Stan Getz featuring Joao Gilberto - The Best Of Two Worlds / Pure Pleasure

This 1976 album by saxophonist Stan Getz is a reunion with Joao Gilberto, the great guitarist and singer from Brazil, and the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim (or Tom Jobim), based on the elegant arrangements of Oscar Carlos Neves.

The trio Getz / Gilberto / Jobim changed the music in the early 60s with the Getz/ Gilberto albums, and with Neves came almost the same. However, this LP did not receive the attention it deserved. The foursome was accompanied in

their realization of modern bossa nova and sambas by drummers Billy Hart and Grady Tate, percussionists Airto, Ray Armando and Ruben Bassini, bassist Steve Swallow, pianist Albert Dailey and singer Heliosoa Buarque de Hollanda

as a substitute for Astrud Gilberto - who was not invited to the sessions and probably would have declined anyway.

Jobim, whose compositions had reached such a level of sophistication that he was simply unassailable, had decided to write his lyrics in English (as did songwriter Gene Lees) - and this is what is really charming about this album. This was

not natural for Jobim, nor did it come easily to him, however, it sounds like it did. Jobim's poetry in songs like "Waters of March," accompanied by Getz's lushly romantic saxophone tone and Gilberto's sentimental nylon-string guitar, is so sensual

that it exudes heat and sultriness. Elsewhere, in the Lees/ Jobim co-composition "Double Rainbow," for example, Gilberto's vocals shift the soft bossa nova to the center of American jazz phrasing, erecting a bridge so light and agile that it can never

be undone. But there's also fiery samba, "Falsa Bahiana" gliding and fluttering along the 6/8 line and sweeping itself up into duets during the solos. All in all, this album is among the finest Getz has ever recorded, it is among his best work, and it is

without a doubt comparable to his earlier projects with Jobim and Gilberto.

Stan Getz (ts); Joao Gilberto (voc, g); Oscar Castro Neves (arr, g); Heloisa (Miucha) Buarque de Hollanda (voc); Albert Dailey (p); Steve Swallow (b); Grady Tate (dr); Airto Moreira, Ruben Bassini (perc), u.a.

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" LP cleaner to wet wash your vinyl. Even new records of high quality production will benefit from this.

Title

Side 1

1. Double Rainbow

2. Aguas de Março

3. Ligia

4. Falsa Bahiana

5. Retrato en Branco e Prieto

Side 2

1. Izaura

2. Eu Vim da Bahia

3. Joao Marcello

4. E Preciso Perdoar

5. Just One Of Those Things