Stan Getz & João Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (1963)

Even if it wasn't the album that started the bossa nova craze, Getz/Gilberto was definitely one of its crowning achievements. As far as bossa nova is concerned, this was the album that brought Brazil and America together. While Jazz Samba was primarily American musicians playing Brazilian music, Getz/Gilberto was the album that brought both worlds together. It brought Brazil's greatest performer of bossa in João Gilberto and its greatest composer in Antônio Carlos Jobim. While the majority of the album is penned by Jobim and contains such well-known classics as "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Desafinado," the roots of bossa nova are celebrated as well in the track "Para Machucar Meu Coração," penned by Ary Barroso who most famously wrote "Brazil." The same could be said for the track "Doralice" penned by Laurindo Almeida, a Brazilian guitarist whose career began in the late 1940s with Stan Kenton. When many people talk about bossa nova, they often don't realize that it comes from this great Brazilian tradition that goes back to samba at Carnaval to classical composers like Villa-Lobos. While this album celebrates the roots of bossa nova, it also premieres some of its finest material. "Desafinado" is a personal favorite that which translates as "off-key" and speaks of a young man who can't please the ears of a woman he loves because his voice is often off key. "Desafinado" is one of Jobim's most well-known songs, but hands-down "The Girl from Ipanema" is the most well-known song of Jobim or bossa nova. "Vivo Sonhando" is a personal favorite for the way that it hops around chords while the melody repeats an F# and resolves to a D. If you analyze "Vivo Sonhando" or other bossa nova charts, you will realize that the harmony is very forward thinking. Gmaj7 to Ebmaj7 is a strange resolution when the song is in G. However, when you realize bossa nova is really chromatic and you factor in chromaticism to your chordal analysis it doesn't seem so strange. It's hard to say if this album is the best album of all the people involved, but it surely is at the highpoint of their careers and commercial success.

Todd Rundgren - Runt (1970)

Known primarily for the hits off of his 1972 album Something/Anything? including "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light," Todd Rundgren was heavily influenced early on by Laura Nyro. When Rundgren was in his original group the Nazz he was even approached by Nyro to head her band. What's most interesting is how Rundgren adopts Nyro's eclecticism and applies it to his roots in the rock idiom. In case you are doubtful about the connection, the track "Baby Let's Swing" refers to Laura Nyro by name. On Runt, Rundgren is deep into the "Runt persona" which one could interpret as both his departure from the Nazz in spirit as well as his first foray into writing a whole album. As far as the content is concerned, the album's subject matter is practically the antithesis of Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. While Nyro concentrated on what it meant to be a woman in "Lonely Women," poor in "Poverty Train," or dealing with lustful men in "Eli's Coming," Rundgren concentrates on distrustful women and  being heartbroken. Contrasting the two albums track-for-track, it seems as if Rundgren sought to make his own album out of Nyro's model. The best single of the album is "We Gotta Get You a Woman," which consequently was Rundgren's first hit and past its chauvinist lyrics is really a great song for its excellent use of layering voices. It also showcases how well Rundgren lays a foundation for the song with the piano and bass, using the guitar as a solo voice and for texture. As for eclecticism, Rundgren occasionally uses unfamiliar instruments to the pop idiom. For instance on the aforementioned song you will hear a triangle part integral to the texture of the piece. Similarly, Rundgren will utilize handbells or chimes. The real magnum opus of the album in my opinion is "Birthday Carol." It's the most unusual to be present on a pop-rock album, but it's "Birthday Carol" that shows Rundgren is more than a rock star. He displays real talent in songwriting and arranging. Transitioning from such varied sections as a string quartet, a straight-ahead rock section, and a pop ballad, "Birthday Carol" shows that Rundgren really knows what he's doing. This particular version of the album is a personal assemblage of three or so versions of the album. It mixes vinyl and electronic copies, but I kept the songs with the best audio quality. Some of the vinyl rips had too much record noise and the electronic copies had bad hiss in parts.

Laura Nyro - Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968)

Taking a break from posting the music of summer, I've decided to do a short section on some fine songwriters of the 60s and 70s. Typically considered singer/songwriter Laura Nyro's finest album, it's amazing to note that she was only twenty-one years old when Eli and the Thirteenth Confession was released in 1968. The immense amount of influences from a variety of genres is what makes Nyro's album timeless. Even if Nyro's music fits in a pop sensibility, it's difficult not to notice the influence of various forms of jazz. Tracks like "Sweet Blindness" harken back to the roots of jazz with a Dixieland-esque sound with the way the various vocal parts contain melodic and counter-melodic parts. The entrance of the horns only further cements this "reading" of this track. Furthermore, tracks like the famous "Eli's Coming" fit right into the world of jazz-rock with its fast paced tempo and backups with the horns. This song was covered by many people in its day with jazz-rock interpretations by names such as Don Ellis on Don Ellis Goes Underground and Maynard Ferguson on M.F. Horn I. Covers of Nyro's song are very common as the track "Stoned Soul Picnic" was famously covered by The Fifth Dimension. In this way, Nyro is a great example of an important, influential figure that is relatively unknown by the general public. In many ways, you could also say Nyro paved the way for artists with eclectic styles that would come in the near future.

Ramsey Lewis - Sun Goddess (1974)

Staying in with the theme of summer recordings, here's an album I discovered from an AM radio station on the way back from the beach. Not only does it have sun in the title, it's full of laidback grooves perfect for relaxing in the shade from the afternoon sun. Many may not be familiar with the name Ramsey Lewis, but it's doubtful that the same thing could be said about Earth, Wind & Fire. Both groups have huge ties to Chicago, which is where this album really begins. Ramsey Lewis was born in Chicago and Maurice White, founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, worked as a session player for Chess Records which was based there. Subsequently, after White's stint as a session player he moved on to be drummer of the Ramsey Lewis Trio in 1966. This album is in many ways a sort of reunion between Ramsey and White's band Earth, Wind & Fire. It also important to note how often this album is referred to as an Earth, Wind & Fire record, but with the two biggest singles from the album ("Sun Goddess" and "Hot Dawgit") being penned by White, it's not hard to see why this is a common mistake. As it compares to earlier Ramsey Lewis recordings, it's vastly different and it's not hard to see why. Lewis is much more at home doing straight-ahead acoustic jazz and this marks his foray into the world of Rhodes pianos and ARP synths.