bossa nova history
genresBOH-sah NOH-vah
A Brazilian genre created in the late 1950s by blending samba rhythms with cool jazz harmonies and intimate vocal delivery, revolutionizing both Brazilian and international popular music.
Bossa nova ("new trend" or "new wave" in Brazilian Portuguese) was created in the late 1950s in the affluent neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. João Gilberto's revolutionary guitar technique — a syncopated fingerstyle approach that internalized samba rhythm into a single guitar part — and his intimate, almost whispered vocal delivery defined the genre's aesthetic. Antonio Carlos Jobim provided the sophisticated compositions, drawing on Debussy, Ravel, and cool jazz for his lush harmonic language.
The landmark album Chega de Saudade (1959) established bossa nova, and the 1962 concert at Carnegie Hall introduced it to American audiences. Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd's Jazz Samba and the collaboration between Getz and Gilberto (featuring Astrud Gilberto's vocal on "The Girl from Ipanema") made bossa nova a global phenomenon. Jobim's compositions — "Desafinado," "Corcovado," "Wave" — entered the jazz standard repertoire permanently. Bossa nova's influence on jazz harmony, singer-songwriter music, and easy listening has been incalculable, and it remains Brazil's most internationally celebrated musical export.
Astrud Gilberto sang on "The Girl from Ipanema" only because she happened to be at the recording session (she was João Gilberto's wife) and could sing the English lyrics — it became one of the most recorded songs in history.