Charlie Byrd Music

One of the most beautiful cd's of all time(originally an LP). This album is gorgeous, romantic, and bailable. If you like Brasilian jazz, this is the best, and Byrd is the most skillful bossa nova guitarist. Also Byrd is responisble for bringing the Bossa Nova sound to the USA and turning into jazz con Stan Getz. A great album for the jazz fan who already owns Jazz Samba and wants to discover more great jazz bossa nova.

Without a doubt, this is Byrd's greatest work. You will find yourself spellbound by his playing. He takes no backseat to other musicians in the lineup. It's Byrd out front most the time. 7 added tunes tacked on to the original vinyl reccordings don't do it any justice unfortunately.

If you love Jobim, and guitar, you will love this CD. Also incorporated with orchestra. A lovely Album. I recommend highly! David

Bossa Nova is always fun and flirty but Byrd's precision and verve adds true romance to complete the experience.

I have many many Stan Getz cds. I treasure this box set since 1990 I guess the year that I bought it. I know it by memory now, but nevertheless it always sounds fresh and superb. The quality of the music contained here can't be underestimated maybe only because it had success (something that jazz purist often do, critizise a music only because it sold big numbers). This music is something that words can't do justice. The encounter between Stan Getz and bossa nova and its artists was made in Heaven. Here superlatives are not enough believe us (believe to me and to all the other enthusiastic reviewers). It's a music so beautiful, so perfect that it flows with a divine smoothness. This music seems easy to uneducated people and they may even appreciate it just because it sounds so "simple". But it seems easy only because the musicians who played this music, Stan first, are unbelievable, superb artists. This music is amazing and really, can't change the face of a lot of your days. A lot of people allready told you what you can find here. Everything Stan recorded in bossa fashion. I only want to say that this box has inside itself a lot of happiness that the amazing music Stan and the others who played it will give you for years and years to come. Think about this, money are only paper. This box will send you shivers down your spine for years and will be a pure emotion each time you'll listen to it. What would you choose .. to have a bigger wallet or to be a happier person? I'd pay probably 1000 dollars for this music if it would be the only way to own it.

I've had a copy of this wonderful collection in my possesion in one form or another for the last thirteen years. Once I finally threw out the tattered cassettes, I moved on to this four CD set. I can't praise it enough. It's not just the well known favorites like Girl From Ipanema or Desafinado, but the whole anthology. From the quiet tones of Corcovado to Stan's incredile blowing on So Danco Samba, there's something great on nearly every track. I'm only 31 and I've introduced this CD to the boom box on many occasions around my friends more accustomed to Pearl Jam or old Ozzy and the reaction has always been the same; "Is this elevator music?" But soon they hear the same passionate soul that nearly knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts in the mid '60s (read Phil Schaap's liner notes!) and realize that there's something special here and begin to really enjoy it. It's a warm Summer barbecue or any time you need to kick up your feet after a hard day at work with a cold drink. This is something with which to either complete or begin your samba collection.

There is a line here sung by Astrud Gilberto (from an American song, but never mind) - 'I feel so gay in a melancholy way' - that sums up for me the eternal appeal of bossa nova: beach music cooled with sadness that somehow seizes your tired soul, making it feel warm and happy.

This remarkable set - which, along with 'the Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook', is the only CD I intend to take to my desert island - contains the five prodigious bossa nova albums recorded by Stan Getz in the early 60s: 'Jazz Samba' (the still sparkle-fresh collaboration with Charlie Byrd that introduced bossa nova to the world); 'Big Band Bossa Nova' (a not always successful attempt to combine two mutually exclusive forms, but featuring two epic classics, 'Manha de Carnival' and 'Chega Suadade'); 'Jazz Samba Encore' (an otherworldly masterpiece with Luiz 'Black Orpheus' Bonfa and singer Maria Toldo); 'Getz/Gilberto' (my own treasured favourite, a matchless meeting of four great talents, Getz, Jobim, Joao and Astrud Gilberto) and 'Getz/Almeida' (a rigorous, last gasp jazz workout).

All the great classics are here - 'Desafinado' (will anyone ever spell this right?), 'Insensatez' (swoon), 'O Morro Nao Tem Vez', 'One note samba', 'The girl from Ipanema', 'Corcovado' etc. (you'll know them all even if you think you don't) - together with some less familiar delights. What is perhaps most exceptional is the way Getz adapts like a chameleon to the very different needs of his various collaborators, and yet still retains the distinctive, emotional sax genius we know and love.

There are some extra tracks included as well, including Getz's only collaboration with Baden-Powell, some live numbers with the Gilbertos, and an absolutely blissful, happysad 'It might as well be spring', the only track I've ever heard that actually DOES sound like spring.

Ran into this a couple years ago at the public library and hit the Bossa Nova mother lode. Realized that it would make a perfect gift and serendipitously found it on special sale. Should've bought all the copies I could!

This has to be one of the best box sets ever, both from a musical and an archival point of view. Since the other reviewers have described so well the contents of this collection, I only want to exhort you, the prospective buyer, to keep a sharp eye out for an opportunity to grab it at a favorable price.

In the meantime, let's hope Verve prints more copies. This is music that will never go out of style.

After having having foolishly traded away my vinyl copy, (origianlly released on 5 LP's) I was delighted to find this CD reissue. This is the only place to find Getz's entire Verve output of Samba and Bosa Nova recordings. The first disc is comprised of Getz's collaboration with the late great Jazz/Samba guitarist, Charlie Byrd and contains the classic Antonio Carlos Jobim compostion, Desafino. Disc two finds Getz in the company of Brizil's premier Samba vocalist Joao Gilberto. The combination of Getz's velvety smooth tenor and Gilberto's elegantly cool vocal stylings makes for an astonishing match made in Samba Heaven. Songs from this historic pairing include the highly recognizable The Girl From Impanema and the hypnotic Samba De Uma Nota So, (One Note Samba).

Disc three covers the Getz/Astrid Gilberto hits and includes the lovely Corcovado and It Might As Well Be Spring as well as the enormous international hit, The Girl From Impanema, (not to be confused with the Getz/Joao Gilberto version). This is the recording that put Bosa Nova on the map and caused a huge sensation from Brazil to Japan and all stops in between. As undeniably the biggest hit ever to come out of South America, The Girl From Impenema has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald. The many other highlights found here include Getz in the company of an allstar jazz lineup on the Big Band Bosa Nova sides. While this may be too much material for the casual fan to digest, I suggest you begin with the Getz/Joao Gilberto album. If you find yourself hooked and yearning for more, go directly to this anthology it's worth the time and money.

Brazilian Byrd along with The Bossa Nova Years are my two favorite Byrd CDs. Based on compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim, this is a lyrical and ethereal performance by a talented and versatile guitarist. With Byrd's guitar at the helm and a ravishing orchestra as accompaniment, Jobim's melodies sing and float. The samba is light and melancholic, yet deeply moving.

...than this is a CD for you. Can't beat Charlie Byrd's guitar playing.

I believe that this CD can be considered a chamber-suite for acoustic jazz guitar and small orchestra; and that as such, it is a masterpiece! It's so perfectly performed, arranged and recorded; one gets the feeling that Jobim wrote these pieces specifically for this recording. I guess I wouldn't be letting the cat out of the bag if I said that this is my all-time favorite!

There are actually three important musical aspects of this disc to be considered: Charlie Byrd's consummate performance; Antonio Carlos Jobim's compositional genius; and Tommy Newsom's wonderful arrangements. It would be unfair not to mention Teo Macero's production expertise as well as the technically astute recording itself; however space prohibits elaboration.

Charlie Byrd was undoubtedly a multi-talented musician; and one of his primary talents was his ability to impart the true feeling of a composition - and what un-plumbed depths of feeling are provided for him by Jobim's compositions! Even in less talented hands, Jobim's magnificent melodies and haunting harmonies artfully express Brazilian life - both joyous and sanguine; on this disc we have the perfect collaboration of a master guitarist. Byrd's lush use of the full, expressive timbre of the acoustic guitar gives us the ultimate interpretation of this music.

What can be said about Jobim's genius? And I, like many others, do consider him a true musical genius. People can learn harmony; they can be taught to arrange, write scores, and they can study rhythmic variations. But melody is a gift. Antonio Carlos Jobim had the gift --- and he did the studying as well! "Corcovado" is one of the most beautiful melodies ever written; "Dindi", "Someone to Light Up My Life", and "O Amor em Paz (Once I Loved)" are all exquisitely melodic pieces. But, I have not heard a Jobim piece that wasn't.

Tommy Newsom's arrangements are what, I think, "make" this recording. Arranging is, in a sense, a form of composing, at least a really good arranger makes it seem that way. Newsom's sense of "what" fits "where" is brilliant. He makes all the components of this session musically coherent; emphasizing Byrd's guitar at just the right time, while giving the strings and woodwinds theirs, too! This was recorded before computer mixing techniques and the sophisticated acoustic-electric systems available on any acoustic guitar today; yet the balance between soloist and ensemble is perfect! Newsom, working with the compositional genius of Jobim, and the interpretative genius /technical expertise of Byrd, created a body of work of which any arranger would, and should, be justifiably proud. This is as good as it gets!

Brazilian Byrd along with The Bossa Nova Years are my two favorite Byrd CDs. Based on compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim, this is a lyrical and ethereal performance by a talented and versatile guitarist. With Byrd's guitar at the helm and a ravishing orchestra as accompaniment, Jobim's melodies sing and float. The samba is light and melancholic, yet deeply moving.

This is an excellent album and I'm glad to see that is available in CD now, Charlie is an extraordinary guitarist and his rendition to Tom Jobim's songs is nothing but fantastic, it's one of those albums that you can enjoy by yourself at home or you can play as a background at your party or reunion and enjoy as well; if you like Brazilian-Jazz or Bossa Nova flavored music, this is a must-have for your collection; don't wait another minute and purchase it immediately.