Recently I've been practicing Chega de Saudade, a famous bossa nova song by Jobim. The English title of the song is "No More Blues," but the Portuguese means Enough (chega) of Missing (saudade). I am not very good at playing bossa nova rhythms. When I listen to to bossa nova, I'm constantly impressed by the musicians' relaxation as they play complicated syncopations without audible effort, while I have to count carefully and think about alternating from notes that are off the beat to notes that are on it. Incidentally, until the very moment when I read the article about bossa nova, I thought that "bossa" meant bass, that it was a new kind of bass. That was wrong.
When I was in high school, I had a radio on a shelf in the headboard of my bed. Almost every night, when my parents thought I had gone to sleep, I used to listen to an all-night jazz program on WEVD, hosted by Mort Fega. I didn't understand what was going on in the music, but I loved the sound. I vividly remember the night that I first heard bossa nova. Fega played Stan Getz's performance of the Girl from Ipanema three or four times, because he was so bowled over by the novelty of it.
I never thought I'd be able to play jazz or bossa nova. At the time, I was learning how to play classical music on the clarinet. Secretly listening to late-night radio was about as close as I could get to following a musical passion, being the uptight kid I was.
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