Stan Getz - Big Band Bossa Nova (Verve Acoustic Sounds Series)

Stan Getz's Big Band Bossa Nova arrived in 1962, right in the first wave of bossa nova's breakthrough in the US, and it catches Getz extending that Brazilian-inspired sound into a larger orchestral setting. Coming after Jazz Samba and before Jazz Samba Encore! and Getz/Gilberto, it forms part of the Verve run that helped bring bossa nova to North American audiences. Produced by Creed Taylor, with arrangements and conducting by Gary McFarland, the album pairs Getz's characteristically lyrical tenor with brass-and-woodwind charts that keep the music airy rather than overblown.

Recorded in August 1962 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York, the session brings in first-rate players including Jim Hall, George Duvivier, Mel Lewis, Doc Severinsen, Tommy Williams and Brazilian percussionists José Paulo and Luiz Parga. That combination matters: the record doesn't just borrow repertoire, it balances Brazilian rhythm with American big-band writing in a way that gives tunes like “Manhã de Carnaval,” “Chega de Saudade” and “Samba de Uma Nota Só” both sweep and ease. Getz stays at the center throughout, floating over the ensemble with the relaxed tone that made him such a persuasive guide to this music.

More than a sidestep, Big Band Bossa Nova shows how quickly Getz and Verve developed the possibilities opened by his earlier Brazilian projects. If Jazz Samba introduced a new mood, this album scales it up without losing its poise, making it a particularly appealing chapter in his early-60s catalogue.

Features

• Verve Acoustic Sounds Series reissue
• Mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab from the original analog master tape
• All-analog remaster
• 180-gram LP
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
• Stereo
• Deluxe gatefold jacket
• Stoughton tip-on jacket

Genre: Jazz