The Girl from Ipanema on Ukulele

Check out Jeff’s arrangement and performance of The Girl from Ipanema on Ukulele. The Girl from Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema in Portuguese) is one of the most popular bossa nova songs. Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes wrote the song in 1962. But it was Stan Getz’s recording with Astrud Gilberto on vocals in 1964 that made the song a worldwide hit.

Bossa Nova, which means “new wave” in Portuguese, is a style of music that developed during the 1950s and 60s combining samba rhythms with element of jazz. The recording (Getz/Gilberto), was a breakthrough for bossa nova music. It contained such hits as Desafinado and Corcovado. In fact, all of the players on that album are associated with the boom of bossa. João Gilberto (guitar and vocals), Antonio Carlos Jobim (piano), Stan Getz (saxophone), Astrud Gilberto (vocals).

Jeff’s arrangement for high-G (re-entrant tuning) ukulele takes the classic progression and melody and adds a fun improvised chord-melody interspersed with jazz lines on the repeat. We hope you enjoy this fun bossa piece!

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