Where to start with Bossa Nova

Bossa Nova is a genre from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1956–1964. Its principal artists include João Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. This issue covers 9 essential albums and 15 dated events.

Start here

1
Canção do Amor Demais
Elizete Cardoso · 1958
This is where bossa nova's guitar sound first reached tape, making it the genre's true starting point.
2
Chega de Saudade
João Gilberto · 1959
Original release: Odeon · MOFB 3073 · Vinyl · Brazil 1959
This turned Gilberto's private obsession into a genre and laid down bossa nova's founding blueprint.
3
Jazz Samba
Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd · 1962
Original release: Verve · V6-8432 · 12″ Vinyl · US 1962
This created an American bossa nova craze from nothing, carrying the sound abroad and into the mainstream.

Go deeper

4
Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus soundtrack)
Various · 1959
Producer Sacha Gordine commissioned Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes to score the 1959 film, which retold the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice against the backdrop of Rio's favelas during Carnival.
5
Getz/Gilberto
Stan Getz and João Gilberto · 1964
Recorded in 1963, Getz/Gilberto became the first jazz album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, and its centerpiece, "The Girl from Ipanema," made bossa nova a genuinely global phenomenon.
6
O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor
João Gilberto · 1960
Original release: Odeon · MOFB 3151 · 12″ Vinyl · Brazil 1960
Gilberto's second album, released in 1960 and also known as Brazil's Brilliant João Gilberto, is one of the trio of records — alongside Chega de Saudade and the material that…

For the obsessed

7
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim
Frank Sinatra and Tom Jobim · 1967
By 1967, when this record appeared, bossa nova had traveled far enough from Copacabana's living rooms to sit comfortably alongside the Great American Songbook.
8
Amoroso
João Gilberto · 1977
By 1977, two decades after he'd worked out his guitar style behind a locked bathroom door, Gilberto's perfectionism hadn't softened.
9
Elis & Tom
Elis Regina and Tom Jobim · 1974
Original release: Universal Music Ltda. · Digital Media · Worldwide 1974
Released in 1974, Elis & Tom paired Jobim with vocalist Elis Regina on "Águas de Março" and other tracks, showing how far bossa nova's harmonic language had traveled from its beachside origins.

The stories behind every record are in Bossa Nova, a members' issue.