The man often called the founding father of bossa nova, died today at home in Rio de Janeiro. Joao Gilberto was 88. Along with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto pioneered the form that became a phenomenon of popular music in the early 1960s. With varying degrees of authenticity, bossa nova was adapted  by performers around the world. It sprang from traditions of Brazilian music that reached far into Brazil’s history and reflected aspects of American music that in the fifties and sixties was often described as cool jazz. This recording by Gilberto, his wife Astrud, composer-pianist Jobim and tenor saxophonist Stan Getz dominated radio air waves for weeks and is still a favorite today.

For a comprehensive history and obituary of Joao Gilberto, see Ben Ratliff’s article in The New York Times.

George Cables, I’m All Smiles (High Note)

When George Cables was the pianist in the late saxophonist Art Pepper’s quartet, Pepper gave him a nickname that has endured: “Mr. Beautiful.” Anyone coming to Cables for the first time by way of this superb trio album will have no difficulty understanding what inspired Pepper’s choice of words. Whether in his unaccompanied version of Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Mood,” or waltzing through the title tune, Cables is at the top of his optimistic game. He is as positive and resourceful as ever, managing to maintain his sunny musical disposition despite having been through a seige of medical setbacks that included the amputation of one of his legs above the knee. Essiet Essiet is the gifted bassist in the trio. His tone and note choices have put him in consistent demand in New York jazz circles. Essiet often teams with drummer Victor Lewis, and they work together beautifully in this collaboration with Cables, the three exploring tunes that will be unfamiliar to many listeners and others that have been neglected or too seldom revived. Among the latter are Jaco Pastorius’s “Three Views Of A Secret” and Freddie Hubbard’s “Thermo.” On the other hand, if you think that “Besame Mucho” has been overdone, the unrestrained joy of Cables’ version may change your mind.

Pianist, singer and songwriter Dave Frishberg has suffered medical setbacks that have led him and his wife April to seek help in meeting his long-term health care needs. We cannot provide details about his condition but, now in his mid-eighties, Frishberg has had more than his share of problems in recent years. A fund-raising system has been set up for Frishberg admirers who would like to come to his aid. You will find details at this web address. If you are able to pitch in, remember that generosity is the Hopi way.

Following the recent Rifftides review of Gretta Matassa’s new album, I came across a video that she made when she was in Los Angeles for an engagement. Her longtime bassist, the Seattle veteran Clipper Anderson, was on board. Her other sidemen for the occasion were pianist Mike Garson and drummer Bob Leatherbarrow, stalwarts of the Southern California jazz community. The Riffides staff thought that you would enjoy Ms. Matassa and friends in their medley of songs written by George and Ira Gershwin.

Greta Matassa, Portrait (Origin)

Greta Matassa has never stopped performing extensively or touring with her widely admired quintet, but it has been years since she has made a new recording. The singer’s first album since 2011 is a reminder of the rare depth of her musicianship and her ability to fnd the essence of a song. The longtime colleagues with her on Portrait are veterans of the vital Pacific Northwest jazz community. Matassa selects thirteen songs that are among the finest of the past century, going back as far as1939 and “Just For A Thrill.” Matassa plumbs the soulful depths of that Lil Armstrong-Don Raye classic at a tempo that is slower than slow, sustaining long tones and at the end interacting with Alexey Nikolaev’s tenor saxophone in one of several appearances by that Russian-born musician. Nikolaev has become a mainstay of jazz in Seattle. “Gone With The Wind” opens with Matassa and the powerful bassist Clipper Anderson as partners in rhythm for a chorus before drummer Mark Ivester and pianist Darin Clendenin join them. Ivester’s subtle way with wire brushes is key to his effectiveness, but he exhibits full-range drumming on the up-tempo “If You Never Fall In Love With Me,” which began life in 1960 when bassist Sam Jones wrote it as an instrumental called “Del Sasser.” The piece became a staple in the repertory of Cannonball Adderley’s quintet. Donald Wolf added the lyric, which Matassa sings with zest reminiscent of Adderley’s on alto saxophone.

Among the album’s ballads, Matassa invests Johnny Mandel’s and Peggy Lee’s “The Shining Sea” with sweetness matched by Nikolaev’s tenor when he winds around and under her voice as the track dissolves in a subtle key change. The two are entwined even more tightly in Bob Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My Love,” written by Dylan without the word “To” in the title and first recorded by Billy Joel in 1997 before Dylan’s own version appeared. Other highlights in Matassa’s unusual and welcome album: Ennio Morricone’s “That Day” from the film Cinema Paradiso, with a lyric by Stan Dunn; The Lalo Schifrin-Gale Garnett ballad “Down Here On The Ground; a spirited non-showbizzy “Baubles, Bangles And Beads with pianist Clendenin inspired and Matassa scatting with a musicianly understanding of what the tune is made of.

Finally, I must mention Matassa and company’s visits to the Ellington-Strayhorn song book, first in her reflective treatment of Duke Ellington’s “Prelude To A Kiss.” Ivester’s brush work and Clendenin’s piano solo are essential elements in her interpretation of that classic. The album closes with Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life.” All members of the quintet support Matassa and one another in what could become known as a definitive vocal version of that masterpiece. The album’s cover painting of Greta’s mother is a work by her late father, James Goehle, whom she credits with inspiring her career.

Have a good weekend

The young Scandinavians of the Eka Trio combine the relaxed sensuosity of trends in Nordic music with their underlying commitment to the adventurousness that goes to the heart of jazz. In the album that they call “O,” the trio and two guest artists craft a collection of fourteen pieces that thrive on certain major-minor key relationships often found in music of Sweden, Norway and Finland, as well as on interaction among guitarist Tomas Hornberg, bassist Anne Marte Eggen and drummer Pontus Haggblom. In addition, saxophonist Karolina Almgren and trombonist Goran Abelli provide lyrical moments and, in Abelli’s case, grit that intensifies the musical pallete. It is a delightful…and frequently surprising…album.

Thomas Cunniffe’s excellent weblog Jazz History Online has managed to find the performance by Paul Desmond and his Canadian quartet originally broadcast in 1975 by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. That is good news for listeners who continue to follow the alto saxophonist’s career after the dissolution of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, in which he starred with Brubeck for seventeen years. Cunniffe also presents the complete interview of Desmond by the CBC’s Mary Lou Finlay, with enthusiastic, nearly rhapsodic, commentary by her co-host Paul Soles. Previously, the interview has aired in the United States mostly in bits and pieces. To see all of the interview, the segment by Desmond’s Toronto-based quartet, and Tom Cunniffe’s extensive backgrounder, click here.

Thanks to Thomas Cunniffe, Mary Lou Finlay and the CBC for sharing an important moment in jazz history.

Have a good weekend.