 Stan Getz & João Gilberto Easily the masterpiece of the bossa nova craze, Getz/Gilberto is as fresh to listen to now as it ever was, thanks to the timeless songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim and the classic performances of Stan Getz, João Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto. This "summit meeting" is one of the most perfectly realized albums ever recorded, blending cool jazz and Brazilian samba to produce one of those CD's that nearly everyone likes, whether they hear it as a brilliant album or as "great background music." From the familiar friendliness of "The Girl From Ipanema" to the equally great "Doralice," the cool kookiness of "So Danço Samba" and each of Getz/Gilberto's other treasures, every song delivers giddy amounts of pleasure. The playing is uniformly good, especially Getz on sax, truly in his element with the deceptive simplicity of Jobim's compositions. The band plays sparsely, augmenting rhythm and melody but not much more. Jobim's understated piano perfectly complements the voices, and the rhythm section (Milton Banana on drums and Tommy Williams on bass) keeps it cool without falling too much into the background. Joao Gilberto's guitar work is consistently amazing, very unpredictable and totally wonderful. Both Gilbertos' vocals are memorable and charming, and perfect for the occasion. Too many critics have taken Astrud Gilberto, in particular, to task for not being able to "really" sing, but that kind of criticism carries no weight. This isn't opera, and besides, a critic is always a failed musician, right? For the Master Edition reissue of Getz/Gilberto, Verve has added as bonus tracks the original single edits of "Ipanema" and "Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)." The latter, by the way, has probably been more over-covered than the former, although it somehow never got as famous. I probably have ten godfrickin CDs with "Corcovado." All that remains to be said about this album is that it's an acknowledged classic that you'll actually listen to. Perfect as it is, though, the album suffers from overexposure. Contradictory as it may be, sometimes classic can be slightly too classic. 🤷
Review by Amanda Binds |