Customer Reviews

Stan Getz with Guest Artist Laurindo Almeida

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This Stan Getz collaboration with Laurindo Almeida is a jazzier affair than the more pop-friendly likes of 'Jazz Samba' and 'Getz/Gilberto', which probably explains its lack of chart success. The emphasis is less on pop melody and the more superficial pleasures of bossa nova - these instrumental tracks are longer, more involved and intricate, and, with the exception of 'Corcovada', less familiar. With no vocalists to upstage him, Getz takes centre stage, and his playing is much more immediate than on, say, 'Jazz Samba'.

It would be a shame to miss out on this fantastic album, the bossa nova shaping some exceptional old-style jams, with 'Menina Moca' and 'Outra Vez' indelible workouts, sax and chugging guitar sparking with the mesmerisingly monotonous rhythm; while 'Winter Moon' is a nocturnal wonder, gentle troubadour guitar meeting insistent sax to evocative effect.

Among the very best of Getz's Bossa Nova work, Getz w/ Guest Artist Laurindo Almeida is sadly overlooked by most fans who pick up Jazz Samba and Getz/Gilberto. Wholly instumental, like Jazz Samba, but with a mellower, more cool jazz, less driving feel. Exquisite and beautiful all the way through; Almeida-penned cuts like "Winter Moon" and "Maracatu-Too" really stand out.

It's puzzling why this one is so often missed by fans - though the fact that the title and cover art are so distinct from the other Bossa Nova albums might figure into it, as is that it came at the end (1966) of Getz's work in the style. Don't miss it, or the sublime Jazz Samba Encore (1963) either! I listen to both far more often than Getz/Gilberto.

My parents used to play this album when I was a kid. I rediscovered it in college and now it's one of my FAVORITE albums. Stan Getz is relaxed and natural sounding, hitting only the RIGHT notes and playing melodies that stay with you long after the disc stops spinning. Laurindo Almeida plays beautifully, sound like two or three guitars at times... This album is on equal footing with Jazz Samba and other Getz classics. I have no idea why it's so obscure. A must have!

I would have really loved to have a modern CD transfer of this great album, but unfortunately this overpriced Japanese "mini LP" CD is the mono version.

while many other bossa nova albums are tinged with an influence of commercialism and strings, this album is a diamond. unlike many other bossa nova albums, this album features all great players, all who seem to have a very good understanding and knowledge of the music. some of the others albums, such as jazz samba, feel like a jazz take on brazil, which can be good if you wnat that, but this music is true bossa nova, while bringing jazz influencess, Getz fits in perfectly into this extremely different category of music.
As for laurindo almieda, all i can say is wow, what a sadly overlooked figure in bossa nova, and guitar music in general. hes soloing is smart, mature, and playfull, bringing out the best in getz and and company.
Out of every Getz or Bossa Nova album, get this one and Stan Getz with Luiz Bonfa: Jazz Samba Encore, two of the most touching albums i have ever heard in my whole life. buy them together!!
-ian

Getz did five Bossa Nova Albums, albums that defined the musical form. Three are classics. Without Charlie Byrd bringing those Jobim albums back from Brazil and playing them for Getz, Bossa Nova might just have been a world music phenomenon that few heard. Instead it burst on the scene after "Jazz Samba", the only album ever to top the Pop, Rock and Jazz Billboard charts at the same time. Then came the unbelievably popular "Getz/Gilberto", the second best selling Jazz album of all time, after "Kind of Blue".

This is a pleasant but lesser effort. It is not "Jazzier". What made "Jazz Samba", "Getz/Gilberto" and "Jazz Samba Encore!" such classics was how well the musicians played together. Jazz artists form groups with those they like and play well with. Norm Granz, owner of Verve records and Getz contract in the sixties, liked to put together albums with two famous artists and a backup band; Getz and Mulligan, Getz and Brookmeyer. Sometime this worked really well, sometimes it worked less well. What seems to be missing here is that Getz and Almeida put in workman like performances but the infectious interactive chemistry of the other three Getz Samba albums is not here, sorry to say. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad album, listenable, just buy it last after you have the other three. Getz was getting tired of Bossa Nova by the time this came out and he didn't want to become identified only with this form. About this time Getz cut the non-Bossa Nova "Nobody Else but Me" which Granz refused to release, lest it cut into Getz Bossa Nova sales. That classic album got lost for 30 years not to be found till the 90's, but that's another story. Getz then left Bossa Nova albums behind, except for the occational tune. Almeida had made an earlier album with Bud Shank, in '58, before Bossa Nova was known in America, "Brazilliance", where he played with a similar detachment.

Bossa Nova was Brazilian originator A. C. Jobim's melancholy, Getz-ish take on Samba. Jobim loved Getz sound in the fifties and fashioned his Bossa Nova songs on a combo of the two. "Bossa Nova" is Portuguese for "New Wave" or "New Fashion". Samba is more raucous and percussive than Bossa Nova, by and large. Like the classic "Jazz Samba", like Samba, "Getz/Almeida" uses polyrhythm drumming with two drummers in later cuts like "Maracatu-too". Getz redo of the "Getz/Gilberto" classic hit "Corcovado" seems to lack energy here.

This album gets 3 & 1/2 stars on my extra tough grading system for being representative of the majority of Getz efforts, but not a 5 star classic. Others will probably disagree, there is always someone who loves everything.

Laurindo Almeida is one of my favorite guitarists. He was a real talent, perhaps in the shadow of some of the other greats from Brazil when Bossa Nova was so popular like Baden Powell, Luiz Bonfa, Joao Gilberto, etc. etc. But here I think he shines brightly with none other than Stan Getz who really was "the Sound".

I can't say it enough - I love this album. Granted, it is very short - just under 30 minutes of music. But in that time you have some tracks that take you to that time, to a summer sunset. Listening to the vinyl though hold's something a bit more special to me, but both formats have all the songs from the feature - the difference being that the CD actually has an additional track - a rendition to "Corcovado". But I love Menina Moca and I think my other favorite is Maracatu-Too. It's almost impossible not to like the bossa in that song, which keeps the track so tight and moving... let alone Stan Getz's sax layered over the piano and Laurindo's guitar as the notes take off.

Definitely check this one out. I think it's woefully underrated out of all of the great Stan Getz Bossa Nova collaborations. It's purely a matter of taste but it's certainly one of my top two, if not number one (depending on the mood). And if you do like this, check out Getz/Gilberto, Stan Getz Big Band Bossa Nova and especially Getz/Bonfa, which features Luiz Bonfa's wife, Maria Toledo, with stunning & haunting vocals.

Probably anyone who likes bossa nova will like this mid-60s album containing great songs such as the ballad "Winter Moon", the lively, percussive "Maracatu-Too", and the standard "Corcovado". The recording isn't perfect, but it sufficiently displays the tones of Getz' sax and Almeida's guitar. The total time is quite short for CD, about a half-hour, but that's a minor concern considering the quality of the music.

This CD is one of the absolute best ever recorded Bossa Nova!Getz and Almeida are at their best. The unique flavor of bass playing by George Duvivier is amazing. Recorded in 1963 but released in 1966, this is a must-have for all bossa lovers like me. Of the many versions of Jobim's "Outra Vez" in my vast collection, this one is the best. If you don't like this album, you don't like Bossa Nova.

Takes You back to the old time when influence from Brazil became famous. No one could do it better than Stan Getz.