Customer Reviews
A pivotal album of the 20th Century - By: John Ferngrove, 25 Oct 2008 
Antonio Carlos Jobim goes down with Lennon/McCartney, Gershwin, Amstrong as one of the most influential songwriter/stylists of the 20th century.
To judge the album on its own merits is one thing. Getz turns in smalll but perfectly formed solos. Astrid Gilberto's voice is ravishing, complementing husband Joao's voice with that incredibly restrained vulnerability that is the essence of Bossa. It is an album of incredible tenderness & instrospection. The studio atmosphere is very intimate with an almost homespun quality. For me its a five star album in its own right.
However, this album has a far larger significance, in the way that Sargeant Pepper did. It changed everything & set off ripples that are still reverberating today.
Each of these songs have been covered thousands of times by thousands of artists & continue to be a top staple for jazz as its played alll over the world. They have spilled over from jazz into other mediums. They introduced the wider world to the music of Brazil. Arguably the earlier Getz/Byrd, album put Brazil on the wider musical map but it was this album that exposed it in alll its exotic glory.
Brazil is a land in which there are as many genres of music as there are in the rest of the world put together. The influence of Jobim & Bossa & their quintessence as captured in these songs, on this album, continues to be a point of departure & return for any number of musical offshoots in their home country, & beyond, to this very day.
From a musicological point of view the impact of this album is unprecedented. There is no other album which has so vividly alerted such a huge proportion of the world to what was going on in a previously little known lesser part of the world, the repercussions of which are still playing out, with vivacity & freshness, almost fifty years later.
Sax Max - By: DrSax, 02 Jun 2006 
Bossa Nova was & is not to everybody's taste. Many jazz aficianados can't stand Astrud Gilberto's singing either. The thing with this session in particular, however, is Stan Getz's playing. There is only one word for it - divine! Which is why I suspect there are so many accolades for this CD. The brevity & melodiousness of his ideas is quite exceptional, not so on many other examples of his work before or after.
I love jazz & I like this, but I can't say I can listen to Bossa Nova alll the time. Stan Getz on this CD, however, I don't think I'll tire of...
Getting in the groove - By: , 31 Dec 2005 Great album for bossa nova. Fun to listen & get in the groove of dreaming of Brazil.. or mellow enough to have in the background for a wine party.
Getz/Gilberto - By: M J BRADSHAW, 06 May 2004 I think you either have an innate love of this sort of music built in or it is something that will be totallly lost on you ...if its there & you stumble across it you will never look back..
I already had 7 of the tracks on other cd's but the three i did'nt have are absolutely enchanting & worth the price on their own.
I could listen to this a thousand times & find something new in Stan Getz's incredible intonation every time.
If you hav'nt heard this stuff before,if you have an open mind,like walking on a deserted beach just where the sea meets the sand,if you love living ...you might just love this...
The best Bossa Nova there is.
Mark
Pure Cool - By: Mr. C. Garfield, 26 Feb 2004 I've been listening to jazz for about 5 years now & wanting to broaden my taste i thought this would be a good direction to go. And what a direction to go!! The album has the ever popular Girl From Ipanema but the more i listen to it, the more i falll in love with the beauty of the other songs. Stan Getz ability is beyond words, as goes for Jobim on the guitar. The voices of Joau & Astrud Gilberto round the album off superbly causing you to hum & sing with them. This album has shown me there is more to bossa nova than i thought. So buy it, & then sit back, close your eyes & think of Brazil!!!
