Blog: The Pop View

Songs in flight

It's birds today, with two summer songs. Charlie Byrd is notable for two things. He brought classical guitar techniques to jazz (he went to Italy in 1954 to study with the great Andrés Segovia). And he helped bring bossa nova and samba to American audiences. During a 1961 South American concert tour of the Charlie Byrd Trio (sponsored by the State Department), he fell in love with Brazilian music. In 1962, Stan Getz and Byrd recorded Jazz Samba , the first bossa nova album by American jazz musicians. [...]