Say what you want about the negative impact of YouTube (infinite soy face, influencers, and that illicit thing Fascist-leaning algorithm) But it provided a space to indulge in the creators. And that’s one of the reasons why I was a fan of Adam Neely’s work. Jazz musician and former students Berklee College of Music and Manhattan Music Schoolhis YouTube Channel This is a must for anyone interested in the methods and reasons for music theory. Without Neely’s talent and the YouTube platform, there is none of the above. Bossa Nova Standard’s 30-minute (!) Exploration, “Ipanema girl.“And it’s worth every minute. (Even composer Antonio Carlos Jobs himself could not have convinced traditional television executives to give him dul for a long time.)
Let’s make this a great introduction as we’ve never featured Neely in open culture before. It also helps that the subject happens to be one of the most overshadowed criteria in pop history.
Its heritage is one of the lounge lizards and kitsch. Neely shows it is being used as a punch line Bruce Brothers And as mood music For vvendetta. I remember it being hummed by two pepper pots (Graham Chapman and John Cleese). Monty Python skit. And Neely gives us a summary of “tl;dw” (“too long, don’t watch”) in advance: The history of song is about blues music, American cultural hegemony, and the “influence” of Berklee University.The real book. ” Also, a lot of music theories are thrown in, which helps you know that there’s a bit more to get in.
Neely covers decades of elevator music to reach the birth of songs, and its multiple parents: Afro-Brazilian music called Samba, a hip nightclub in Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s, hit film Black Orpheus This has brought both Samba and Bossa Nova (“New Wave”) to international audiences in American blues and jazz chords, the interests of Jobim and other musicians, as well as American interests from musicians like Stan Getz. This is all on the circuit before and after the influence that leads to this song, borrowing its structure from Tinpan Alley composers such as Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, inserting a sad, self-remarkable B section after the lyrics of two A sections about young women passing by on the beach (the lyrics by Vinicius de Mores are: Black Orpheus).
The key to playing the song also reveals cultural disparities. Playing with F, you’re on your side with the Americans. Playing it in DB keeps Brazilian style realistic. Neely breaks down the melody and chord sequences, not only repetition (which makes it very catchy), but also points out that the musician’s endless YouTube videos explain how they get the chord sequence wrong. And what is a true code sequence? And how is it a riff on everything? Duke Ellington’s “Accepting a Train”? Neely also shows progressions of various covers of the song, added and removed. As he explains in a clip from Leonard Bernstein’s 1973 Harvard Lecture, he excludes things.
There’s more to this 30-minute clip, but you really need to see the whole thing (and subscribe to his channel). This essay is exactly what YouTube does best, and Neely is the best teacher, a smart, self-deprecating man who mixes intelligence and humor. Plus, you will humm the song for the rest of the day. I know a little more about the reasons behind earworms.
Note: Previous versions of this post were published on our site in 2020.
Related content:
“Ipanema Girl” turns 50 years old. Hear the sound of bossa nova covered by Sinatra, Kral, Metheny and others
I remember “Bossa Nova’s Father” Joan Gilberto (RIP) in four classic live performances.
Getz and Gilbert perform “The Girl of Ipanema” (and the woman who inspired the song)
Ted Mills is a freelance writer for arts that he currently hosts Notes from Shed Podcast KCRW producer Strange coast. You can also follow him on Twitter @tedmillsand/or watch his movies here.
