Verve Jazz Masters 9

Performer: Astrud Gilberto
Artist: Stan Getz; Joao Gilberto; Gil Evans; Marty Paich
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Astrud Gilberto (vocals); Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim (vocals, guitar); Gil Evans (arranger, piano); Marty Paich, Don Sebesky, Claus Ogerman, Al Cohn (arranger, conductor); Bud Shank (alto saxophone, flute); Stan Getz (tenor saxophone); Joao Donato (piano); Kenny Burrell (guitar); Grady Tate (drums). Compilation producers: Michael Lang, Gene Lees. Recored in New York, New York and Los Angeles, California between 1964 and 1966. Includes liner notes by Gene Lees. All tracks have been digitally remastered. This is part of the Verve Jazz Masters series. Astrud Gilberto's entry in the nicely appointed Verve Jazz Masters compilation series shows exactly why the Brazilian singer is deserving of such an accolade. In her '60s heyday, Gilberto was often derided by jazz purists for her vibrato-less "desafinado" (deliberately slightly off-pitch) singing style and deadpan, childlike voice. But the diminutive bossa nova star has since been a huge influence on dozens of jazz and pop singers. VERVE JAZZ MASTERS is less of a greatest hits package than it is a smartly balanced retrospective of many of Gilberto's best performances. Her biggest hits, "Call Me" and "Summer Samba," are not included, and her signature tune, "The Girl From Ipanema," is only represented by a live take from a 1964 Carnegie Hall concert. The collection places equal emphasis on Gilberto's bossa nova-style interpretations of jazz standards and on her signature Portuguese-language sambas. The smartly packaged CD also features remastered sound and several rare photographs.

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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