In this lesson I will demonstrating a 5 step process which you can use to approach any Bossa Nova tune you would like to learn. When starting out playing Bossa Nova standards, it’s a good idea to separate and isolate the different elements that make up a Bossa Nova groove. This gives you the opportunity to practice these important progressions in context of a Bossa tune. It has a relatively short form at just 16 bars long and it contains both a major and a minor 251 progression. Here’s a YouTube video of J.J.Blue Bossa is a great tune to use as an intro to Bossa Nova style. Johnson’s improvisation on this recording with guitarist Joe Pass lacks the adventurous spirit of bebop exploration - his trademark falling-triplet pattern only appears halfway through the solo as if his chops had finally loosened up to show off his dexterity. With its elongated ii-V7-I progressions and shifting minor-major tonality, “Blue Bossa” has become a standard jazz warmup. That experience influenced trumpeter Kenny Dorham to compose “Blue Bossa” in response to bebop’s evolution into hard bop and soul music, and the tune was first recorded with saxophonist Joe Henderson for his 1963 album, Page One.Īuthor Ted Gioia notes that the tune is neither a proper blues or bossa nova, and that its legacy was established in academia as a vehicle for learning jazz improvisation because of its simplistic nature - if Miles Davis’ “So What” is the first tune that jazz students learn, then “Blue Bossa” is the second.
The global sensation that became known as bossa nova is credited to Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto, who combined native samba rhythms with the European classical guitar, but historians point to a 1961 American state-sponsored festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as the moment when prominent jazz figures were first exposed to the new beat. “Blue Bossa” (PDF) from the Joe Pass & J.J.