This article considers the connections between the blues and the bossa nova, which have been little recognized in the literature on bossa nova, but was of great importance for the genre's development. Through analysis of recordings made on the Copacabana samba-jazz circuit of the 1950s and '60s, this article brings to light a blues-based practice, both in the use of a twelve-bar structure and in the use of the blues scale as a basis for bossa nova improvisation. The article also explains the importance of key figures like Booker Pittman, Moacir Santos and Paulo Moura in the transmission of blues influence in Rio de Janeiro, and the effects of this influence on the subsequent development of bossa nova.
Blues; Bossa Nova; Samba-Jazz