After a rather rainy and cold month of July here in the Northeast, August arrived with sunny days, warmer temperatures and plenty of humidity. So returning to my summer series of blog posts after a six week break seems apropos. On the other hand, a local newspaper just contacted me about running a back-to-school ad. So I guess you might say that while we’re still having summer fun, it’s not too early to sign up for fall piano lessons.

I first heard today’s featured selection, Summer Samba (also known as So Nice because of the English words of the refrain) around the same time that the many Bossa Novas of Antonio Carlos Jobim had become extremely popular with American audiences. In addition to the renditions of the Girl from Ipanema, Meditation, Desafinado and other now-classic Bossa Novas played by such jazz musicians as Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck; several jazz organists have offered their own interpretations as well.

Having spent the early years of my professional performing career playing the Hammond B-3 organ, I was always on the alert for another source of inspiration on the instrument. So it was at this point that the Summer Samba recording by Brazilian organist Walter Wanderley caught my attention. Although this was less of a jazz record than a Bossa Nova LP, it introduced the most famous composition by yet another native of Rio de Janeiro, Marcos Valle (b. 1943).

Valle has written music in a variety of musical styles including Bossa Nova, samba and other Brazilian dance music forms. His extensive discography spans more than 45 years: an impressive accomplishment by any standards. The Portuguese lyrics to Summer Samba were written by Marcos’ older brother Paulo Sergio Valle (b. 1940). The elder Valle has provided lyrics for the songs of several other composers as well as the rather large portfolio of selections that he created with his younger brother Marcos.

As I previously mentioned, the Bossa Novas had become extremely popular with American audiences during the 1960s. Part of the reason for this is because the English lyrics for many of these hits, including Summer Samba, were written by Norman Gimbel (b. 1927). As I mentioned in my Bossa Nova blog series, Gimbel became a specialist in writing English-language lyrics to Brazilian (as well as French) popular songs. Thanks to music publisher Lou Levy, the compositions of Valle and his fellow countrymen Luis Bonfá and “Tom” Jobim reached a much wider audience.

As I continue to encourage my piano students all the time, listening to different performances of a particular piece is a great way to inspire and influence their own interpretations of a song. It hardly seems possible that in a few short years the way you can do your listening to improve your piano playing has gone from using LPs to 8-track tapes, to cassettes, to compact discs and finally to MP3 downloads and Internet music streaming.

I remember suggesting to a ten year old student and her mother to look on the Internet for a couple of versions of Moon River. Boy was I surprised when this young student came back to her piano lesson the following week. She had not only watched five videos of the song on Youtube.com, but she also took the accompaniment pattern she heard in one of the performances and successfully adapted to her own style and level of piano playing.

What a terrific tool the Internet has become for piano students of all ages!

In following my own advice as well as my normal practice, I did a search for recordings of Summer Samba (So Nice) on Rhapsody Music. Needless to say, the tracks by Brazilian organist Walter Wanderley (to which I referred earlier) still stand up to scrutiny. There are also several cuts (with and without Wanderley) that featured vocalist Astrud Gilberto, whose signature style became one of the trademarks for the Bossa Nova recordings in the USA with her version of the Girl from Ipanema.  Unfortunately, the number of other recorded renditions of Summer Samba (So Nice) is limited.

There are, however, four other jazz musicians whose performances are included to the available track list. In addition to the Duke Ellington Big Band cut, the interpretations by jazz organist Brother Jack McDuff as well as those of pianists Oscar Peterson and Ramsey Lewis provided a nice contrast to the other offerings.

So as I return to writing each week, I hope you will enjoy becoming more familiar with today’s selection Summer Samba while at the same time continuing to savor the summer season. As I’m sure you realize by now, it’s not too late to sign up for fall piano lessons.

When you want to develop your creativity, improve your piano playing, maintain a hobby that gives back a hundred-fold or just do something you’ve always wanted to do, taking piano lessons is a perfect choice. So take a few moments to schedule your Fall Piano Lesson appointment today at one of the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s convenient locations in Hudson and Natick, MA

Our piano instructors are here to help you Learn to Play the Music You Love!