When did you first hear bossa nova?
Who was playing what instrument?
Were there vocals? If so, by whom?
Among the musical genres you like, where do you rank bossa nova?
How many bossa nova recordings do you own?
What’s the oldest one? the latest?
Who do you think is the best bossa nova artist or group?
Are there any movies you can think of with bossa nova soundtracks?
My favorite old-school bossa nova artist is Walter Wanderley.
My favorite pomo neobossa is the Soul Bossa Trio.
I don’t remember where I first heard it. I was born in 1963, so I’m sure I heard it “around” as a small child. It makes me think of a pretty young woman with big hair and a little Pucci dress, driving a tiny convertible up a seaside switchback wearing giant sunglasses against the Mediterranean sun.
My silliest (and ultimately lamest) recording is Steve Allen’s bossa nova album.
The only movie I can think of is Black Orpheus.
Wanderley was fine. An album he did with Astrud Gilberto is a favorite of mine.
I think it was 1963 or 1964 for me. A woman at the record shop where I was buying oodles of jazz albums recommended the Getz/Byrd “Jazz Samba” as a “new sound called bossa nova” and I was hooked. Soon after that I heard a Howard Roberts album (never bought it) that was at least as good. Then a Barney Kessel. Then a Zoot Sims. So the early ones were either sax or guitar (or both). Eventually Herbie Mann and Dizzy Gillespie expanded the instrumentation and there was even a Gary McFarland “Big Band Bossa Nova.”
It was several years later when I found some older recordings (late 50’s) by Laurindo Almeida and Bud Shank that were closer to the dates when Bossa began making inroads into the USA. I remember reading that Joao Gilberto and A.C. Jobim tried to adapt samba to the sounds of West Coast jazz, a la Mulligan and Baker and others. That supposedly happened in the mid-50’s but didn’t make a big splash in the US until Getz.
As for movies, have you ever seen A Man and A Woman? There are several scenes with bossa backgrounds.