JOAO WHO? WHERE IS ASTRUD GILBERTO?

Isn't she the adorable Brazilian gamin? The first Atrud Gilberto album I bought (you used to buy albums at one time) was "Look to the Rainbow." It had that great "forest creature" cover, with Astrud's big brown eyes and rather enigmatic grin. 

She guarded her privacy then, and she guards it now. Shhhh! 

Jill Sobule sang "Where is Bobbie Gentry? WHERE IS BOBBIE GENTRY? If I could find her I would love her and then leave her alone." 

A less Sapphic sentiment is "WHERE IS ASTRUD GILBERTO," but it would be unseemly to sing "I would lover and then leave her alone." She's 79, after all. 

If you visit Astrud’s official website, you’ll find a laudable interview in which she talks about her love of animals and her disgust at fur coats. But there’s no merchandise. No updates. Not all that much about this very private person. Which is fine, but it of course begs the question…WHERE IS ASTRUD GILBERTO? What’s she doing? Sipping a cool drink on a veranda somewhere? Playing with her cats? Taking a few calls from her sons? Checking the royalty statements from the assholes at Universal Music Group and wondering why they're taking most of it?  

Back in the day, there were a few exotic, baby-voiced vocalists, both American (Priscilla Paris) and imported (Claudine Longet and Astrud). Longet had the most hits, but certainly Astrud Gilberto had more critical acclaim and a longer career. She also had a less violent love life. She divorced the late (as of a few days ago) Joao Gilberto; she didn’t accidentally shoot him. She also didn’t fire a shot at Stan Getz, who she unfortunately had an affair. Yes, her cameo "Girl from Ipanema" on the Getz/Gilberto album made her a star, but Stan was NOT the man who deserved all the credit. Here, from a rare interview:

“As you know, I was still married to Joao Gilberto at the time of the recording of "The Girl from Ipanema". Before the recording, I had never sung professionally. I'd like to emphasize to those of you who have read the distorted version that I was "just a housewife until Stan Getz or Creed Taylor 'discovered' me", that although I had not yet performed "for hire", I've had already some experience as a vocalist stemming from the few years that I had been singing at gatherings with this clan of musicians. Then, of course, I had also acquired experience from the teachings and daily musical "sessions" with the "master", himself, Joao Gilberto…In 1963 I came to the US with Joao, as he had a commitment to record the Getz Gilberto album…. One day, a few hours prior to Stan Getz coming to our NYC hotel for a scheduled rehearsal with Joao, he (Joao) told me with an air of mystery in his voice: - "Today there will be a surprise for you". I begged him to tell me what it was, but he adamantly refused, and would just say: - "Wait and see…" Later on, while rehearsing with Stan, as they were in the midst of going over the song "The Girl from Ipanema", Joao casually asked me to join in, and sing a chorus in English, after he had just sung the first chorus in Portuguese. So, I did just that. When we were finished performing the song, Joao turned to Stan, and said (in "Tarzan" English) something like: "Tomorrow Astrud sing on record… what do you think?" Stan was very receptive, in fact very enthusiastic; he said it was a great idea. The rest, of course, as one would say, "is history". I'll never forget that while we were listening back to the just recorded song at the studio's control room, Stan said to me, with a very dramatic expression: "This song is going to make you famous".The funny thing is that after my success, stories became abound as to Stan Getz or Creed Taylor having "discovered me", when in fact, nothing is further from the truth.” 

Getz took more credit than he deserved, but, hey, he also took more booze and heroin than he should have. He was a noted wildman. His family was from Ukraine, and like the original Jazz Singer of the movies, Stan was not particular interested in Judaism as much as JAZZ...and the saxophone he got when he was 13. Did he say "Today I am a man" or "Today I am a JAZZ musician??" Soon enough, he had master alto and tenor sex, the clarinet and even the bassoon, and precociously found himself earning more money touring in jazz bands than his father did. With his father's blessing, Stan worked his way up from band leaders Teagarden and Kenton to Woody Herman, by which time he had a very bad heroin habit. But so did half of Woody's band. Woody recalled: “I was so naive, I couldn’t figure out why the guys were falling asleep n the bandstand.”


Going solo in the 50's, Getz had hit records but made headlines by attempting to rob a drugstore to get morphine to control his heroin habit. He was jailed, and seemingly finished at 27. He managed to return to music, and to heroin. He developed a nastier alcohol habit, and was put in a strait jacket and hauled off to rehab. Bankrupt in 1957, sturdy Stan somehow once again reclaimed some fame, and despite more punchouts (his wife, his mother-in-law and his mistress on the receiving end) he found ironic success with the gentle music of bossa nova in 1962. Charlie Byrd turned him onto the new sound from Brazil, and that led Stan to top the charts with "Desafinado" and recruit Joao Gilberto for a new album. Joao knew little English so his wife Astrud helped translate. 

“Getz/Gilberto” won “Album of the Year” at the 1965 Grammy Awards, and “Girl from Ipanema” won for Best Single. How did Stan celebrate? A few days after the award show, he beat up his wife, went on a rampage breaking things in their home, and ended up staggering into the kitchen where he put his head in the oven. His son managed to turn off the gas and rescue him. Meanwhile, Astrud Gilberto was enjoying a quieter time building up her fan base, which included odd experiments (an entire album backed by Walter Wanderley's jarring roller-rink organ) and maturity (an excellent live album that belied her reputation as merely a soft voice with no stage presence). 

 Most still know Astrud best for singing and BEING “The Girl from Ipanema.” But her best early album was probably “Look to the Rainbow.”One of my favorite cuts is a kind of strange carnival piece called “Frevo.” There’s nothing romantic about it. It’s not a love song. It’s a rather cool-voiced salute to the wild doings of partying in Brazil. The orchestration is not what you’d expect. It opens with Prokofiev woodwinds in the distance. It’s the parade slowly appearing, getting closer and closer.  

  Soon the brass comes in, shining and lively. Over it, there’s Astrud’s soothing voice. We can watch the proceedings without getting too rowdy. We can sip our fizzy alcoholic drinks, perhaps. We can look at the festive dancers. And then we can go out for dinner and dancing, and love. OK, maybe things will get a BIT sloppy. At the two minute song, the trombonist sounds like he’s about to eject his kidney through the horn. Who arranged THAT weird noise? It does add punctuation to this pixie ditty. Perhaps the oddball German band effect is a small bow to Astrud’s heritage: Brazilian mother but German father. (Astrud was born BEFORE THE WAR, in 1940).

The lyrics on this Jobim tune are pretty basic: “Cme, let’s dance in the sun. Come, the band is passing by. Hear the clarion call announcing The Carnival arriving, the brass shining…thousands of colors, the green sea…the blue sky…Oh my God, how beautiful, my Brazil!”


 Vem
Vamos dançar ao sol
Vem
Que a banda vai passar
Vem
Ouvir o toque dos clarins
Anunciando o carnaval
E vão brilhando os seus metais
Por entre cores mil
Verde mar, céu de anil
Nunca se viu tanta beleza
Ai, meu Deus
Que lindo o meu Brasil


How beautiful, Astrud Gilberto.  Her schedule slowed down after 2002, but her music remains timeless. “Look to the Rainbow” from 1966 has a soft pallette of beautiful songs, from the title track and the pensively charming “Once Upon a Summertime” to the gently swaying “Berimbau” and “Lugar Bonito.” Wherever you are, Astrud Gilberto, you are admired, respected and loved.