Album artwork courtesy of the label
On the turntable
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Sunday MorningNo. 14 of the Continental 100
João Gilberto
João Gilberto · 1973
Voice and guitar, recorded so closely you can hear the man think.
Why it matters
The white album of bossa nova: no orchestra, no guests, no persuasion. Gilberto's rhythmic sense is so precise that the absence of a band never registers as absence. The most relaxing record in existence that is also, technically, one of the most difficult.
The Continental setting
Nine in the morning, shutters open, the first coffee, nobody talking yet.
Start here
- 01Águas de Março
- 02Undiú
- 03Falsa Baiana
Bossa nova reduced to its irreducible parts.
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