Customer Reviews

Desafinado

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You'll forgive the reviewer behind me who so foolishly referred to "Joao's death" several years ago. Folks, it is November of 2003 and Joao is still very much alive and kicking, and his voice is still as vibrant and singular as it ever was. He performs very rarely, though he did a small tour earlier this summer, and I flew up for the night to San Francisco to hear him play at the intimate Masonic Auditorium. He played and sang flawlessly without any accompaniment, and hypnotized the audience.
This album, and most of Joao's earliest recordings, are unbelievably hard to find. I finally gave up and downloaded them all from Kazaa. This collection, titled "Desafinado", includes the earliest songs which constituted what would eventually be called bossa nova, most importantly "Chega de Saudade" and "Outra Vez." Fans of his 2 early albums with Stan Getz will recognize "Corcovado", "Desafinado", "O Pato", "Rosa Morena", and several others in their original versions. Also notable on these early recordings is that you will hear Joao Gilberto singing with a touch of vibrato, which he very quickly eradicated from his style after these recordings were made. The two highlights on this album for me are the two ballads "Coisa Mais Linda" and "Insensatez", two quintessential examples of Jobim's style of songwriting. Some of these tunes also find Jobim leading a small understated orchestra behind Joao. These recordings, and about 20 others, can be found on "The Legendary Joao Gilberto", a CD that is--surprise, surprise--out of print. Someone needs to get on the ball.

I am big fan of Joćo Gilberto and bossa nova and I agree with all reviews which were posted here. However, the artist who appears in the cd is not Joćo Gilberto, but Tom Jobim ! (A very poor painting made from a Tom Jobim picture.) This is really a shame.

Regards from Rio,
Carlos Maia

Sometimes it's necessary for a human being to feel lonely. It's because of some peculiarities of the psyche. Not to craze your should be for a little in complete solitude... That is what in my humble opinion this perfect album is intended for. Yes. For listening to it in solitude...

I have always been a fan of Bossa Nova and love it still with "older" recordings of Luis Bonfa, Antonio "Tom" Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Jaoa Gilberto's first wife, Stan Getz, and of course Joao G. himself. Unfortunately, while Joao's early recordings remain luminously evanescent [ya' know-brilliantly swell![ he did not age well. Joao died a few years ago and his voice simply did not age well, altho his guitar playing remained terrific. This album consists of his early recordings, his voice is sweet and lyrical, and these particular songs were "sweetened, strings or trombone or piano added in a studio, but I love it. In fact I prefer these sweetened versions because the arrangements and musicianship is wonderful. A must have for your Bossa collection!