Joao Gilberto – O Mito
Miles Davis once said of João Gilberto, “He could read a newspaper and sound good.”
I, for one, would stand in line to hear João Gilberto read a newspaper, magazine, or phone book start to finish, provided that his guitar was in hand accompanying. On second thought, I would even stand in line for the voice alone and I think that you should consider it as well.
You would be hard-pressed to find a man today with the musical legacy of João Gilberto. To start with, he is credited, along with Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, with inventing the bossa nova. If inventing a major musical style fails to put him on your map, wait till you hear his voice. The soon-to-be 78 year old guitarist took the stage at a JVC Jazz Festival last summer at Carnegie Hall and won reviews that were nothing short of reverential. New York City may not be Rio de Janeiro, but the mellow yet rhythmic sounds of Gilberto’s guitar and his simple richness of voice always takes the listener to those sandy beaches where it all began.
In 1959, Gilberto released his own interpretation of the song Chega de Saudade, written by Vinícius de Moraes and Tom Jobim. Gilberto’s particular style had been honed years earlier into a softly swinging beat and a quiet vocal often sung slightly before or after the beat of the guitar. It was based on the samba, but with more complexity harmonically and was generally taken at a slower tempo. This sensual style became known as the bossa nova, or “new trend.” It was a trend that was destined to stick around.
1962 found North Americans deeply into the bossa nova craze and resulted in the collaboration of Gilberto with Herbie Mann, Charlie Byrd, and Stan Getz. The Grammy winning album Getz/Gilberto also featured Gilberto’s wife at the time, Astrud, who up until that day in the studio had never sung professionally and who went on to become an influential Brazilian musician in her own right. Perhaps the most well known result of this collaboration was the group’s recording of The Girl From Ipanema, written by Jobim and de Moraes, which became an international hit. (If the mention of The Girl From Ipanema has sent you into nightmarish recollections of schmaltzy elevator music, I beg you to take a listen to Gilberto’s singing of the song in Portuguese. Garota de Ipanema will not leave you searching for the emergency exit button.)
In the years since, Gilberto has released a number of collaborative and solo albums exploring the world of Brazilian sound emanating from his fingertips. Said to be famously reclusive, Gilberto frequently shuns interviews and avoids crowds. But the secret is already out and has been for fifty years: João Gilberto is the music of Brazil. It is quite fitting, then, that in his native country he is called O Mito, or “The Legend.” And if that legend ever decides to give that phone book reading a try, I hope he lets me know.
By Ashley Griffin
