The 1964 Grammys looked like a lot of fun.
Diva: Song of the Year - - "Hello Dolly!," Louis Armstrong
Mensch: Record of the Year - - "The Girl from Ipanema," Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto
There's a great story about João Gilberto and Stan Getz recording Getz/Gilberto. I'm not sure I'll get the details straight but has that ever stopped me before? Sax player Stan Getz helped bring bossa nova/samba music to the US a couple years before, in 1962. He flew Gilberto and composer Antonio Carlos Jobim to New York to record an album with him.
Getz had a feeling that "The Girl from Ipanema" might do well as a single if it was sung in English in addition to Portuguese. He got Norman Gimbel to write English lyrics and asked João Gilberto to sing it in Portuguese and then in English. Gilberto said he didn't speak any English and had never sung in English. He had brought his wife to the recording session and she said, "I can sing it in English." They went through it with her and Getz was totally charmed by her breathy, unaffected, girlish way of singing. Her husband said, "Um, no - - she's my wife, she's not singing on this album, this is my album." And Getz said, "No - - I flew you guys up here, I'm paying you, I've booked the studio. This is MY album and she's singing on it."
Three things I thought worth mentioning about other awards that year. First, Best New Artist went to this new English band called The Beatles. Second, Most Promising New Classical Recording Artist went to a young American mezzo named Marilyn Horne. And the Best Rock and Roll Recording went to Petula Clark for "Downtown." Which shore don't sound like rock and roll to me!
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