2009 marks the 45th anniversary of Getz/Gilberto, the album that established bossa nova in the international market - something that came at the right time, as the popularity of the unapologetically apolitical genre had begun to wean in its native Brazil.
But it was not like Verve Records was excited about it at the time: in early 1964, Verve producer Creed Taylor finally decided to release the product of two days of recording sessions done in September of 1963 with saxophonist Stan Getz, Bra
Washington PossatoSamba is not just a single musical genre; it's actually subdivided into countless sub-genres ranging from the party-friendly Carnaval beat to the highly subtle bossa nova made famous by the likes of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto. However, among the best-loved in Brazil (and least-known internationally) is the variation called samba-canção, a more melodic style that especially thrives in Rio de Janiero.
Samba-canção's lyrics are mostly romantic, waxing poetic about