Charlie, Stan, Tom, Joao, & oh yeah, Astrud, too

I first started paying attention to music after I received a transistor radio for Christmas in 1963-just in time for the British Invasion.  Like most kids my age, I listened to Top 40 radio and reserved my greatest attention for the Beatles, the Stones, the Animals and on and on.  One of the good things about Top 40 radio in the sixties, however, was that what made it on to the playlists wasn't just rock 'n roll or teen-oriented songs.  One song that caught my attention during the summer of 1964 that didn't fit the "yeah, yeah, yeah" formula was "The Girl From Ipanema," an example of a Brazilian style called Bossa Nova.  The beat was unusual and appealing, and the singer sang softly and (what, when I grew older, and understood these things, I would consider), seductively.  "The Girl From Ipanema" peaked at #5 and the album from which it came, Getz/Gilberto, made it to #2 on the album charts, bested only by the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night.  The song and album both won "best-of" Grammys in their respective categories and the album won Grammys in two other categories as well.  Although there was a Bossa Nova fad in the early-mid sixties, my interest was limited to the one song and only for the short time it was on the airwaves.  Fast forward about 25 years to when I decided to buy a copy of the Getz/Gilberto lp at a used record sale for a local NPR station.  When I put it on the turn table (yes, I had hung on to my turn table) I was blown away.  The music still sounded fresh and I was pleasantly surprised that the album contained a longer version of "Ipanema" than what had been played on the radio back in 1964.  I've had a bit of a thing for Bossa Nova ever since.



















So, enough rambles about my history with Bossa Nova.  What's the back story on Bossa Nova in the U.S. and how "Girl From Ipanema" came to be a hit?  Stan Getz, of the eponymous Getz/Gilberto album did not bring the Bossa Nova to the U.S., nor was this his first Bossa Nova album.  Guitarist, Charlie Byrd, is usually credited with being a major force for importing the music to the U.S. after he discovered it on a State Department-sponsored trip to South America in 1961.  By that time tenor man Getz, who had been around for some time and was considered one of the founders of the Cool School of jazz, was looking for something new and fresh.  Getz met Byrd while playing in Washington D.C.  Byrd played some tapes for Getz that he had brought back with him from his trip and told Getz that he couldn't find anyone to record this "new" music.  Well, Getz was his guy, and the duo recorded the album Jazz Samba.  Interestingly, because of the acoustics, this album was recorded at All Souls Unitarian Church in D.C.  To Getz' surprise, both the album and one of the singes, "Desafinado," became hits on the pop charts; "Desafinado" would also win a Grammy.






In March, 1963 Getz entered the studio to record what would become Getz/Gilberto, this time including two of the pioneers of the genre, pianist and composer, Antonio Carlos (Tom) Jobim and guitarist/vocalist Joao Gilberto.  Unlike the single played on the radio, the album version of "The Girl From Ipanema" begins with Joao Gilberto singing the lyrics in Portugese.  Gilberto, who was extremely shy, did not feel confident enough to sing the lyrics in English, so Getz prevailed upon his wife Astrud, who had never sung professionally, to sing the English lyrics to that song and on another song on the album, "Corcovado (Quiet Night of Quiet Stars)."   The album also contained a vocal version of "Desafinado," which is a nice parallel to the instrumental version of the Jazz Samba session.





Getz would make a total of seven Bossa Nova albums.  None would approach the commercial success of the first two, but they all contain some worthwhile music.  Getz and Astrud Gilberto would team up again on Getz au Go Go, recorded live at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York.  Featured below is "One Note Samba" from that session. 



The next selection is "Um abraco no Getz (a tribute to Getz)" from Jazz Samba Encore, which Getz recorded with guitarist Luiz Bonfa and Jobim.  The Penguin Guide deems both Jazz Samba albums as excellent, and claims that Getz/Gilberto remains peerless.

Although Charlie Byrd actually brought Bossa Nova to the U.S., it is no accident that Stan Getz is the American most associated with the Brazilian style. Both he and Jobim agree that Bossa Nova was influenced by the cool jazz of the late 1940s and '50s, of which Getz was a major figure. That he, in turn, should be influenced by Jobim and his collaborators is only logical: a 1960s musical NAFTA.

Anita's Progeny, Pt. 2: Chris Connor

Just as Anita O'Day recommended June Christy as her replacement in the Stan Kenton Orchestra, Christy, after tiring of the road life with the Kenton band, heard Chris Connor sing with Jerry Wald on the radio and recommended her.  Connor had long had her sites on performing with the Kenton band, and she felt her succession of Christy and O'Day made musical sense, “My voice seemed to fit the band, with that low register like Anita’s and June’s."  Like her two predecessors, Connor also had a hit record with Kenton, "All About Ronnie."  Although her tenure with Kenton lasted only about ten months, prior engagements with Claude Thornhill and the previously-mentioned Wald meant that Connor had been on the road almost continuously for almost six years.  She was ready to go it alone when she left Kenton in 1953.





Upon leaving Kenton, Connor became one of the first jazz artists to sign with the independent label, Bethlehem.  The musicians with whom she recorded on that label included some significant figures from the period: Ellis Larkins, Herbie Mann, Kai Winding and J.J.Johnson.  While with Bethlehem, Connor recorded what critic Will Friedwald designated as the definitive female version of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life."





Connor's three successful recordings with Bethlehem caused some of the larger labels to take notice and helped Atlantic to stake their claim in the jazz world when she signed with that label in 1956;  she would record with that label until 1962.  The three Bethlehem albums and the 12 she recorded with Atlantic (2 per year is a pretty good pace) are considered to be the essential body of Connor's work. While with Atlantic Connor primarily recorded with three types of ensembles: a foursome, a larger ensemble (often a nonet), and a string orchestra.  Many of the larger orchestrations were arranged by conductor Ralph Burns, while pianist Ralph Sharon, who would go on to a long and successful collaboration with Tony Bennett, arranged much of the smaller ensemble work.  One album, Double Exposure,  that didn't fit these categories featured Connor singing in front of the big band of trumpet pyrotechnician, Maynard Ferguson.  Most, if not all, of the Atlantic catalog is available as individual CDs, plus Atlantic has compiled a "best of" collection, Chris Connor Warm Cool,  selected jointly by the singer and critic Will Friedwald.

Friedwald, in comparing Connor to O'Day, described her singing this way, "But mainly, when you think of O'Day, think spontaneity, when you think of Connor, think control.  Think also of an O'Day-ish voice whose shaping of lines and phrases owes more to Holiday, Sinatra, and Lee.  Think of understatement but not undersinging or "minimalism.""  Scott Yanow considered her, along with Christy and Lee, as symbolizing the cool jazz of the 1950s. He wrote, "Her straightforward, vibratoless delivery gives one the impression that she is both vulnerable and very guarded ..."

As teen-oriented music began to dominate the charts in the 1960s, Connor, like many other jazz singers, lost her contract with a major label.  Unfortunately for this blog, the Chris Connor who dominates You Tube is a British Elvis impersonator, and I can't find any videos from her Atlantic years to include.  What follows, however, are two videos of songs Connor recorded on minor labels in the mid-60s that still represent what Friedwald and Yanow wrote about.





Along with many other jazz artists, Connor spent time and gained popularity in Japan during the late '60s and '70s.  She did experience a resurgence in the '80s.  Here is "Sweet Happy Life" from 1987's Classic album.



On August 29, 2009, Chris Connor was the last of the vo-cool school of singers to depart this earth.  She was 81.