Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (LP) Vinyl

Getz/Gilberto is the 1964 Verve album that carried bossa nova out of Rio de Janeiro and into the mainstream, pairing the American tenor saxophonist Stan Getz with the Brazilian singer and guitarist João Gilberto and the pianist and composer Antônio Carlos Jobim. It is one of the best selling jazz albums ever made, having passed a million copies, and it is widely credited with popularising bossa nova worldwide.

The Album

Recording began on 18 March 1963 at A&R Recording Studios in New York and was completed the following day. Creed Taylor produced; the studio's owner, Phil Ramone, engineered. Jobim played piano and wrote or co-wrote nearly every track, with Milton Banana on drums and pandeiro and Sebastião Neto on double bass. Neto went uncredited because he had been signed by another label, so Getz's regular bassist Tommy Williams was listed in his place, an error carried over onto many later pressings.

Astrud Gilberto, who had never sung professionally before, was brought in for two songs: "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)". Her quiet, almost whispered delivery became one of the defining sounds of bossa nova and launched her career. "Doralice" and "P'ra Machucar Meu Coração" are older sambas rather than Jobim compositions, and root the record in the tradition that came before bossa nova. Jobim's piano playing is deliberately minimal throughout, contributing only what each song needs. Taylor held the tapes back for nearly a year, fearing the album would fail commercially, and it finally appeared in March 1964.

At the 1965 Grammy Awards it won Album of the Year, the first non-American album to take the category, along with Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group, and Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical. "The Girl from Ipanema" won Record of the Year. Rolling Stone placed the album at number 447 in its 2012 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Vibe included it among the 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century, and it was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.

The Artwork

The sleeve reproduces an abstract painting by the Puerto Rican artist Olga Albizu, who also painted the covers of several other Getz bossa nova releases.

This Pressing

This is the Verve and UMe reissue, a single black vinyl LP cut in stereo and carrying catalogue number 5355156.

Tracklist

Side A

1. The Girl From Ipanema (5:15)
2. Doralice (2:45)
3. P'ra Machucar Meu Coração (To Hurt My Heart) (5:07)
4. Desafinado (4:05)

Side B

1. Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) (4:15)
2. Só Danço Samba (Jazz Samba) (3:30)
3. O Grande Amor (5:25)
4. Vivo Sonhando (2:52)