Creed Taylor Produced

Today marks the 56th Anniversary of the 7th Grammy Awards, they announced the arrival of Brazilian music in the mainstream, as well as Creed Taylor, (Antonio Carlos) Jobim, and importantly Astrud Gilberto.

I wrote extensively last year about the awards show itself^[1]https://www.ctproduced.com/on-this-day-the-getz-gilberto-grammys/. It almost didn’t go well. As always with the Grammys there is also the confusion, “wins 1965 Grammy award” is a common refrain, when in fact it was a 1964 Grammy, awarded at the 1965 Ceremony. In this case, the 7th Grammy awards. Wikipedia is a mess when it comes to this, even NPR reported “It was a worldwide hit and won the 1965 Grammy for record of the year.”^[2]João Gilberto, Master Of Bossa Nova, Dies At 88

For the 1965 ceremony, Getz was absent, apparently as always, his wife accepting his awards, and as I wrote last year,

As the proceedings reached its final stages, Allan Sherman almost missed awarding Grammys to Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto and Creed Taylor for Album of the Year, “Getz-Gilberto.” Before Mrs Getz, who was accepting for her husband, Mrs Gilberto, and Taylor could reach the stage, Sherman began announcing the final award: Record of the Year. Actually, it only simplified matters, as the same trio would have had to return to the stage anyway.

Getz and Astrud Giberto garnered Record of the Year Grammys and Creed Taylor, who produced, received a plaque.

Billboard Magazine, April 24th, 1965 p6

Unlike today when the live Grammy Award show is heavily scripted, and filmed pseudo live, the 7th Grammy Award show was neither scripted it seems, or filmed. A Later show “Best on Record” was filmed in a studio and broadcast a month or so later, in this case on NBC on May 18th. Getz/Gilberto would appear, but we’d not see Creed Taylor on stage collecting awards. (if anyone knows where this show can be seen, or has a private copy, please CONTACT US or leave a comment on this post.)

The Tour and Travel

While writing about the CTI All-Stars Live^[3]CTI All-Stars Live, I was reminded that it wasn’t just a great album, and it won the Grammy award for Getz/Gilberto. No, it was relentless touring that supported and sold the album and made it what it was in 1964. In an informal count, I found some 148 concerts from May all the way through December. Perhaps the most significant appearance was at the New Port Jazz Festival in 1964, on July 3rd. An unofficial CD of this performance has been released in Europe and Japan, also with Chet Baker guesting on 3-tracks.^[4]Stan Getz & Guests Featuring Astrud Gilberto & Chet Baker ‎– Live At Newport 1964

The tour took them across the USA, Canada, Honolulu, often on multi-night residencies, for 3-nights in Cincinnati in November, or 6-nights in Connecticut, or two performances per day including an early evening matinee and a later performance. Amazingly, many of these performances Stan Getz Quartet and Astrud Gilberto were a support act, Tony Bennett, The Kinsgton Trio, The Four Amigos, especially Hawaii, where they were “a feature on the Kingston Trio program.”^[5]Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii), 13th Sep 1964, Page 13

By Christmas they were on the big screen, and back on the road in February in California at the Claremont Hotel in Oakland for a 10-night residency. One of the draws for their Oakland performance was a “free color TV give-away”, a lucky “Mr William Krokoski from Carmichael, went home with.” ^[6]Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) 2nd Feb 1965, Page 40 That seemed to mark the end of the Getz/Gilberto touring, although the Getz Quarter went on to play solo on Feb. 20th at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.^[7]Los Angeles Evening Citizen News (Hollywood, California), 10th Feb 1965, Page 39

Their film debut came in the opening scene of “Get Yourself A College Girl” which was being shown nationally and heavily promoted. The film was also shown in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. I’d never heard of, or seen the film until I started researching about Jimmy Smith, who was also in the film. I’ll be writing about this in more detail in an upcoming post about Jimmy Smith. In the meantime, press play, enjoy.

Astrud Gilberto and the Kitchen Story

It was in this constant touring environment where a story about Astrud as a singer started, and flourished much as it would today on social media, even though it was not true. Here it is, reported as fact.

Despite a 1965 article by Mary Campbell, an AP News feature writer, which quoted Astrud directly, the rumor persisted and Astrud herself, now in retirement, continues to deny.^[8]http://www.astrudgilberto.com/interview.htm – Marc Myers, JazzWax

By May 1965, Gilberto had not only done all the performing, appeared at the Grammys, been in a film, but she had also recorded two albums for Verve. Astrud had also apparently divorced from Joao Gilberto in December 1964.

It’s not surprising then, Astrud retired early, worn down by press reports, and exhausted from the travel and performing. “She hopes to perform in the United States, “with time for a few months in Brazil every year. But I don’t think too much on the future. Never.”

Streaming

A reader, Jenny, contacted me after I published this post and asked about streaming. Yes, both the original album, and an “Expanded Edition” are available for streaming. There are five different versions of The Girl From Ipanema, sung by Astrud Gilberto on Spotify, including the three versions on the expanded edition album, a live version which may have been from the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival, and another Astrud disco version on another album. I totaled up the play counts, they came to some 122-million.

It takes about 250 streams to make $1 from Spotify^[9]How Much Does Spotify Pay Per 1,000 Streams [In 2021]. Obviously there are a ton of other streaming services as well. But based on this, 1,000 = $4. Then 122-million streams brings in just short of half a million US Dollars.

Does that money go to Astrud? Hell no. At least as far as I’m aware, there are license fees for the writers, the Estates of which there may be four writers, including Stan Getz. Then there is the Master rights, typically the label, then the mechanical rights, which cover the recording. Depending on the original contract, anything from one to six/seven people may be on the mechanical rights license. So even if it was split equally between the three rights holders, it would be less than $100,000 at absolute best, probably more like $20,000 or less, and that’s in the lifetime of Spotify. Think I’ve got it wrong, let me know, leave a comment.

Updates: April 13th, 2021 8:43pm – Reader questions answered. Added section on streaming. Also detail on Newport Jazz festival 1964.
April 14th, 2021 9:15pm – Switched featured image to improve homepage layout
August 21st, 2023 – Minor rewrites and updates. Updated streaming link to allow play from multiple services inc. Youtube.