Did bossa nova kill jazz?

[jads57]

My version or era was Chick Corea Light as a Feather that really was a turning point musically for me.And I'm sure many of you here as well!

[jameslovestal]

I don't think going "pop" killed anything, it's just a personal decision by an artist.

But back to your point...early jazz was dance music, from early New Orleans to big band stuff. It WAS the popular music of the day. After bebop, jazz became a single track that was much more isolated--artistically pure, but not broadly popular (with some exceptions of course--Brubeck's Take Five for instance).

Getz' bossa albums showed a path to broader appeal by fusing jazz to the dominant pop trends of the day. He created a template that others would follow--Wes, Benson, the jazz fusion groups like Mahavishnu, the smooth jazz players. His album with Gilberto was the first time a jazz album won Album of the Year at the Grammies--not to be repeated until Herbie Hancock in 2008.

I only mentioned George Benson and him going "commercial" (pop) due to your prior comment related to Bossa and Stan Getz:

"I think a lot of jazz musicians and people in that circle looked at his success and said, hmmm, maybe there's a way to make a lot more money out of this stuff than we've been making?"

Of course Benson making commercial \ pop \ smooth "jazz" recordings didn't stop Benson from being a side-man on straight-ahead jazz recordings.

Thinking about this more and related to your last paragraph, one could say jazz musicians going commercial is what saved jazz: as in exposed more people to jazz (even if smooth) that wouldn't have listen to straight-ahead jazz.

[Dennis D]

.......Some other 'Jazz Samba' info as an FYI........

Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd: Give the Drummer Some - JazzTimes

I only remembered some of the Getz-vs-Byrd suit back in the day.......

[Doctor Jeff]

I only mentioned George Benson and him going "commercial" (pop) due to your prior comment related to Bossa and Stan Getz:

"I think a lot of jazz musicians and people in that circle looked at his success and said, hmmm, maybe there's a way to make a lot more money out of this stuff than we've been making?"

Of course Benson making commercial \ pop \ smooth "jazz" recordings didn't stop Benson from being a side-man on straight-ahead jazz recordings.

Thinking about this more and related to your last paragraph, one could say jazz musicians going commercial is what saved jazz: as in exposed more people to jazz (even if smooth) that wouldn't have listen to straight-ahead jazz.

Well I don't disagree at all. I think jazz had to change in order to save itself. In other words, straightahead jazz was on track to become a dead end, and Getz showed them a way out of it.

I realize there was always a commercial strain in jazz even in the golden age (40's-60's), but to get back to that wide popularity of the big bands one had to go with what was popular. I am not able to find sales figures for the first Getz bossa album (Jazz Samba), but I read that it sold a million very quickly, and bossa nova immediately became a craze in the US. (Of course Gilberto's late 50's albums were very popular and influential as well.)