Samba Em Preludio

• Samba


  Popular 20th century national dance of Brazil, with loud drumming and syncopated rhythms, an essential part of the carnival season. A more restrained version is also known as a competitive ballroom dance.
• Bossa nova


  A 'new trend' that developed in the late 1950s as an alternative to the boisterous carnival samba. Slower and more lyrical than samba, with a focus on rich and complex harmonies borrowed from contemporary cool jazz.
• Samba Em Prelúdio

  Composed by Roberto Baden Powell de Aquino in 1962. The title means "Samba in the form of a prelude" (a prelude being a short piece written in the style of an improvisation).
• Saudade


  A feeling of deep longing or melancholy that some think characteristic of Brazilian temperament.
• Esperanza Spalding


  • American singer and multi-instrumentalist, plays acoustic bass guitar and sings the vocal line on this track.
• Acoustic bass guitar


  • A large version of the acoustic guitar, with four strings tuned the same as the double bass and electric bass.
• Structure

  1. Intro (bars 1-3)

  2. AA' (bars 4-22)

  3. BB (bars 23-54)

  4. Guitar solo (bars 55-87)

  5. Repeats (bars 68-103)

  6. Coda (bars 104-114)
• The bass in bars 88-103 is an augmented version of the vocal melody in bars 4-11 (ie. note lengths are increased - mostly doubled)
• Texture


  Monophonic (bars 1-3), homophonic (melody and accompaniment), contrapuntal (combination of two independent melodic lines in bars 88-103)
• Tonality


  In the key of B minor, with no modulations but many chromatic notes
• Harmony


  • Based on the rich harmonic vocabulary of cool jazz, with complex chords including chord extensions, chromatic chords, and an extended chord (often an 11th) used to end the performance.
• Melody


  • Vocal melody in A section based on a four-note rising figure, varied throughout, with a sad mood created by the falling sequence, low tessitura and minor key. Melody B is almost entirely conjunct.
• Metre, tempo and rhythm


  • In simple quadruple time, with a thoughtful, improvisatory quality in the opening bars achieved through rubato. Frequent use of triplets, syncopation, and cross rhythms, with the bossa nova's characteristic combination of gently syncopated and dotted rhythms starting in bar 19.