Gary McFarland - Soft Samba [1964 Verve] 320 kbps - 76 mb (Reup)

I present this disc to go with my last 3 posts. This is so in an easy spirit & could almost be passed over as not really that important, but it kinda is. I think this record is important on few levels. First, God bless Gary for his warm embrace of the hottest young team of songwriters called The Beatles. How Jazz of him to cool down their hot tunes with a lovely Gary McFarland reading. Perhaps he shows how "Elevator Music" they are already? The other clue is the Samba in the title. This is so aware of all that's blooming on the early 60's landscape. From a kiss to James Bonds "From Russia With Love" to Bossa, to "The Beatles", to "La Vie En Rose". This is only a 29 minute little breeze of a set, but what a lovely breeze just passed. Full of warmth & a very light heart. I think this would sit nicely with the other 3 discs that I've just presented. One last thing, this is the very same moment on the Verve label as "Getz/Gilberto" [1963 Verve] U.S. & "Getz/Gilberto #2" [1964 Verve] U.S. & we know how large those sets loom. "Soft Samba" was one of the better selling LP's of that time & that's good considering that "The Beatles" were getting ready to take over for the next few years & would basically push Jazz way out of the limelight FOREVER. A sweet Jazz album of excellent vibes & scat vocalizing by Gary & gang. Enjoy.



File Under: Latin Jazz/ U.S. Bossa Jazz