João Gilberto and Stan Getz's Getz/Gilberto

<p>Most die-hard Brazilian music fans would argue that <i>Getz/Gilberto</i> the iconic 1964 album featuring The Girl from Ipanema is not the best bossa nova record. Yet we've all heard The Girl from Ipanema as background music in a thousand anodyne settings from cocktail parties to telephone hold music. So how did <i>Getz/Gilberto </i>become <i>the</i> Brazilian album known around the world crossing generational and demographic divides? <p/> Bryan McCann traces the history and making of <i>Getz/Gilberto </i>as a musical collaboration between leading figure of bossa nova João Gilberto and Philadelphia-born and New York-raised cool jazz artist Stan Getz. McCann also reveals the contributions of the less-understood participants (Astrud Gilberto's unrehearsed English-language vocals; Creed Taylor's immaculate production; Olga Albizu's arresting abstract-expressionist cover art) to show how a perfect balance of talents led to not just a great album but a global pop sensation. And he explains how <i>Getz/Gilberto</i> 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. <p/><b>33 1/3 Global</b> a series related to but independent from <b>33 1/3</b> takes the format of the original series of short music-based books and brings the focus to music throughout the world. With initial volumes focusing on Japanese and Brazilian music the series will also include volumes on the popular music of Australia/Oceania Europe Africa the Middle East and more.</p>