I am from Brazil and João Gilberto has always cast a huge shadow over Brazilian music. He wasn't on media, didn't do interviews and his albums were few and far between, but he was highly influential, Godlike proportions. Maybe even more than the Christ with stretched arms atop Corcovado in Rio. I think most people don't realize João authored a total of SEVEN songs in his entire career - but all of them are absolute classics. Also, he made songs by other authors sound like they were written for him or, alternatively, he remade them completely that looked like they were his from the start. I saw him for the first time in 2000 in São Paulo, the first concert by him in a long time and sure there was a delay: he took to the stage two hours late and people started to whisper worriedly he would be in a bad mood. In Brazil, he was mistakenly known as a pain in the ass on stage because in the Seventies he got into some argument in a live TV show at Brazil's leading network, TV Globo, and ever since people started thinking he was a prima donna with no respect whatsoever for the public. Couldn't be further from the truth: he demanded excellence in sound quality and Globo couldn't (or didn't want to) provide it for him. At a later show, he was booed by an audience of filthy rich people when he was again disappointed with the acoustics of the theatre (and he was right: it was a huge architecture aberration with the worst acoustics I've ever experienced). At the 2000 concert I attended in a smaller venue, despite João being late, he played for almost three hours and was absolutely charming with the audience. Everybody cheered as he laughed and joked with some audience members, totally relaxed and smiling all the way through. After that I saw him again in 2003 and it was as good as the first one, the same good vibrations all the time. I don't think he ever played Brazil again after that. It was a mind-blowing experience - I went to concerts by almost all of the greatest Brazilian musicians and can tell those two concerts are at least in my top 5 ever.
As I recall, Fred Taylor booked that Wang show. I think it was a real nail-biter for him. I have to look it up in his memoir..... So, "inversions" or "out of tune guitar" or "wrong notes"?
I am from Brazil and João Gilberto has always cast a huge shadow over Brazilian music. He wasn't on media, didn't do interviews and his albums were few and far between, but he was highly influential, Godlike proportions. Maybe even more than the Christ with stretched arms atop Corcovado in Rio. I think most people don't realize João authored a total of SEVEN songs in his entire career - but all of them are absolute classics. Also, he made songs by other authors sound like they were written for him or, alternatively, he remade them completely that looked like they were his from the start. I saw him for the first time in 2000 in São Paulo, the first concert by him in a long time and sure there was a delay: he took to the stage two hours late and people started to whisper worriedly he would be in a bad mood. In Brazil, he was mistakenly known as a pain in the ass on stage because in the Seventies he got into some argument in a live TV show at Brazil's leading network, TV Globo, and ever since people started thinking he was a prima donna with no respect whatsoever for the public. Couldn't be further from the truth: he demanded excellence in sound quality and Globo couldn't (or didn't want to) provide it for him. At a later show, he was booed by an audience of filthy rich people when he was again disappointed with the acoustics of the theatre (and he was right: it was a huge architecture aberration with the worst acoustics I've ever experienced). At the 2000 concert I attended in a smaller venue, despite João being late, he played for almost three hours and was absolutely charming with the audience. Everybody cheered as he laughed and joked with some audience members, totally relaxed and smiling all the way through. After that I saw him again in 2003 and it was as good as the first one, the same good vibrations all the time. I don't think he ever played Brazil again after that. It was a mind-blowing experience - I went to concerts by almost all of the greatest Brazilian musicians and can tell those two concerts are at least in my top 5 ever.
As I recall, Fred Taylor booked that Wang show. I think it was a real nail-biter for him. I have to look it up in his memoir..... So, "inversions" or "out of tune guitar" or "wrong notes"?
I don’t think he ever played a wrong note! (I watched that show through binoculars so I could try and learn from his chording hand)