Jazz Samba, Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd

Released in 1962, Jazz Samba is the record that ignited the bossa nova craze in America. Recorded in a Washington D.C. church to capture its natural acoustic warmth, the album brought together Stan Getz's luminous, airy tenor saxophone and Charlie Byrd's nimble, classically informed guitar in a program of Brazilian rhythms and melodies that felt simultaneously exotic and immediately accessible to American ears. The album shot to number one on the Billboard pop charts — a virtually unheard-of achievement for a jazz record — and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1963.

Tracks like Desafinado and Samba de Uma Nota Só (One Note Samba) introduced a generation of listeners to the gentle swing and subtle harmonic sophistication of bossa nova, paving the way for the even more celebrated Getz/Gilberto two years later. It remains a joyful, sun-drenched listen from start to finish.

This Acoustic Sounds pressing applies the same audiophile rigor the label brings to all of its reissues, preserving the natural, airy quality of the original recording with warmth and detail that brings the church acoustic vividly to life.