophone); Bernie Glow, Jimmy Nottingham, Ernie Royal, Marvin Stamm (trumpet); Ray Alonge, Earl Chapin, Tony Miranda (French horn); Wayne Andre, Warren Covington, Urbie Green, Tony Studd (trombone); John Horn (tuba); Walter Wanderly (piano, organ); Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Donato (piano); Ron Carter, Tommy Williams, Joe Mondragon (bass); Claudio Sion, Grady Tate (drums); Alan Douglas, Bobby Rosengarden (percussion). Recorded between 1963 & 1967. Includes liner notes by James Gavin. Digitally remastered by Up Light (Universal Mastering Studios East). Like Nico, Astrud Gilberto's everywoman voiced has always had a polarizing effect on critics and fans alike. While her take on bossa nova is less than reverent and decidedly lightweight, the warmth and approachability she brings to each performance is stunning. Verve's lovingly compiled -- and blissfully affordable -- Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour is as solid a collection of her heady mixture of samba, jazz and pop as you're likely to find. Twenty songs, including the classic "Girl From Ipanema," wash in like waves from the warmest of oceans, carrying with them the soft, reverb-drenched soundtrack to summer. If the tropical heat of "Berimbau," the lazy and lonely pulse of Burt Bacharach's "Trains and Boats and Planes" and the upbeat swing of "Wish Me a Rainbow" don't instantly take the drudgery of your day away, then consider yourself hopelessly bitter. Highly recommended. ~ James Christopher Monger An accidental musical icon, Brazil's Astrud Gilberto became one of bossa nova's superstars in the mid-1960s, when she was unexpectedly drafted to sing English lyrics on her then-husband Joao Gilberto's famous '63 sessions with American saxophonist Stan Getz. One of the resulting songs, "The Girl from Ipanema," became a runaway international hit, and soon Astrud was recording her own albums. This 20-track Verve collection compiles many of Gilberto's best recordings from '63 to '69 (and, inexplicably, one tune from '86), showcasing her gentle, laid-back voice and the music's breezy backing arrangements. In addition to the lilting aforementioned single, ASTRUD GILBERTO'S FINEST HOUR also presents the subdued "Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)," both from the GETZ/GILBERTO album, which features the songs' renowned author, singer/multi-instrumentalist Antonio Carlos Jobim. In fact, many of the selections here are penned by Jobim, including the jaunty "A Felicidade" and the string-laden "Photograph." For an ideal introduction to the beautifully delicate and immediately catchy sounds of Astrud Gilberto, there's no better place to start than her FINEST HOUR.

Brazilian vocalist Astrud Gilberto was a key figure in the bossa nova movement that moved beyond Brazil to sweep the world in the early-to-mid 1960s. As a featured vocalist on the landmark 1963 GETZ/GILBERTO release by American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz and Astrud's then-husband, guitarist/singer Joao Gilberto, the young lady from Bahia took the music world by storm, especially on the huge hit "Girl From Ipanema," destined to become a standard. Influenced as much by American "cool jazz" as by the Brazilian composers like Antonio Carlos Jobim whose work she interpreted, Gilberto had a sultry, low-key style that stood out amid the overblown pop productions of the era, and her blend of pop, jazz, and Brazilian sounds helped sow the first seeds of what we now know as "world music."

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