Desafinado

_________________

Desafinado (m. Antonio Carlos Jobim, w. Newton Mendonça)

According to SecondHandSongs.com, João Gilberto recorded the song first, in November 1958. I don’t know if this is the version which appeared on his debut 1959 album Chega de Saudade. Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd had a major hit in 1962 with a single drawn from the album Jazz Samba. It climbed to #15 on the Hot 100 and #4 on the easy-listening chart (Billboard). An English lyric was written by Jon Hendricks and “Jessie Cavanaugh” (a pseudonym used by The Richmond Organisation). Gene Lees wrote another lyric which, according to Wikipedia, was more closely based on the original Portuguese. Each have been used in recordings.

_______________________

Stan Getz – Charlie Byrd Sextet — recorded at “All Souls Unitarian Church,” Washington, DC, 13 February 1962 — released on Jazz Samba, 20 April 1962

Stan Getz (ts) Charlie Byrd (g) Gene (Joe) Byrd*(g, b) Keter Betts (b) Buddy Deppenschmidt (d) Bill Reinchenbach (per) *Jazz.com omits Gene Byrd

From Wikipedia:

Jazz Samba was the first major bossa-nova album on the American jazz scene. It was the real start of the bossa-nova excitement in America, which peaked in the mid-1960s. Though Stan Getz was the featured star of the album, it was very strongly inspired and designed by the guitarist Charlie Byrd. They were joined by two bassists (Keter Betts and Charlie’s brother, Gene (Joe) Byrd), and two drummers (Buddy Deppenschmidt and Bill Reichenbach) for the recording at All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, D.C. on February 13, 1962, and it was released on April 20, that year as Verve LP V6-8432.

Although it is often described as music by Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, only two of the seven tracks on the album are Jobim compositions (“Desafinado” [Slightly Out of Tune] and “Samba de Uma Nota Só” [One Note Samba]), the rest being by other Brazilian composers and by Charlie Byrd.

Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, and others (on guitar, bass, and drums) unidentified — on the The Perry Como Show, Season 15, Episode 3; airdate: 17 October 1962 — In this segment, after a brief verbal exchange with Getz following “Desafinado,” Como sings “It Happened in Monterey” with the group.