It's been a while since I've looked into jazz, and I don't think I've heard any samba yet. So this could be exciting. I'm also sadly looking forward to this being a relatively short album at just over 33 minutes. Should be a breeze, right?
"Desafinado" starts us off with a moderate groove featuring a stand-up bass, light classical guitar, and soft sax. It's a pretty soft number you could dance to in an elevator. "Samba Dees Days" has a faster shuffle, but about the same sound, maybe slightly harder sax. It doesn't take long for a pattern to emerge from each song. Things start out with the bass and drums forming an easy-listening groove, later topped by the sax playing melody and guitar a counter-melody. Eventually the sax drops out so the guitar can improvise for a few bars. The energy stays at an even burn through the songs.
It might sound like I'm complaining and I suppose I am. But Jazz Samba winds up being one of the most consistently pleasing listens I've had in a while. The penultimate track "Bahia (Aka 'Baia)" has a neat bass line that is played by in a low octave by a double bass and an octave higher by a stand-up bass who's player is slightly pulling the notes to give them a light warp. It's a neat effect.
Anyway, keeping it short and sweet definitely helped Jazz Samba in my completely arbitrary ratings system. I should also point out for an album supposedly released in 1962 it sounds absolutely beautiful. It really has to make me wonder what the hell was wrong with the people recording The Beatles and their contemporaries around the same time. 3 stars.
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