Just over 50
years after the release of João Gilberto's and Stan Getz's classic
Grammy®-winning album Getz/Gilberto (1964), and its sequel Getz/Gilberto #2
(1966, both on Verve Records), Resonance Records proudly announces
Getz/Gilberto '76, set for release on February 19, 2016. Getz/Gilberto '76 is
an instant classic collection of never-before-released recordings captured May
11-16, 1976 at the legendary San Francisco jazz club Keystone Korner,
showcasing the legendary Brazilian singer, guitarist and composer João
Gilberto, accompanied by the saxophone icon Stan Getz and his rhythm section of
pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Clint Houston and drummer Billy Hart.
These
recordings were made during João Gilberto's and Stan Getz's weeklong engagement
at the Keystone, which took place nearly 12 years after the release of their
initial award-winning album. The first Getz/Gilberto album sold over one
million copies and almost single-handedly launched the bossa nova craze in
America and around the world. It's been said that the hit single off that
album, "The Girl From Ipanema," is the second most recorded song of
all time, behind only "Yesterday" by the Beatles. The 1976 Keystone
engagement represents one of the very few times this famed duo reunited after
their initial creative collaboration in 1962, and according to the club's
founder and owner Todd Barkan, this engagement was João Gilberto's first public
performance after a four year hiatus.
Getz/Gilberto
'76 is available as a deluxe CD and limited-edition 12'', 33-1/3 rpm LP
mastered by legendary engineer Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at
Record Technology Incorporated (R.T.I.) in a limited edition of 2,000 copies.
Also available digitally for pre-sale on iTunes with 3 "instant
gratification" tracks upon purchase: "É Preciso Perdoar,"
"Chega de Saudade" and "Morena Boca de Ouro."
The famed
jazz club Keystone Korner, located in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood,
opened its doors in 1972 and operated until 1983. The Keystone hosted an
impressive roster of jazz greats, among them Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Art
Blakey, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie
Hancock, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and many, many others. Barkan captured on tape
live performances by the greats who appeared at the Keystone, collecting a
virtual goldmine of archival treasures. In 2011, producer Zev Feldman and the
founder/president of Resonance Records, George Klabin, collaborated with Barkan
to release a few of those gems on the Resonance label. To date, these include
Freddie Hubbard's Pinnacle (2011) and the Jaki Byard/Tommy Flanagan two-piano
collaboration The Magic of 2 (2013). After several years of patient
relationship building, Barkan shared one of his most prized recordings with
Resonance — tapes
documenting a week of performances by the Stan Getz Quartet with special guest
João
Gilberto from May of 1976.
These tapes are truly the "crown jewels"
of Barkan's archives, and represent one of the few times in their careers that
Getz and Gilberto collaborated. Recognizing the significance of this special
engagement, Feldman and Klabin made it their mission to share these recordings
with music lovers in two special, deluxe releases.
Feldman on
Getz's legacy: "We really wanted to give Stan Getz the royal treatment
with these deluxe releases, and we're honored to be able to add a new chapter
to his timeless musical history. He's simply one of the greatest saxophonists
who ever lived and deserves to be heard by new audiences with each generation
so that his legacy continues to grow and grow. Even John Coltrane was a fan and
said 'We'd all sound like that if we could!'" And on working with
co-producer Todd Barkan on these releases, Feldman adds humorously, "It
took a few years of George [Klabin] and I staring over at the corner of Todd's
archives and salivating over those Getz tapes when we would come by, and he'd
just say something like 'Oh, we can talk about those later.' We're so thankful
our persistence paid off in the end, and grateful not only for the amazing
tapes Todd has shared with us, but the great relationship we've built over the
years."
Resonance
worked tirelessly over a number of years tracking down all the appropriate
parties to ensure that both Getz/Gilberto '76 and Moments in Time were fully
endorsed and cleared by both João Gilberto and the Stan Getz Estate, and the
living musicians involved. Both albums will be released on the same day, with
Keystone's Barkan as co-producer on each.
Resonance's
historical releases typically include elaborate books featuring newly
commissioned essays, personal accounts of those involved in the creation of the
music and the recordings, and rare archival photos that provide listeners with
a detailed historical context of everything that went into making that music.
These extensive books have become a defining characteristic of each Resonance
historical release, and 2014's John Coltrane: Offering Live at Temple
University even garnered the label a Grammy award for Best Album Notes (by
Ashley Kahn). Likewise, Getz/Gilberto '76 includes a 32-page book featuring
essays by producers Feldman and Barkan, Stan Getz's son Steve Getz, author and
jazz authority James Gavin, as well as interviews with Brackeen, Hart and bossa
nova legend Carlos Lyra. Included in the package are rare, previously
unpublished photographs by San Francisco's heralded music photographer, Tom
Copi. The deluxe gatefold LP features striking photos from Tom Copi, and a
beautiful painting ("Equilibrium Verde") by the late celebrated
Puerto Rican abstract expressionist artist Olga Albizu graces the cover. Her
paintings also appeared on the album covers for the original Getz/Gilberto and
Getz/Gilberto #2 releases and Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd's first
Brazilian-music collaboration, Jazz Samba (1962).
Bossa nova
(Portuguese for "new trend") became enormously popular in the in the
United Sates beginning in the early 1960s thanks largely to Stan Getz's 1962
releases, Jazz Samba (co-led with Charlie Byrd) and Big Band Bossa Nova
(Verve). Jazz Samba, one of the first important bossa nova releases in the
United States, included arrangements by guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had
recently traveled to Brazil and been exposed to bossa nova, and featured
compositions by noted Brazilian composers. Bossa nova, then a novelty for
Americans, combines many American jazz elements with traditional samba
structures yielding a light, syncopated groove that, while reminiscent of
classic samba, is lighter and more intimate. This new sound immediately
captivated American audiences and caught the attention of jazz and pop fans
alike. It was also quickly adopted by many top jazz and popular musicians,
including Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and even Elvis Presley.
By August 1, 1964, Stan Getz's single "The Girl From Ipanema" (by the
preeminent Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim), drawn from Jazz Samba, hit
the Billboard's top ten list alongside the Beatles, Dean Martin, Roger Miller
and the Supremes. Stan Getz's smooth tenor saxophone sound became synonymous
with bossa nova in the United States. In Billy Hart's interview with Feldman,
he notes, "Stan was considered by many as the number one tenor saxophone
player in the world at that time."
A decade earlier,
in the 1950s, João Gilberto was refining the bossa nova sound in his home
country of Brazil. His guitar playing de-emphasized the percussive quality of
samba, while creating a lightness to the syncopated rhythms that defined the
new sound. In the album book, author James Gavin writes of Gilberto's unearthly
calm: "João had already become a mythic figure. A nondescript man in a
dark suit, he looked like he could have been a banker. Instead, this eccentric
genius, reclusive and painfully shy, had changed the course of Brazilian music
. . . His vibratoless, nasal-toned, sotto voce croon floated with seeming
detachment above his guitar. The push-and-pull between the two was a marvel of
rhythmic and melodic tension and release." Gilberto recorded several of
Jobim's songs and launched the bossa nova movement in 1958 in Brazil with the
recording of "Chega de Saudade," showcasing his groundbreaking guitar
style on a record by Elizeth Cardosa. This song became a celebrated single.
Billy Hart describes João Gilberto as the "Frank Sinatra of Brazil."
Stan Getz
and João Gilberto joined forces in 1963 to record Getz/Gilberto. Their
artistry, talent and broad appeal with the public that each of them enjoyed
combined to create a national sensation in the United States. In his essay for
the Getz/Gilberto '76 package, James Gavin paints a portrait of João Gilberto
in performance: "Gilberto sat on a stool, head hunched over his guitar,
drama-free except for his spacey, enigmatic presence. His music was wistful but
cool; Gilberto was a man of secrets. That seeming detachment lent irony to the
tortured songs he loved. In 'É Preciso Perdoar' (One Must Forgive) — written in the mid-'60s . . .
popularized by Gilberto — Gilberto sings in his humming head voice: 'Dawn has already
broken/You're going to abandon me/I feel you don't deserve forgiveness/I wanted
the illusion, now I am the pain.'"
Getz/Gilberto
'76 begins with Stan Getz introducing João Gilberto as "the most
individual singer of our time — a true originator" and muses over how "a
performer, so gifted, one of the true greats in music should be so hesitant
about public appearance, is just one of those mysteries. But he's here this
week." The album begins with "É Preciso Perdoar'" followed by
the popular Jobim compositions "Águas de Março" (Waters of March) and
"Retrato em Branco e Preto." The 13-song album includes such bossa
nova favorites as "Chega de Saudade," "Doralice" and
"Eu Vim da Bahia." With these songs, Gilberto and Getz seduce the
audience with their incomparable artistry. The passage of time has only served
to underscore the magnitude of what they achieved, first in the '60s and then
here, ten years later at the Keystone in their rare joint appearance. Steve
Getz nicely summarizes this album: "This recording is a jewel; it's a
demonstration of the natural musical chemistry between João and my father. And
it's particularly fine that they were able to make this recording with Joanne
Brackeen, Clint Houston and Billy Hart, my father's stellar sidemen of the day,
in a restrained but relaxed backing of the Brazilian master." Resonance
Records is pleased to unearth this notable historic recording of Stan Getz/Joao
Gilberto '76 and to share this with the public.
Track
Listing
1. Spoken
Intro by Stan Getz (1:07)
2. É Preciso
Perdoar (5:50)
3. Aguas de
Março (5:46)
4. Retrato
Em Branco E Preto (4:47)
5. Samba da
Minha Terra (3:20)
6. Chega de
Saudade (3:42)
7. Rosa
Morena (4:25)
8. Eu Vim Da
Bahia (4:11)
9. João
Marcelo (3:20)
10. Doralice
(3:47)
11. Morena
Boca de Ouro (3:34)
12. Um
Abraço No Bonfá (4:38)
13. É
Preciso Perdoar (Encore) (6:29)
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