The myth turns 70
João Gilberto and his smooth MPB revolutions
Marco Antonio Barbosa
15/06/2001
Living legends’ birthdays don’t come around very often - especially when it’s their 70th. João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira turned 70 years old on June 10th. With his guitar beat and his gentle singing, the musician crystallized the paradigm of bossa nova. By doing so, he also changed the directions of Brazilian popular music on the second half of the 20th century, transforming the samba, influencing generations to come, popularizing bossa nova around the world, being copied, and finally becoming... a living legend.
If bossa nova turned into the platform of a whole evolutionary line of MPB from the late 50’s on, then João Gilberto is the living symbol of this evolution. Deconstructing the traditional samba and escaping the "guttural singer syndrome" (and especially attaining a perfect symbiosis between his syncopated guitar and his voice), João gave life to the ideas of the young Tom Jobim - transforming his songs into something no one had ever heard. The milestone of bossa nova (the album Canção do Amor Demais, by Elizeth Cardoso, 1958) made history for featuring the first recordings of João’s revolutionary guitar/voice junction - on Chega de Saudade and Outra Vez. On the three LPs he would record in 59, 60 and 61, the singer forged the definitive format of bossa nova, forever "damaging" the musical development of people like Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Edu Lobo and Tom Zé. "João Gilberto started out as a master and leader of a a movement that would turn the harmonic, rhythmic, melodic and poetic issues of the so called evolutionary line of MPB upside down " defined Tárik de Souza, editor of AllBrazilianMusic.
He introduced Brazilian music to the world through collaborations with Stan Getz in the 60’s. He connected with the Novos Baianos pack, assuming the "spiritual fatherhood" of their generation. He performed the world over, and then returned to Brazil to gather up with his disciples (Caetano, Gil, Betânia) once again. He imprinted his style both on the radio-days samba-canção and on Lobão’s pop song Me Chama. He overcame the limitations of bossa nova, and even denied the style ("What I do is samba", he has said, more than once). And even though he has a reputation of being "difficult", picky and shy, he is certainly the most revered name in the history of Brazilian music.
In 2001, 42 years after having invented the bossa nova, João Gilberto is still in vogue. In February he won a Grammy for best world music album, with his last CD João Voz e Violão. He will be performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland (in one of his appearances at the festival, in 1985, he recorded a flawless live album, Live at the 19th Montreux Jazz Festival). At least two books about the singer are to be released soon: A Poética do Som, by Edinha Diniz, and another one, still untitled, being prepared by Luiz Galvão (former singer with Novos Baianos).
What to hear from João
As incredible as it seems, the basic album trilogy in which João Gilberto defined bossa nova remains unavailable on CD. Chega de Saudade (59), O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor (60) and João Gilberto (61) were compiled on a single CD (entitled O Mito) in 1992 by EMI - who owns Odeon’s back catalog. O Mito (or The Myth) justifies its title, since it has become a legendary disc: João Gilberto himself sued EMI, making them collect the CDs from the stores. The reason: the original order of the songs was changed, the songs were remixed and they mixed A Felicidade and O Nosso Amor into one song, without asking for the singer’s permission. EMI intended to release the three albums separately later on, but is now forbidden to touch the material.
It’s a pity, because O Mito is a seminal album. All the esthetical refinement that João Gilberto brought to samba is contained in the 38 tracks of the album. From the first Tom Jobim classics (Desafinado, Chega de Saudade, Samba de Uma Nota Só, Corcovado, Insensatez, Amor em Paz) to pre-bossa nova MPB songs (Trem de Ferro, by Lauro Maia, É Luxo Só, by Ary Barroso and Luiz Peixoto, or Morena Boca de Ouro, also by Barroso), through his rare compositions (Oba-la-la, Bim-Bom), João imprinted his style on three albums that today bear the status of true music manifestos.
If one wants to learn about the symbiosis sawn together between the MPB and the jazz of João Gilberto in the 60’s, they should look for Getz/Gilberto (1964), a mega-sales hit, only beaten by the Beatles. The album had its first English version of Garota de Ipanema - which, as The Girl From Ipanema, turned into one of the most air-played songs ever. The mixture of Getz’ saxophone with João’s guitar beat changed the course of music and presented the Brazilian modern music to the world (while retiring the Carmem Miranda and her banana-related image).
A sample of the singer’s maturity, 1976’s Amoroso is a favorite among many fans. On this album, João shows his universality while reconstructing classics with style, from the bolero Besame Mucho to the Italian romantic song Estate. New versions of Tom Jobim (Triste, Zingaro, Caminhos Cruzados, Wave) and even of the Gershwin brothers (S'Wonderful) complete the album, on which João Gilberto’s voice and guitar unite with the string arrangements of Claus Ogerman.
To have an idea of João’s smooth and powerful performance on stage, the best thing to do is to go for the aforementioned Live at the 19th Montreux Jazz Festival, featuring voice and guitar only. The album, originally released in 1986 as a double-LP and transposed to double-CD in 1993, contains bossa nova classics and vintage samba songs (Pra Que Discutir Com Madame?, Adeus América, Preconceito).
If bossa nova turned into the platform of a whole evolutionary line of MPB from the late 50’s on, then João Gilberto is the living symbol of this evolution. Deconstructing the traditional samba and escaping the "guttural singer syndrome" (and especially attaining a perfect symbiosis between his syncopated guitar and his voice), João gave life to the ideas of the young Tom Jobim - transforming his songs into something no one had ever heard. The milestone of bossa nova (the album Canção do Amor Demais, by Elizeth Cardoso, 1958) made history for featuring the first recordings of João’s revolutionary guitar/voice junction - on Chega de Saudade and Outra Vez. On the three LPs he would record in 59, 60 and 61, the singer forged the definitive format of bossa nova, forever "damaging" the musical development of people like Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Edu Lobo and Tom Zé. "João Gilberto started out as a master and leader of a a movement that would turn the harmonic, rhythmic, melodic and poetic issues of the so called evolutionary line of MPB upside down " defined Tárik de Souza, editor of AllBrazilianMusic.
He introduced Brazilian music to the world through collaborations with Stan Getz in the 60’s. He connected with the Novos Baianos pack, assuming the "spiritual fatherhood" of their generation. He performed the world over, and then returned to Brazil to gather up with his disciples (Caetano, Gil, Betânia) once again. He imprinted his style both on the radio-days samba-canção and on Lobão’s pop song Me Chama. He overcame the limitations of bossa nova, and even denied the style ("What I do is samba", he has said, more than once). And even though he has a reputation of being "difficult", picky and shy, he is certainly the most revered name in the history of Brazilian music.
In 2001, 42 years after having invented the bossa nova, João Gilberto is still in vogue. In February he won a Grammy for best world music album, with his last CD João Voz e Violão. He will be performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland (in one of his appearances at the festival, in 1985, he recorded a flawless live album, Live at the 19th Montreux Jazz Festival). At least two books about the singer are to be released soon: A Poética do Som, by Edinha Diniz, and another one, still untitled, being prepared by Luiz Galvão (former singer with Novos Baianos).
What to hear from João
As incredible as it seems, the basic album trilogy in which João Gilberto defined bossa nova remains unavailable on CD. Chega de Saudade (59), O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor (60) and João Gilberto (61) were compiled on a single CD (entitled O Mito) in 1992 by EMI - who owns Odeon’s back catalog. O Mito (or The Myth) justifies its title, since it has become a legendary disc: João Gilberto himself sued EMI, making them collect the CDs from the stores. The reason: the original order of the songs was changed, the songs were remixed and they mixed A Felicidade and O Nosso Amor into one song, without asking for the singer’s permission. EMI intended to release the three albums separately later on, but is now forbidden to touch the material.
It’s a pity, because O Mito is a seminal album. All the esthetical refinement that João Gilberto brought to samba is contained in the 38 tracks of the album. From the first Tom Jobim classics (Desafinado, Chega de Saudade, Samba de Uma Nota Só, Corcovado, Insensatez, Amor em Paz) to pre-bossa nova MPB songs (Trem de Ferro, by Lauro Maia, É Luxo Só, by Ary Barroso and Luiz Peixoto, or Morena Boca de Ouro, also by Barroso), through his rare compositions (Oba-la-la, Bim-Bom), João imprinted his style on three albums that today bear the status of true music manifestos.
If one wants to learn about the symbiosis sawn together between the MPB and the jazz of João Gilberto in the 60’s, they should look for Getz/Gilberto (1964), a mega-sales hit, only beaten by the Beatles. The album had its first English version of Garota de Ipanema - which, as The Girl From Ipanema, turned into one of the most air-played songs ever. The mixture of Getz’ saxophone with João’s guitar beat changed the course of music and presented the Brazilian modern music to the world (while retiring the Carmem Miranda and her banana-related image).
A sample of the singer’s maturity, 1976’s Amoroso is a favorite among many fans. On this album, João shows his universality while reconstructing classics with style, from the bolero Besame Mucho to the Italian romantic song Estate. New versions of Tom Jobim (Triste, Zingaro, Caminhos Cruzados, Wave) and even of the Gershwin brothers (S'Wonderful) complete the album, on which João Gilberto’s voice and guitar unite with the string arrangements of Claus Ogerman.
To have an idea of João’s smooth and powerful performance on stage, the best thing to do is to go for the aforementioned Live at the 19th Montreux Jazz Festival, featuring voice and guitar only. The album, originally released in 1986 as a double-LP and transposed to double-CD in 1993, contains bossa nova classics and vintage samba songs (Pra Que Discutir Com Madame?, Adeus América, Preconceito).