The Girl from Ipanema, and the Man with the Sax

Astrud Gilberto

Tall and tan and young and lovely… Yet again I have a shortage of bare ladies to model for me so I looked elsewhere for inspiration andas I keep returning musically to the delights of the Getz/Gilberto I decided to draw some sketches whilst watching them perform on television in the 1960′s. No of course I didn’t draw them in the 1960′s, but it’s all there on Youtube. So here is Astrud Gilberto. My sketch is a bit cartoon-like. And below is the man blowing his magic horn, Stan Getz. Musical dullards like to argue about which of these two was the star attraction. Was it the lovely young, natural Brazilian girl singer or the established jazz saxophone maestro? No, you blockheads! Just listen to the song, they compliment each other perfectly. It’s the combination of them both together, plus the rest of the ensemble including Astrud’s husband, that takes this song to another level and makes it one of the most popular songs of all time. Because it’s so good it has inspired a thousand cheesy cover versions, but the real Girl From Ipanema is just unbeatable.

Stan Getz

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