João Gilberto
| Birth Name | João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 June 1931 |
| Died | July 2019 (aged 88) |
| Genres | Bossa nova, samba, Latin jazz |
| Instruments | Guitar, singing |
| Associated acts | Not Found |
João Gilberto was born in Juazeiro, Bahia, the son of Joviniano Domingos de Oliveira, a wealthy merchant, and Martinha do Prado Pereira de Oliveira. He lived in his native city until 1942, when he began to study in Aracaju, Sergipe, returning to Juazeiro in 1946. At the age of 14, Gilberto got his first guitar from his grandfather despite disapproval from Gilberto’s father. Still, in Juazeiro, he formed his first band, called “Enamorados do Ritmo”. Gilberto moved to Salvador, Bahia, in 1947. During his three years in the city, he dropped out of his studies to dedicate himself exclusively to music and at the age of 18 began his artistic career as a crooner at the Rádio Sociedade da Bahia.
Video Playlist
1/3 videos
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Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz - Full Album (1963)
2
"The Girl from Ipanema"
3
Disafinado by Joao Giberto
Gilberto’s first recordings were released in Brazil as two-song, 78-rpm singles between 1951 and 1959. In the 1960s Brazilian singles evolved to the “double compact” format, and Gilberto released some EPs in this new format, which carried four songs on a 45-rpm record. In 1956, he returned to Rio and struck up old acquaintances, most significantly with Antônio Carlos Jobim, who was by then working as a composer, producer, and arranger with Odeon Records. Jobim was impressed with Gilberto’s new style of guitar playing and set about finding a suitable song to pitch the style to Odeon management.
In 1963, Gilberto collaborated with American jazz musician Stan Getz on the album Getz/Gilberto which was released the following year. Jobim played the piano for the album while Gilberto’s then-wife Astrud performed the vocals in English while he sang in Portuguese.
Although Astrud Gilberto was only in the recording studio to be with her husband, João Gilberto requested her to sing on several of the tracks as he could not sing in English. This resulted with a duet between the two on the track “The Girl from Ipanema” which became a major hit from the album. At the 7th Annual Grammy Awards, Getz/Gilberto won three awards including Album of the Year, which marked the first time a jazz album received the accolade.
Guitarists Through The Decades
Top 3 João Gilberto Recordings
How To Play Guitar Like João Gilberto
João Gilberto and Stan Getz's Getz/Gilberto (33 1/3 Brazil)
Bryan McCann traces the history and making of Getz/Gilberto as a musical collaboration between leading figure of bossa nova João Gilberto and Philadelphia-born and New York-raised cool jazz artist Stan Getz. And he explains how Getz/Gilberto emerged from the context of Bossa Nova Rio de Janeiro, the brief period when the subtle harmonies and aching melodies of bossa nova seemed to distill the spirit of a modernizing, sensuous city.
