This year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark, four-time Grammy Award winning jazz album GETZ/GILBERTO. Verve/Universal Music Group celebrates with the release of the single-disc GETZ/GILBERTO: Expanded Edition. It includes a newly remastered version of the jazz/bossa nova classic album in both mono and stereo, with the mono version making its CD debut and the stereo album in its original left-right configuration for the first time since its vinyl release. Additional bonus tracks include the U.S. single versions of “The Girl From Ipanema,” a massive hit, and “Corcovado,” its original B-side.
Released on Verve Records in 1964, GETZ/GILBERTO, produced by label head Creed Taylor, was an international sensation, altering the direction of jazz, pop and the samba itself. It became the focus of a huge bossa nova craze, bringing together Getz (tenor saxophone), with Brazilian stars Joao Gilberto (guitar & vocals) and Antonio Carlos Jobim (composer & pianist), who wrote and co-wrote six of the original eight tracks on the album, as well as Joao’s young wife Astrud Gilberto, who was not scheduled to contribute to the album. When Astrud was spontaneously asked to sing new English lyrics to “The Girl From Ipanema,” her charming, sultry vocals made all the difference. “The Girl From Ipanema” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart and went to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. (Astrud is also featured on “Corcovado.”) Other bossa nova classics on the album include “Só Danço Samba,” “Vivo Sonhando,” “O Grande Amor” and “Desafinado.” Backing the main artists is the Brazilian rhythm section of Sebastiao Neto (bass) and Milton Banana (drums).