Artist: Luiz Bonfa
Genre(s):
Jazz
Discography:
Jazz Samba Encore!
Year: 1963
Tracks: 11
Although overshadowed by the towering figure of Antonio Carlos Jobim and to a lesser extent by Joao Gilberto, Luiz Bonfa was right there at the nascence of bossa nova as well. In fact, at least deuce of his songs, the haunting "Manha de Carnaval" and equally reminiscent "Arere de Orpheus," swept the populace at least three years earlier Jobim's songs began to make a worldwide impact, paving the way of life for the first Brazilian wave. In addition, Bonfa cultivated a delicate, precise classical guitar style, though more attuned to the traditional samba musical rhythm than the Gilberto/Jobim bossa nova swing. Born nigh the bay of Guanabara in Rio -- his father was an Italian immigrant -- Bonfa took up the guitar at eleven and studied classical guitar with the Uruguayan master copy Isaias Savio. He began to make for Rio's clubs as a isaac M. Singer with the Quitandinha Serenaders, and by 1946, he was appearing on Brazil's Radio Nacional. By 1957, Bonfa was beginning to split his time 'tween New York City and Rio, touring the U.S. with isaac M. Singer Mary Martin, as well as writing and transcription Brazilian flick lots. The turning point in his vocation came in 1959 when film director Marcel Camus asked Bonfa to contribute some songs to his celluloid edition of the wreak Orfeo do Carnaval (to be renamed Bleak Orpheus on the screen). The manager primitively spurned "Manha de Carnaval" as the film's main motif, just after coming up with what he felt was an inferior secondment attempt, Bonfa fought for his showtime tune and got his direction, and "Manha de Carnaval" became a worldwide pop/jazz/folk standard. In the late '50s and '60s, Bonfa began recording several albums for the American grocery store on EMI Odeon (Capitol), Dot, Atlantic, Cook, Philips, Epic and Verve, and he and his songs appeared prominently on the Jazz Samba Encore album with Jobim and Stan Getz. His songwriting skills were in demand in the nigh irregular places; for example, he wrote the mushy "Most in Love" for Elvis Presley (included in the forgettable 1968 film Live a Little, Love a Little). Bonfa's profile in America virtually disappeared later on the sixties, although he continued to term of enlistment and pen, eventually press cutting over 50 albums. But he resurfaced in U.S. CD shops afterwards a 15-year crack in 1989 with Nonstop to Brazil for Chesky, followed by the ravishing The Bonfa Magic in 1991 (released domestically on Milestone) and 1993's Moods on GSP. Also, the original soundtrack for Black Orpheus is useable on a Verve CD, a firsthand shot of Bonfa and Jobim lighting the fuse for the cosmopolitan Brazilian music explosion. On January 12, 2001, Luiz Bonfa died of cancer in Rio de Janeiro.
