Astrud Gilberto


Renowned Queen of Bossa Nova, International Latin Music Hall of Famer, Latin Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Grammy awardee and ‘The’ Girl from Ipanema, Brazilian jazz legend Astrud Gilberto was the youngest child born to a Brazilian mother and a German father on March 30, 1940 in Bahia, Brazil and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Hereditarily inclined to painting and the arts as influenced by her father, she seemed to be the only one in the family with a talent in music with a unique passion for art.

Formerly Astrud Weinert, she teamed with classmates of a so-called musical clan in her mid-teens. Some of these were songwriters Carlos Lyra, Oscar Castro Neves, Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Boscoli. Her bestfriend amongst these, Nara Leao, who later on became another Bossa Nova artist, was the one who introduced her to Joao Gilberto, the great Father of Bossa Nova, an exceptional singer and guitarist in 1959. They got married and migrated to the United States in 1963. There they started playing native Brazilian music and producing albums with the help of famous jazz and saxophone artist Stan Getz. Notable albums of such collaboration were the first “Getz Au-Go-Go” (1964) and “The Astrud Gilberto Album” (1964) which was then nominated as Album of the Year, both from Verve Records. It didn’t take long before their divorce during the mid ‘60s and her new relationship with her friend and musical partner Stan Genz. She also introduced the sultry, soothing vibes of Brazilian jazz music to the world in her succeeding albums “The Shadow of Your Smile” (1965), “Look to the Rainbow” (1965), Beach Samba (1966) and many more. She bagged the Grammy’s Record of the Year Award (1965) and nominations for Best New Artist (1965) and Best Vocal Performance Female (1966).

Her rise to fame began with her song “The Girl from Ipanema”, a scintillating Brazilian jazz fusion with American pop music which she recorded with former husband Joao Gilberto and then husband Stan Getz. Released in 1977 through Audio Fidelity Records, this seductive yet classy effervescent single sold over a million copies that established her in the music industry as an international jazz sensation and had her inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (2000). The demand for her music grew as she continued to record soundtracks for movies such as “Juno”, “The Deadly Affair” and “Get Yourself a College Girl” in which she also had a special guest appearance like she did in most popular US television shows of all time and in Africa, Japan and Europe. She even recorded the song “Number One to the Sun” for an American aviation company Eastern Airlines advertisement.

Astrud started writing her own songs in the early ‘70s and released albums of her original compositions such as “Astrud Gilberto Now” (1972) and “That Girl from Ipanema” (1977). In one of her albums, her dreams came true as she recorded one of her songs “Far Away” with one of her most admired artists, the legendary Chet Baker. She received an award at the Tokyo Music Festival for one of her compositions “Live Today” which was co-written with Jerome Schur. And in the early ‘80s, she formed a sextet composed of piano, bass, drums, guitar, trombone and percussion, in which her son Marcelo Gilberto joined as a bassist.

In 2002 after being inducted in the world’s most prestigious hall of fame, she took a time off from her public life and continued to push through animal rights’ advocacies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited: August 21st, 2011

Diane Schuur


Diane Schuur, nicknamed Deedles, was born on December 10, 1953 in Tacoma, Washington and grew up in Auburn. This Grammy award-winning American jazz artist despite having a visual impairment grew up to loving and embracing the world of jazz through her father’s piano and her mother’s Duke Ellington and Dinah Washington collection.

Learning to sing her favorite Dinah Washington song “what a Difference a Day Makes” as a toddler, Deedles was indeed a progeny of jazz music as she taught herself piano by ear and developed that culminating gift of vocal prowess. At the age of 10, she had her first live performance at a Holiday Inn in Tacoma. She attended formal piano lessons at the Washington State School for the Blind and in 1971 made her first record entitled “Dear Mommy and Daddy” which was produced by Jimmy Wakely. Then soon after High School graduation she went on and performed around the northwest. An informal audition with trumpeter Doc Severinson in the year 1975 led her to join the Tonight Show drummer Ed Shaughnessy’s group which played at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Her religious jazz rendition of the song “Amazing Grace” led to her discovery by the renowned jazz tenor saxophonist Stan Genz who was amongst the audience. Genz invited her to perform in a talent showcase at the White House in 1982. Her promising return performance scored a record deal with GRP and in 1984, Deedles, her debut album was released.

With 11 released albums over the next 13 years, “Timeless” (1986) and “Diane Schuur and the Count Basie Orchestra” (1987) bagged her two Grammys for Best Female Jazz Vocal Performance and kept her recording with the Basie Orchestra at the number 1 spot on the Billboard Jazz Charts for 33 consecutive weeks. Considered one of the jazz royalties of her time, Deedles’ album “Pure Schuur” (1991) and “Heart to Heart” (1994), collaboration with B.B. King, hit the top spots on the Contemporary Jazz Charts and Billboard Charts, consecutively.

In 1999, she joined the Concord label after an album produced by Ahmet Ertegum on Atlantic records “Music is My Life”. This recording deal released “Friends for Schuur” in 2000 and chart topping collaborations such as “Swinging for Schuur” (2001) with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, “Midnight” (2003) with own version of 13 songs co-written by Barry Manilow, and “Schuur Fire” (2005) a spicy Latin album that featured the Carribean Jazz Project.

Deedles’ unique passion for jazz that sparked in her earlier years highlighting her regard for the music of her parents’ time was further emphasized in her February 2008 album “Some Other Time”, which included her own interpretation of “September in the Rain” recorded in 1964 at the Holiday Inn in Tacoma when she was only ten. This album features songs by George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Sammy Cahn, Rogers and Hammerstein and many more. Furthermore, this served as her tribute to her late mother who died at the tender age of 31 in her 40th death anniversary.

 

 

 

 

Edited: August 14th, 2011

Anna Wilson


“My goal as an artist is to write original songs that help bridge the gap between the nostalgic musical sounds of the past and add a lyrical modern day touch that can stand on the shoulders of the great Tin Pan Alley composers.” –Anna Wilson

Anna Wilson, the sultry jazz singer and award-winning song writer behind the revolutionary country, jazz and pop fusion album Countrypolitan Duets, was born in Philadelphia and raised in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. Inspired by her mother’s piano music collection, the American songbook standards and the all-time favorite classics of Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland, and after watching the Judd’s concert on her 17th birthday, Anna started writing original compositions that takes one back to Nashville’s musical roots all the while keeping that fresh contemporary beat. She embraced and transcended the vintage tunes of jazz and the lazy afternoon beats of country with utter brilliance and finesse combining them harmoniously into her own music style.

The Nashville Sound era, the country chef d’oeuvre of the ‘50s and ‘60s featuring hits of renowned country royalty Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline, was a time where jazz and country were on two opposite poles. It has been Anna’s dream to bridge that gap that has developed in subsequent decades. In lieu with this concept, she recorded classic country cabaret songs such as “Night Life”, “Walkin’ after Midnight” and “For the Good Times” with a new hip yet sophisticated ensemble in her album Countrypolitan Duets featuring country’s chart toppers like Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts; legends like Connie Smith, Kenny Rogers and Ray Price; and famous jazz musicians Larry Carlton and Rick Braun. She co-produced this album with her husband songwriter Monty Powell. This album’s debut single, in collaboration with American Idol’s Matt Giraud, remained top 1 on the iTunes jazz chart for four consecutive days with regards to Adam Lambert’s twitter endorsement.

With her formerly released albums The Long Way (2003), Time Changes Everything (2007) and original holiday project Yule Swing (2008), she landed on three Billboard charts and ranked 12 on the Overall Jazz Chart. With her composition prowess she helped co-write songs with Billy Ray Cyrus, Brooks & Dunn, Chris Cagle, Lee Ann Womack and Reba McEntire, including “If I Knew Then” with Lady Antebellum in their mega-hit album Need You Now. She even garnered an esteemed ASCAP award in 2008 for her co-written work, “All I Ever Wanted” with Chuck Wick.

Credited by Jazz Times to have a voice like crème de cacao and an inner metronome that swings from age to age, Anna also has shared billings with Al Jarreau, Josh Groban and Keith Urban in her full rendition of “A House, A Home” featuring jazz trumpet Rick Braun for an international public service announcement campaign of Habitat for Humanity. Attributed by the Philadelphia Daily News to be a young Bette Midler, Anna continues to write, sing and co-produce her unique style of music with her award-winning song writer and husband Monty Powell.

Edited: August 6th, 2011

Atlanta Jazz