About

Released in 1962 on Verve, Big Band Bossa Nova followed the success of Stan Getz’s earlier bossa nova projects, expanding the style into a large-ensemble setting with arrangements and conducting by Gary McFarland and production by Creed Taylor. Recorded in August at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio, the album features leading session players – including George Duvivier, Jim Hall, Mel Lewis, and percussionists José Paulo and Luiz Parga – whose interplay grounds the music in authentic Brazilian rhythms while McFarland’s polished orchestration blends samba and bossa nova sensibilities with American big band writing. Getz’s lyrical tenor sax floats effortlessly over the ensemble, unifying Brazilian repertoire and original compositions into a cohesive, richly textured program that, alongside Jazz Samba and Jazz Samba Encore!, played a key role in introducing North American audiences to bossa nova and remains a landmark Verve recording. — (via Label)

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Fresh from the sudden success of Jazz Samba and "Desafinado," Stan Getz asked the 28-year-old, strikingly gifted Gary McFarland to arrange a bossa nova album for big band as a follow-up. Getz is always his debonair, wistful, freely-floating self, completely at home in the Brazilian idiom that he'd adopted only a few months before. McFarland usually keeps things nice and spare (although "One Note Samba" is uncharacteristically cluttered and a bit too discordant for the material), letting his pungent voicings stab the air now and then, while allowing the soloists all the room they want within the confines of producer Creed Taylor's tight timings.

Four of the eight songs are by McFarland (none of which would become standards), and Getz makes relaxed impressions with "Manha de Carnival" and "Chega de Saudade." Jim Hall takes the role of acoustic guitarist from Charlie Byrd with his usual fluidity, and Hank Jones ruminates in a boppish way on piano. This album also charted quite respectably (number 13) in the first flush of the bossa nova boom. — (via AllMusic)

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— Pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl
— Housed in Tip-On gatefold sleeves
— Mastered from the original analog tapes

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Label: Verve Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold
Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 1962
Genre: Jazz, Latin
Style: Bossa Nova

File under: Jazz - Stan Getz
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