Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Today, Marc Myers’ JazzWax gives us a fascinating look into how American jazz musicians became enamored of bossa nova. The article links to a 1963 radio interview with Joao Gilberto. (Some other radio interviews by host Felix Grant are at this link.)

Recently, we’ve been doing a lot of musical research for an exciting project (soon to be announced). During the course of all this listening, we have discovered some amazing sites that we want to share with you. https://brazilliance.wordpress.com/ This great archive has a huge index of songs, each with a bit of background and an embedded…

This past weekend, we had the privilege of hearing one of the finest Brazilian jazz musicians around today: Portinho. (There’s a great interview with him at this link.) The master drummer plays at NYC’s Churrascaria Plataforma with his great trio, which includes Lincoln Goines on bass and Klaus Mueller on piano. Portinho has performed with everyone…

First recorded in 1966, this has become one of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s most famous songs (of which there are so many!). This heartbreakingly beautiful live version, recorded by Jobim in 1981, is one of our favorites.

We are big fans of Nara Leão‘s, and especially of her repertoire choices. Her debut album, “Nara,” ends with a little musical treat: a rendition of Moacir Santos’ Nanã (originally Coisa No. 5). This memorable tune, which is given a bolero-like treatment sans chordal instruments on “Nara,” has been recorded by everyone from Flora Purim to Sergio…