Joao Gilberto Music

Live and created in an environment rich with fans... good recording. Excellent material from another of the brilliant Gilberto family... recommended...

...it really is inspiring to hear Joao still traveling down this solitary path, so many decades later.

It's rare that one musician becomes the catalyst for an entirely new genre of music -- Bill Monroe is really the only other example I can think of -- and that is what Gilberto was to the bossa nova. Here, on a simply-but-clearly recorded set from Tokyo, Joao shows that no amount of hipster butt-kissing, e-z-listening schmaltz, or fern-bar cheezballs can have any impact whatsoever on what is still his own personal voyage. The delicacy and poignancy in his music has only grown over the years, and this is a tremendously vulnerable, bittersweetly wounded performance that is soulful yet sophisticated, weary yet resilient.

Joao's pivotal early recordings are out of print, unfortunately, due to his own widely-publicized cantankerousness. I'm not sure this is the best place for a newcomer to start, as he does take some remarkable liberties with phrasing and such. In the context of his career as a whole, they make more sense than they do being heard by fresh ears...but I think, when it comes down to it, any one can enjoy and appreciate this set.

I will whine a little about the packaging...the Japanese pressing of this, which was available a couple of months before the US edition, has great liner notes, cool textured paper inserts, full lyrics, and complete set lists from his Japanese tour dates. This has...very little, printed on boring glossy stock. But I guess we should be thankful that it came out in the US at all!

This is one of the better live recordings of Joao Gilberto, and is a nice companion to the Live in Montreux album released in 1987. He may just be one man with a guitar, but his performances recorded live here at Tokyo International Forum Hall in September 2003 demonstrate Gilberto's vibrancy and easygoing approach toward music. The acoustic nature of the performances can become monotonous at times, but taken in proper doses this is an excellent album. Joao Gilberto in Tokyo belongs on the shelf of bossa nova enthusiasts everywhere.

...not so good as "Amoroso"("Sweety") and "João"!

João Gilberto is a living legend but his bad humor is frequent although His Voice lingers on!

He is very gentle and kind with the chords of his guitar "as cordas do meu violão*". He is a perfeccionist!

Like Caetano Veloso sings in "Pra Ninguêm" of the CD "Livro"("Book") "Better than the Silence... only João"

The Best voice in Brazil Still is His!


*in "Corcovado - Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars"

And I mean this in a good way. I own a number of Gilberto's albums, and this one shocked me like none of them did. The phrasing is radically different from most any other rendition of the same songs I've heard from him. This is something Gilberto is famous for, but at least I think this one album is the most striking one I've heard so far in this regard from him. (I haven't heard the 1996 Umbria Jazz recording yet, though.)

The sound is much, much clearer than the Montreux or Ao Vivo live albums, and the applause isn't as loud. The sequencing is done very well, no noticeable gaps between tracks.

I do think the performance of "Bolinha de Papel" is not very good.

Live and created in an environment rich with fans... good recording. Excellent material from another of the brilliant Gilberto family... recommended...

...it really is inspiring to hear Joao still traveling down this solitary path, so many decades later.

It's rare that one musician becomes the catalyst for an entirely new genre of music -- Bill Monroe is really the only other example I can think of -- and that is what Gilberto was to the bossa nova. Here, on a simply-but-clearly recorded set from Tokyo, Joao shows that no amount of hipster butt-kissing, e-z-listening schmaltz, or fern-bar cheezballs can have any impact whatsoever on what is still his own personal voyage. The delicacy and poignancy in his music has only grown over the years, and this is a tremendously vulnerable, bittersweetly wounded performance that is soulful yet sophisticated, weary yet resilient.

Joao's pivotal early recordings are out of print, unfortunately, due to his own widely-publicized cantankerousness. I'm not sure this is the best place for a newcomer to start, as he does take some remarkable liberties with phrasing and such. In the context of his career as a whole, they make more sense than they do being heard by fresh ears...but I think, when it comes down to it, any one can enjoy and appreciate this set.

I will whine a little about the packaging...the Japanese pressing of this, which was available a couple of months before the US edition, has great liner notes, cool textured paper inserts, full lyrics, and complete set lists from his Japanese tour dates. This has...very little, printed on boring glossy stock. But I guess we should be thankful that it came out in the US at all!

This is one of the better live recordings of Joao Gilberto, and is a nice companion to the Live in Montreux album released in 1987. He may just be one man with a guitar, but his performances recorded live here at Tokyo International Forum Hall in September 2003 demonstrate Gilberto's vibrancy and easygoing approach toward music. The acoustic nature of the performances can become monotonous at times, but taken in proper doses this is an excellent album. Joao Gilberto in Tokyo belongs on the shelf of bossa nova enthusiasts everywhere.

...not so good as "Amoroso"("Sweety") and "João"!

João Gilberto is a living legend but his bad humor is frequent although His Voice lingers on!

He is very gentle and kind with the chords of his guitar "as cordas do meu violão*". He is a perfeccionist!

Like Caetano Veloso sings in "Pra Ninguêm" of the CD "Livro"("Book") "Better than the Silence... only João"

The Best voice in Brazil Still is His!


*in "Corcovado - Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars"

And I mean this in a good way. I own a number of Gilberto's albums, and this one shocked me like none of them did. The phrasing is radically different from most any other rendition of the same songs I've heard from him. This is something Gilberto is famous for, but at least I think this one album is the most striking one I've heard so far in this regard from him. (I haven't heard the 1996 Umbria Jazz recording yet, though.)

The sound is much, much clearer than the Montreux or Ao Vivo live albums, and the applause isn't as loud. The sequencing is done very well, no noticeable gaps between tracks.

I do think the performance of "Bolinha de Papel" is not very good.

A very good start to understanding the lure of Samba in Brazil. It will open your ears and eventually your eyes to the simple reasons that so many of us "gringos" head South for Carnival, New Year's Eve, Summer, or for the weekend. This albumn is truly Brasil. Valeu!

This album is billed as a Joao Gilberto Album, it's NOT! Only 2 tracks are Joao (En Conversa & Astronauta), the rest are various uncredited Brazilian bands of varying quality doing OK versions of Samba standards. To add insult to injury it has 14 tracks listed, and it actually has only 8 on the CD! And no liner notes whatsoever.

I give it one star because an album with even 2 Joao songs is still worth owning. But this one is not worth buying.

I heard a double album a few years back that was Joao doing all Samba numbers, and I thought this was it. I was wrong. I'm still looking.

If you are looking for great Joao, try these live albums: Ela E' Carioca, Live in Montreaux, and Ao Vivo: Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar. They are all wonderful! Solo voice & guitar he is at his best!