DC Music History: The album which launched bossa nova….from a DC church hall!
It could only have happened in DC. Thanks to a State Department Cultural Grant in 1960, DC’s Charlie Byrd Trio toured Latin American and Brazil, bringing back albums of the new Brazilian bossa nova sound, created by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jao Gilberto and others in the late 50’s. Their subsequent Jazz Samba album, recorded in the 16th Street Unitarian Church in just 3 hours, became a global smash which introduced bossa nova to the public. Ken Avis produced this full length, documentary, with director/videographer Bret Primack, telling the story of the album and it’s impact on the music world.
Bossa Nova: The Brazilian Music Which Charmed the World
The film was premiered at the Strathmore’s Jazz Samba Project, a two week event celebrating the music, art, dance and film of Brazil, co-curated by Antidote’s Ken Avis and Strathmore. In addition to the performances, the program included a panel discussion which included drummer Buddy Deppenschmidt and legendary recording engineer Ed Greene, the last two living participants of the legendary Jazz Samba recording session. The panel also included Jazz Times journalist David Adler, WPFW G-Strings host Tom Cole, and Brazilian musician and educator Leo Lucini, and can be viewed here.
Multiple articles were written by Ken about the Jazz Samba album and the musical and social context of the era. Here’s a short article: