As a Brazilian teenager and budding guitarist in the late 1950s, Nara Leão befriended many of the singer-songwriters pioneering the bossa nova in Rio de Janeiro. These artists included Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, Ronaldo Bôscoli, João Gilberto, Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos Jobim. Employed at hotels as musicians along the Copacabana beachfront, these soft-sound artists were often invited over to the nearby home of Leão's parents in 1958 to rehearse bossa songs and refine their style. Leão would become known as the "muse of the bossa nova" and a bossa star in her own right. [Photo above of Nara Leão, right, at her parents' apartment with Antonio Carlos Jobim, pointing, and other bossa nova artists in 1958]
Last week, Nelson Porto in Brazil sent along a YouTube video clip of leading bossa nova artists (and an English one) recreating what those rehearsals sounded like. I'm guessing the video is from 2011. Marcos Valle is in a rose T-shirt, Roberto Menescal (who was at the original rehearsals) is in white, famed Brazilian singer Leila Pinheiro is in black, Andy Summers (English guitarist with the Police) is in blue and popular bossa nova vocalist Pery Ribeiro is in the two-toned pink shirt. They are performing Marcos Valle's Samba de Verão, also known in English as Summer Samba. I spoke with Marcos earlier today. "We were all in the former Leão apartment. The current owner had allowed us all to come over and play and tape." By the way, behind Pinheiro is Marco's wife, Patricia, who also is an accomplished singer.
Here's the clip...
JazzWax notes: To read my post on Nara Leão, go here. To read my WSJ "House Call" with Marcos Valle at home, go here.
JazzWax bonus: Here's Leila Pinheiro's Isso é Bossa Nova from 1994. All of the album tracks, featuring Pinheiro's beautiful voice, follow this one at YouTube...
