“UHP! I’M AN IDIOT.”

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BOSSA NOVA FOR LOVERS
by Various Artists
released: 2003
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The last time I went home to Los Angeles -- (You remember, I told you THAT story in my review for the Huffy Good Vibrations Men's 24-Inch Cruiser Bike. Are you paying attention here, or not?) -- I called the BITTER BROTHERS and arranged a “Bitter Breakfast.” That’s a meeting where a bunch of us macho fellas -- er, I mean, “Men” -- get together to blow off steam over quiche and champagne. Uhm, that is, over Huevos Rancheros and strong, black coffee. (Let’s be honest, the “blowing off steam” part could just as easily be called “Male Gossip”, but... well, you know, I’ve faked a pretty good masculine facade for myself up to this point, and I’d hate to see it all go to ruin now.)
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So, me an’ my Bitter Bros were expressing our bitterness at The Sidewalk Café on Venice Beach one morning (perhaps the definitive “L.A. Experience”) and observing the Frisbee-catching dogs, the rays-catching one-eighth dressed roller-skating babes, and the usual Carnival of Human Freaks parading on the boardwalk past the Café, when I noticed this young cat playing some pretty fancy guitar over yonder. My soul emptied of its bitterness, and my glass emptied of its champa-- er... my cup emptied of its coffee -- I went to talk to the young cat and learned that he was a Russian bloke named VADIM, and I bought one of his self-produced compact discs. 
[“Vadim #1”; vadimrecords at yahoo dot com, or (310) 801-4212]
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Well, I eventually just went crazy for track three: “Bossa-Nova”. And having heard the term about a godzillion times (that’s a lot!), I decided I simply must find out just what BOSSA NOVA really is. So I did an internet search and what I learned is that I have been in love with Bossa Nova music for pretty much my entire life without ever knowing it. 
{*He’s a tad slow, folks, but give him four and a half decades and he’ll figure it out.*}
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You see, as a young kid in the early and mid-1960s, when the Bossa Nova craze was at its zenith, my Grandpa used to play it around his house. My Ma had an 8-Track tape (yeah, I’m bitter AND old, OK?!) containing the gorgeously haunting song “The Shadow Of Your Smile”. I loved it, and the song still makes me think of her. Wait a second...  
 {*Macho fellas don't get teary-eyed, Stephen!*} ... 
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Sorry. OK, where was I? ... Oh, yeah. ... Then later, in my mid-20s, I owned the classic Jazz album “Getz/Gilberto” on Licorice Pizza (that’s LP, not 8-Track!) and I played the hell out of it (well, I would have if there had been any hell in it), falling in love with the beautiful saudade in Astrud Gilberto’s voice. (Saudade? Look it up on Wackypedia.) Only Karen Carpenter’s voice was infused with more, and -- in my opinion -- the standard ballads by Bobby Darin are the only example of Saudade in a male voice. (Despite the jocular exterior, my entire life is one of Saudade, but I don’t know you well enough to tell you more.)
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Then love came to me again in the form of Pat Metheny’s three brilliant Brazilian-influenced albums, “The First Circle”, “Still Life Talking”, and “Letter From Home”. About the same time, I owned a Cannonball Adderley album that included “Clouds” and “Morning Of The Carnival” and they were my favorite cuts, but I couldn’t have told you why exactly. I also loved Vince Guaraldi’s “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” from his “Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus” album, but the Bossa Nova connection eluded me. And when my Good Friend Melanie gave me Angelique Kidjo’s “Black Ivory Soul” recording, I loved it immediately from the first few notes down to the very last ones, and I rarely embrace new music that quickly. But I still hadn’t made the Bossa Nova Connection. 
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It took a Russian cat playing Brazilian music on a California beach to make this American dude finally realize that the thread running through it all has always been Bossa Nova, and that Bossa Nova is the thing I dig! Hey, it required only 43 years for me to piece it all together -- I’m just a mental dynamo! 
{*“Uhp! He’s an idiot.”*}
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So, I just bought “BOSSA NOVA FOR LOVERS”, and here’s my assessment of each of its 16 tracks:
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1. VIVO SONHANDO: Classic! I remember this one from my Getz/Gilberto album. Stan was one of the first major Jazz cats I got into.
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2. WAVE: Wow! I’ve just learned that Antonio Carlos Jobim is the musician who transformed Samba into Bossa Nova.
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3. THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE: [Sniffle! Sniffle!] I want Astrud to sing this one at my funeral.
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4. CORCOVADO: Not the version from the Getz/Gilberto set, but nice guitar from Almeida, and Getz really plays that tenor sax! 
{*Yeah, but can he pitch?*}
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5. MY FOOLISH HEART: Marry me, Astrud! I promise I can learn to behave myself!
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6. AMOR EM PAZ: Sheesh! Talk about Saudade. Love it!
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7. MISTY ROSES: Makes me misty. Astrud, play Misty for me.
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8. DESAFINADO: Jobim is the Boss of Nova.
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9. SO NICE (SUMMER SAMBA): Oh, gee, I swear, I melt. One of my very favorite tracks. Too short! More! More!
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10. WINTER MOON: “Winter” warms my heart. “Great Getz!”
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11. INSENSATEZ: Well, let’s face it, along with “The Girl From Ipanema”, this is the face of Bossa Nova.
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12. DINDI: Astrud sings. What else ya need to know?
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13. BAHIA: Cool!
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14. THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA: I prefer the version with Getz and Astrud, of course, but great melody regardless.
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15. O GRANDE AMOR: Beautiful!
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16. MEDITATION: I dunno. Let me contemplate it further.
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I see that I used the word “love” seven times in this review. I don’t ordinarily use that kind of language, but the collection IS called “BOSSA NOVA FOR LOVERS”, and I guess I’m a lover after all. 
{*Nah. He’s an idiot.*}
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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