Brazilian jazz

Last updated

Brazilian jazz can refer to both a genre, largely influenced by bossa nova and samba, that exists in many nations and the jazz music of Brazil itself.

Contents

Música instrumental Brasileira

The term "música instrumental Brasileira", which literally means "Brazilian instrumental music", is used in Brazil as a generalized term to refer to jazz as well as several instrumental forms of art music drawing on national styles such as choro, samba and bossa nova. The term's ambiguity allows for the fact that Brazilian musicians themselves do not always have much in common with each other and might be willing to play in several genres. Terms for subgenres such as brazuca, ecm, and fusion are more specific to jazz.

Examples of musicians associated with this instrumental style include Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti, Moacir Santos, and Zimbo Trio.

Jazz or jazz-influenced music has at times been controversial for being seen as representing a foreign "contamination" of native forms like choro. On the other hand bossa nova, a jazz influenced form of Brazilian music, was popular among the upper-class and sometimes faced criticism for being "bourgeois." [1]

Bossa nova and jazz

Bossa's relationship to jazz, and popularity with American jazz musicians, led to Brazilian musicians, such as Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, spending time in the United States and connecting to its jazz scene. This, combined with earlier collaborations between America jazz musicians and bossa nova artists, also led to "Brazilian jazz" as a kind of genre American musicians, notably Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd played. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Samba Brazilian musical genre

Samba, also known as samba urbano carioca or simply samba carioca, is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Having its roots in Brazilian folk traditions, especially those linked to the primitive rural samba of the colonial and imperial periods, it is considered one of the most important cultural phenomena in Brazil and one of the country's symbols. Present in the Portuguese language at least since the 19th century, the word "samba" was originally used to designate a "popular dance". Over time, its meaning has been extended to a "batuque-like circle dance", a dance style, and also to a "music genre". This process of establishing itself as a musical genre began in the 1910s and it had its inaugural landmark in the song "Pelo Telefone", launched in 1917. Despite being identified by its creators, the public, and the Brazilian music industry as "samba", this pioneering style was much more connected from the rhythmic and instrumental point of view to maxixe than to samba itself.

Music of Brazil Music and musical traditions of Brazil

The music of Brazil encompasses various regional musical styles influenced by European, African and Amerindian forms. Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as forró, repente, coco de roda, axé, sertanejo, samba, bossa nova, MPB, música nativista, pagode, tropicália, choro, maracatu, embolada, frevo, brega, Brazilian funk, modinha and Brazilian versions of foreign musical styles, such as rock, soul, hip-hop, disco music, country music, ambient, industrial and psychedelic music, rap, classical music, fado, and gospel.

Bossa nova is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovative syncopation of traditional samba from a single rhythmic division. The "bossa nova beat" is characteristic of a samba style and not of an autonomous genre.

Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which includes samba and bossa nova.

Antônio Carlos Jobim Brazilian musician

Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, also known as Tom Jobim, was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger and singer. Considered one of the great exponents of Brazilian music, Jobim internationalized bossa nova and, with the help of important American artists, merged it with jazz in the 1960s to create a new sound with popular success. As such he is sometimes known as the "father of bossa nova".

Black music is music created, produced, or inspired by black people, people of African descent, including African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including Caribbean music, Latin music, Brazilian music and African-American music. These genres include spiritual, gospel, rumba, blues, bomba, rock and roll, rock, jazz, salsa, R&B, samba, calypso, soul, kwaito, cumbia, funk, ska, reggae, dub reggae, house, Detroit techno, amapiano, hip hop, pop, gqom, afrobeat, and others.

João Gilberto Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist, pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova

João Gilberto was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist, who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world he was often called "father of bossa nova"; in his native Brazil, he was referred to as "O Mito".

Música popular brasileira or MPB is a trend in post-bossa nova urban popular music in Brazil that revisits typical Brazilian styles such as samba, samba-canção and baião and other Brazilian regional music, combining them with foreign influences, such as jazz and rock.

Choro Brazilian music genre

Choro, also popularly called chorinho, is an instrumental Brazilian popular music genre which originated in 19th century Rio de Janeiro. Despite its name, the music often has a fast and happy rhythm. It is characterized by virtuosity, improvisation and subtle modulations, and is full of syncopation and counterpoint. Choro is considered the first characteristically Brazilian genre of urban popular music. The serenaders who play choros are known as chorões.

Baden Powell (guitarist) Brazilian guitarist

Baden Powell de Aquino, known professionally as Baden Powell, was a Brazilian guitarist. He combined classical techniques with popular harmony and swing. He performed in many styles, including bossa nova, samba, Brazilian jazz, Latin jazz and MPB. He performed on stage during most of his lifetime. Powell composed many pieces for guitar, such as "Abração em Madrid", "Braziliense", "Canto de Ossanha", "Casa Velha", "Consolação", "Horizon", "Imagem", "Lotus", "Samba", "Samba Triste", "Simplesmente", "Tristeza e Solidão", and "Samba da Benção". He released Os Afro-sambas, a watershed album in MPB, with Vinicius de Moraes in 1966.

Latin rock is a term to describe a subgenre blending traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featuring Spanish or Portuguese vocals. This has led to controversy about the scope of the terminology.

<i>Getz/Gilberto</i> Album by Stan Getz and João Gilberto

Getz/Gilberto is an album by American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto, featuring pianist and composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, who also composed many of the tracks. It was released in March 1964 by Verve Records. The album features the vocals of Astrud Gilberto on two tracks, "Garota de Ipanema" and "Corcovado". The artwork was done by artist Olga Albizu. Getz/Gilberto is a jazz and bossa nova album and includes tracks such as "Desafinado", "Corcovado", and "Garota de Ipanema". The last received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and started Astrud Gilberto's career. "Doralice" and "Para Machucar Meu Coração" strengthened Gilberto's and Jobim's respect for the tradition of pre-bossa nova samba.

Pixinguinha Brazilian composer

Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, known as Pixinguinha was a Brazilian composer, arranger, flautist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. Pixinguinha is considered one of the greatest Brazilian composers of popular music, particularly within the genre of music known as choro. By integrating the music of the older choro composers of the 19th century with contemporary jazz-like harmonies, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, and sophisticated arrangements, he introduced choro to a new audience and helped to popularize it as a uniquely Brazilian genre. He was also one of the first Brazilian musicians and composers to take advantage of the new professional opportunities offered to musicians by the new technologies of radio broadcasting and studio recording. Pixinguinha composed dozens of choros, including some of the best-known works in the genre such as "Carinhoso", "Glória", "Lamento" and "Um a Zero".

Charlie Byrd American jazz guitarist (1925–1999)

Charlie Lee Byrd was an American jazz guitarist. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, he collaborated with Stan Getz on the album Jazz Samba, a recording which brought bossa nova into the mainstream of North American music.

Samba rock is a Brazilian dance culture and music genre that fuses samba with soul, rock, and funk. It emerged from the dance parties of São Paulo's lower-class black communities after they had been exposed to rock and roll and African-American music in the late 1950s.

Ethno jazz, also known as world jazz, is a subgenre of jazz and world music, developed internationally in the 1950s and '60s and broadly characterized by a combination of traditional jazz and non-Western musical elements. Though occasionally equaled to or considered the successor of world music, an independent meaning of ethno jazz emerged around 1990 through the commercial success of ethnic music via globalization, which especially observed a Western focus on Asian musical interpretations. The origin of ethno jazz has widely been credited to saxophonist John Coltrane.

Marcos Valle Musical artist

Marcos Kostenbader Valle is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has produced works in many musical styles, including bossa nova, samba, and fusions of rock, soul, jazz, and dance music with Brazilian styles. Valle is regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian artists of all time.

Johnny Alf Brazilian musician

Alfredo José da Silva, popularly known as Johnny Alf, was a Brazilian musician, sometimes known as the "Father of Bossa Nova".

Edison dos Santos Machado was a self-taught Brazilian drummer and composer. Through his creation of the samba no prato and his early recordings, he helped shape Brazilian samba and bossa nova. Throughout his life, he collaborated frequently with a variety of musicians including Chet Baker and Ron Carter and was recorded in over 50 albums until his sudden death in 1990. Despite the impact he made as one of the founders of bossa nova his name has been largely forgotten.

Samba-jazz or jazz samba is an instrumental subgenre of samba that emerged in the bossa nova ambit in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Brazil.

References

  1. E. Taylor Atkins (1 November 2003). Jazz Planet . Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp.  41–58. ISBN   978-1-57806-609-4.
  2. Bill Kirchner (14 July 2005). The Oxford Companion to Jazz. Oxford University Press. pp. 556–558. ISBN   978-0-19-518359-7.