Laurindo Almeida

Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Laurindo Almeida, a Brazilian guitarist and composer from São Paulo. Born in 1917, he studied classical guitar and started playing professionally in his hometown, where he absorbed the rhythms and contours of pop music.¹ Almeida moved to Los Angeles in 1947 and in the early 1950s recorded his “Brazilliance” tracks, novel hybrids of jazz and samba that anticipated bossanova’s popular ascendance.² He’d go on to win five Grammys, earning his first one at the 1960s awards show (the third Grammys ever).³ We’re playing two of his albums with full orchestra: Classical Current from 1969 and Guitar From Ipanema from 1964.

Classical Current - Laurindo Almeida (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Guitar From Ipanema - Laurindo Almeida (30m, some whistling)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a great Thursday.

Photo via Alamy

1. New York Times

2. Wikipedia

3. Grammys