Editorial Reviews

It's comparatively easy to hear most of the touchstones in the bossa nova movement. Virtually all of the work of the masters -- Jobim and Gilberto (or Bonfá or de Moraes -- are readily available. One avenue that previously lay unexplored, however, was the very early days of the bossa, before the introduction to Brazilian music and culture that the world received with the 1959 film Black Orpheus and well before Stan Getz reached the Hit Parade in 1962 with the style-defining single "The Girl from Ipanema." The first major collaboration of Jobim and Gilberto was recorded in 1958, when Gilberto released a single of the Jobim/de Moraes song "Chega de Saudade" backed with his own "Bim Bom." Both were to become Brazilian classics, but not until the release later that year of "Chega de Saudade" as performed by Elizeth Cardoso on another collaborative jaunt for Jobim and Gilberto -- Cardoso's landmark LP Cancão Do Amor Demais. Both the single and the LP are included in full on The Birth of Bossa, but they're just the beginning of a wonderful journey through late-'50s Brazilian pop and the beginning of the bossa. Also appearing are two instrumental sides from the guitar wunderkind Luiz Bonfá, four tracks from the vocal group Os Cariocas, three by guitarist Laurindo Almeida, three by Sylvia Telles (one of them backed by Luiz Bonfá), and two by the obscure Garoto. John Bush, All Music Guide

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