Genre · Samba · Rio de Janeiro, late 1950s
Bossa nova
Where to start with bossa nova
Bossa nova came out of Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s: samba slowed down and made intimate, with a soft voice, a nylon-string guitar and harmonies close to cool jazz. João Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim and the poet Vinicius de Moraes shaped it.
American jazz players heard it quickly. Jazz Samba in 1962 and Getz/Gilberto in 1964 made it a worldwide sound, and it has stayed the gentlest corner of jazz.
Bossa nova's best-known album, and a gentle way into jazz as well.
Where to start: 8 bossa nova albums, in order
Click a cover to hear 30-second previews. Start at the top; each record takes you a little further.
- 01
Getz/Gilberto
The album that took bossa nova around the world, with 'The Girl from Ipanema' sung by Astrud Gilberto.
02Chega de Saudade
João Gilberto's first album, where the bossa nova guitar beat and quiet singing were first set down.
03Jazz Samba
The album that started the American bossa nova craze; 'Desafinado' was a hit.
04Wave
Jobim's own instrumental album, arranged by Claus Ogerman: lush and calm.
05Elis & Tom
Elis Regina and Jobim together; their 'Águas de Março' is one of the great duets.
06Look to the Rainbow
Astrud Gilberto with arrangements by Gil Evans: bossa nova in a jazz orchestra setting.
07Tanto Tempo
João's daughter sets bossa nova over electronic beats, forty years on.
08Bossa Nova Stories
The Brazilian pianist and singer revisits the classics fifty years after they were written.
Previews courtesy of Apple Music.
Where bossa nova came from, and where it went
Bossa nova joined samba and choro to jazz harmony, with a touch of classical writing. In Brazil it led on to MPB and Tropicália; in jazz it fed samba-jazz and the wider world of Brazilian jazz.
Go deeper
What we have written about bossa nova, newest first.
See bossa nova on the genre map
Its place among more than 1,200 genres, next to its neighbors.
Open the genre map →
Keep digging bossa nova in Cratto
Scan your records, light up your own genre globe, and see how much of your shelf is bossa nova.
Get Cratto →Genres bossa nova directly influenced8
Genre names and classification follow Wikipedia (Bossa nova, List of music genres and styles), CC BY-SA 4.0; lineage lines follow the stylistic origins each genre's entry records. Album artwork and previews come from Apple Music.