João Gilberto | Artist
João Gilberto was a Brazilian guitarist, singer and composer born 1931 in Juazeiro, Brazil. He was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Born into a wealthy merchant family, Gilberto dropped out of school at the age of 18 to dedicate himself to music, beginning as a singer at the Rádio Sociedade da Bahia. His first recordings were released as 78-rpm singles between 1951 and 1959. In 1956 he met Antonio Carlos Jobim who was working as a composer, producer and arranger with Odeon Records. Jobim was impressed with Gilberto's new style of guitar playing and set about finding a suitable song to pitch the style to Odeon management. In 1958, Elizete Cardoso released the famous LP Canção do Amor Demais, containing songs by Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. The record is regarded as the beginnings of the so-called "bossa nova beat" with João Gilberto accompanying Cardoso on guitar. In August of that year, Gilberto released "Chega de Saudade" b/w "Bim Bom", recorded at Odeon, with collaborations from Jobim. This record inaugurated the bossa nova genre and soon became a commercial success. Musically, Gilberto's style combines traditional elements of samba with more contemporary jazz. His unique acoustic guitar style involved a syncopated rhythm of plucked chords, with chord progressions rooted in the jazz tradition, and his vocal style was laid-back and understated. Gilberto first married the singer Astrud Weinert with whom he collaborated on the hit recording of "The Girl From Ipanema". They divorced, and he later married the singer Miúcha, and they had a daughter, Bebel Gilberto, who is also a singer. Late in his career Gilberto lived alone and his final years were marked by money problems as well as declining physical and mental health. On 6 July 2019, Gilberto died at his apartment in Rio de Janeiro, aged 88. Writing in The Guardian after his death, Dom Phillips described the artist as "one of the country's greatest musicians and composers, a reclusive genius in a nation of extroverts whose work recalled happier, more optimistic times for a deeply divided nation." In addition to many compositions performed by other artists, Gilberto released ten studio albums, all of exceptionally high calibre. Standout albums include Chega de saudade (1959), O amor, o sorriso e a flor (1960), João Gilberto (1961), Getz/Gilberto (1964), João Gilberto (1973), Amoroso (1977) and Brasil (1981). Around the world João Gilberto was often called the "father of bossa nova" and in his native Brazil, he was referred to as "O Mito" ("The Legend").
Artist Website: wikipedia.org/wiki/João_Gilberto
Featured Albums: João Gilberto
Related Artists: Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Bebel Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim
