That's a great question I wonder the same thing about recorda me and blue bossa.. Do you know? I would bet dollars to Donuts the original chart from Djalma Ferreira's notebook for Recado Bossa Nova was written in 2/4 and that Spirit just shines through from the certainly adept musicians on the Hank Mobley recording regardless of what they were looking at on the day.
It seems to me now if you're going to teach a beginner blue bossa or Recorda Me you might as well at least tell them about 2/4 to eliminate some confusion later on and they would probably have a better time feel. The distinction probably wouldn't have made much of a difference to Pete La Rocca or Butch Warren in the early 60s though.. they were already great musicians!
Thank you for mentioning and transcribing "Recado Bossa Nova". A killer track indeed. Not to get overly subjective, but as a listener even with the helpful and accurate articulation and phrasing markings in the transcription it seems easier to process the information while counting in 2/4.. As most Brazillian composers and players write and count Sambas and Bossa Novas (and certainly choros) in 2/4 it makes sense that the composer of this song most likely originally wrote it in 2/4. The first track on the record, Hank Mobley's composition, "The Dip" does "make more sense" to count in 4 (it's still a "swingin Bossa Nova" but there is enough of a pop and r&b sensibility that seem to place it safely in 4/4). Whatever the case (2 and/or 4), the cats on this record are swinging at 1000% and obviously well understood the undulating message of this exiting new music.
May I continue to make a case for the merits of 2/4 for anyone still reading:
2 is a very natural rhythmic unit biologically (2 legs, 2 halves of the body.)
2 is a great point of departure for understanding the feeling of Brazilian music and rhythms. There is often an intuitive (albeit ever-precise) anticipation of 1 and a more grounded landing (usually heard w/ the bass drum) roundly on 2 that give the music that soulful feeling of "lift".
2/4 and its inherent sixteenth note units of syncopation characteristic of Bossa Nova, Samba, and Choro probably make it easier and more precise for the intellectual center to process and comprehend that information in the long run. A vocabulary of "forks" (sixteenth and eighths in sequence) and ties develop into a language that creates more coherent pictures than you might get notating this music in 4/4. The extra "line" on the eight note somehow "anchors" the rhythms on the page, it really "ties the room together" and there's still plenty of space for triplets to create beautiful phrases and undulations.
I don't know, sometimes you say to a "jazzer": "okay, you want to play a Bossa Nova, that means we're in 2/4 now." -- and you get a blank stare even in 2024, eight decades later (--Bossa Nova originated in the 40s as a kind of slower samba with a sophisticated harmonic structure). The great early 60s recording of "Getz/Gilberto" is an absolute masterpiece, and there's so much Brazillian music like this that is well notated and readily available (e.g., jobim.org has thousands of original scores that provide alot of horizontal and vertical answers for us... The mid-century piano arrangements alone are works of art!)
In conclusion, thank you, Rhythmic Crusade accomplished.
Sure, it's a very tasteful, non-mechanical backbeat. Still gives the vibe of a 60s radio hit yet there are plenty of deep clave answers to end the phrases and then more spacious variations for the soloists (just a click on the first half of the bar thank you very much). Damn what a great drummer.
.. I've just read so much Brazillian guitar music in 2/4 I can't help but count this track like that and it seems like a cornerstone for understanding Brazillian music as a whole.
That's a great question I wonder the same thing about recorda me and blue bossa.. Do you know? I would bet dollars to Donuts the original chart from Djalma Ferreira's notebook for Recado Bossa Nova was written in 2/4 and that Spirit just shines through from the certainly adept musicians on the Hank Mobley recording regardless of what they were looking at on the day.
It seems to me now if you're going to teach a beginner blue bossa or Recorda Me you might as well at least tell them about 2/4 to eliminate some confusion later on and they would probably have a better time feel. The distinction probably wouldn't have made much of a difference to Pete La Rocca or Butch Warren in the early 60s though.. they were already great musicians!
Thank you for mentioning and transcribing "Recado Bossa Nova". A killer track indeed. Not to get overly subjective, but as a listener even with the helpful and accurate articulation and phrasing markings in the transcription it seems easier to process the information while counting in 2/4.. As most Brazillian composers and players write and count Sambas and Bossa Novas (and certainly choros) in 2/4 it makes sense that the composer of this song most likely originally wrote it in 2/4. The first track on the record, Hank Mobley's composition, "The Dip" does "make more sense" to count in 4 (it's still a "swingin Bossa Nova" but there is enough of a pop and r&b sensibility that seem to place it safely in 4/4). Whatever the case (2 and/or 4), the cats on this record are swinging at 1000% and obviously well understood the undulating message of this exiting new music.
May I continue to make a case for the merits of 2/4 for anyone still reading:
2 is a very natural rhythmic unit biologically (2 legs, 2 halves of the body.)
2 is a great point of departure for understanding the feeling of Brazilian music and rhythms. There is often an intuitive (albeit ever-precise) anticipation of 1 and a more grounded landing (usually heard w/ the bass drum) roundly on 2 that give the music that soulful feeling of "lift".
2/4 and its inherent sixteenth note units of syncopation characteristic of Bossa Nova, Samba, and Choro probably make it easier and more precise for the intellectual center to process and comprehend that information in the long run. A vocabulary of "forks" (sixteenth and eighths in sequence) and ties develop into a language that creates more coherent pictures than you might get notating this music in 4/4. The extra "line" on the eight note somehow "anchors" the rhythms on the page, it really "ties the room together" and there's still plenty of space for triplets to create beautiful phrases and undulations.
I don't know, sometimes you say to a "jazzer": "okay, you want to play a Bossa Nova, that means we're in 2/4 now." -- and you get a blank stare even in 2024, eight decades later (--Bossa Nova originated in the 40s as a kind of slower samba with a sophisticated harmonic structure). The great early 60s recording of "Getz/Gilberto" is an absolute masterpiece, and there's so much Brazillian music like this that is well notated and readily available (e.g., jobim.org has thousands of original scores that provide alot of horizontal and vertical answers for us... The mid-century piano arrangements alone are works of art!)
In conclusion, thank you, Rhythmic Crusade accomplished.
thanks for perspective. Billy Higgins is playing a backbeat on "Recado Bossa Nova," does that mean anything in this conversation?
Sure, it's a very tasteful, non-mechanical backbeat. Still gives the vibe of a 60s radio hit yet there are plenty of deep clave answers to end the phrases and then more spacious variations for the soloists (just a click on the first half of the bar thank you very much). Damn what a great drummer.
.. I've just read so much Brazillian guitar music in 2/4 I can't help but count this track like that and it seems like a cornerstone for understanding Brazillian music as a whole.
I see. Do you think Hank Mobley handed a chart to his band in 2/4?