Bossa Nova Songs

Two wonderful LPs presenting Zoot Sims playing bossa nova songs, as well as jazz standards in a bossa nova mood arranged by Manny Albam and Al Cohn: New Beat Bossa Nova (Colpix SCP435), and its sequel, New Beat Bossa Nova Vol. 2 (Colpix SCP437). Recorded in 1962, these were among the first albums to combine bossa nova and jazz…

Bossa Nova translated as the "new beat" or "the new style", grew out of Rio De Janeiro in 1958. The instigators were a handful of artists with a desire to break from tradition, developing the samba rhythms with the influence of cool American jazz to find a music with such a warm soul and natural rhythm that no-one can help but tap and sway to its beat. Bossa Nova is palm trees swaying, it is like melting sugar in hot coffee, it is the setting sun and warm sand underfoot. It is the sound and beat of Brazil, it is one of the world's coolest musical styles and it remains to this day one of the world's great musical treasures.

One of the great piano masters of all time, Oscar Peterson scores on this wonderful collection of three discs. Put simply, if you are a fan, this is just what you expect from Mr. Peterson, top notch interpretations of a wide variety of classic songs. As they say, when Oscar plays it, oftentimes it's as though you've never heard it before!

After saluting Antonio Carlos Jobim's lesser-known songs on The Other Side of Jobim, Ana Caram turned to his more famous work with equally splendid results on Bossa Nova. Jobim had recently died when she recorded the CD in January 1995, and the singer/guitarist felt that another tribute was in order. While Other Side purposely avoided standards, Bossa Nova is full of them. Anyone with even a casual knowledge of Brazilian pop-jazz and the bossa nova will be familiar with such standards as "The Girl From Ipanema," "Agua de Beber" and "Chega de Saudade." But while Caram's choices may be obvious, her treatment of them isn't. From "O Pato" to "Double Rainbow," everything on Bossa Nova sounds personal and individualistic rather than cliched.