Getz/Gilberto ’76

When João Gilberto and Tom Jobim slowed down samba and gave birth to bossa nova, a languorous song form that was all curvilinear and softly whispered, it was just a matter of time until its signature found its way to jazz. It was Stan Getz who first picked up on that trail with Jazz Samba (1962), who took on that Brazilian seductive style that seems to crawl right under the skin with its lingering cadence. Getz was already an established jazz saxophonist, a regular with Oscar Peterson, JJ Johnson and Chet Baker, but Jazz Samba would prove to be a seminal step in making him one of the most important promoters of Brazilian music abroad.

Of course his definitive masterpiece on this regard would be the recording of Getz/Gilberto (1964), when he managed to get Gilberto and Jobim into a New York studio. It was purely a matter of letting the tape roll and waiting for this incredible reunion to work its charm. Getz and Gilberto recorded live at Carnegie Hall that same year, got back together in 1975 and a year later they released The Best of Two Worlds with a week's run at San Francisco's Keystone Corner. Getz/Gilberto ’76 gives us access to what happened then, with Getz's quartet unfolding a red carpet to Gilberto's intimate brilliance. And that is the key to this beautiful encounter: not getting in the way of Gilberto's music, adding as few notes to it as humanly possible.