May 1, 2013

Kenny Dorham, "Blue Bossa," Moacyr Silva, and "Sugestivo"

A few years ago, playing through a series of Brazilian fakebooks by Mario Mascarenas, I noticed this choro, "Sugestivo," by Moacyr Silva. It begins with a phrase so close to Kenny Dorham's Blue Bossa (beloved of jazz educators) that it just can't be a coincidence. The lead sheet in the Mascarenhas book shows the copyright date as 1958, though a comment on the Youtube page (a version since taken down) states that the tune was actually first recorded in 1952.  Dorham visited Rio in 1961. "Blue Bossa" was first recorded on Joe Henderson's album Page One in 1963.

Here's a link to Amazon for Vol. 1 of the Mascarenhas fakebooks; several other volumes are available.

This recording is from 1958:


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