Jazzin the Samba

World Samba: The dance is very difficult as performed by Brazilians in comparison to formal \”ballroom\” dancing which is highly stylized. Men and women dance samba differently and together yet without touching. The dance for the women can be characterized as quick symmetrical feet movement with each foot twisting on the heel.

MustHear.com : Each song is anchored by the expert guitar strumming of the classically-trained Charlie Byrd (who had studied under the great Andres Segovia). On such songs as “Samba Triste” or “Bahia,” he solos effervescently, in perfect union with the round, opulent saxophone sound of Stan Getz.

Antonio Carlos Jobim : In ”Samba De Uma Nota So” (music by Antonio Carlos Jobim, original words by Newton Mendonoca), the A sections are all played on one note per line (hence the name of the song). The B section is scalar and moves around in quick eighth notes.

AllBrazilianMusic : With his brother, Paulo Sergio Valle, Marcos Valle wrote a number of hits and made his first album, \”Samba Demais\”, in 1964. He headed to the United States in the following year, where Walter Wanderley successfully recorded \”Samba de Verão\”.

Wikipedia : Luis Bonfá wrote some of the original music featured in Marcel Camus’ legendary film Black Orpheus, including the numbers ‘Samba de Orfeu’ and his most famous composition, the introspective, melancholy Manhã de Carnaval (translated to English as A Day In the Life of a Fool), which has been among the top ten standards played worldwide, according to The Guinness Book of World Records.

Drummer Cafe : Q : What EXACTLY is a “Jazz Samba”? A : it calls for a steady 1-2 on the kick, kind of a da-dunk, uh, da-dunk, uh, da-dunk…..then when you get that going, your hands are a different story. but once it kicks in, it’s like riding a bicycle…sort of….

White Beetle : Though seen as similar to Jazz, Samba’s development was not really influenced greatly by Jazz and this can be seen in the highly percussive nature of Samba and whereas Jazz tends to focus more on instrumentation.

National Geographic : The word “samba” is thought to be derived from the Kimbundu (Angolan) term semba, which referred to an “invitation to dance” as well as a common appellation for the dance parties held by slaves and former slaves in the rural areas of Rio. These dances involved gyrating hip movements (called umbigada) and had roots going back to the colonial period in the Congolese and Angolan circle dances.

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