The World Of Walter Wanderley
Walter Wanderley

If you like Ella, Duke, Count and Frank… you’ll love the music of
Walter Wanderley” Tony Bennett. A popular artist on the Brazilian bossa
nova scene from the end of the fifties, Walter Wanderley became an
internationally renowned star through his collaborations with the
singer Astrud Gilberto and her husband, João Gilberto.He was
discovered in Brazil by a touring Tony Bennett, who thought he¹d never
heard organ music like it and recommended him to Creed Taylor at Verve.
The timingwas perfect; the unforgettable summer of 1966 bringing
Wanderley a millionselling North American top thirty hit with his
version of Marcos and Paulo Sérgio Valle ‘s Samba de verao (Summer
Samba). During 1966>1967, he recorded three notable albums;
Rainforest , Cheganca and Astrud Gilberto ‘s A Certain Smile, A Certain
Sadness. Although Wanderley was compared in America with Jimmy
Smith and Fats Waller, his sound on the organ was a world away; a
distinctive, crisp, lightweight, staccato stuttering style, hugely
appealing and immediately reminiscent of authentic Brazilian rhythmic
and percussive impetus. Although what he intended was innovative, even
revolutionary, it ‘s playful, breezy, perhaps rather camp quality was
responsible in part for him being resurrected posthumously in the 1990s
as a leading purveyor of lounge music.