Event · 1962-11-21 · New York City [40.71, -74.01]

Bossa Nova at Carnegie Hall

On 21 November 1962 a landmark concert at Carnegie Hall presented bossa nova to a packed New York audience, with João Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, Sérgio Mendes, Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal sharing the bill with American jazz players including Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd. The evening was beset by sound problems and uneven programming, yet it announced the movement's arrival on a world stage. It helped catalyze the recordings that would define the bossa nova boom of the following years.

Evidence1

Connections3

  • collaborates with Roberto Menescal

  • collaborates with Carlos Lyra

  • migrated from Sérgio Mendes

    Sérgio Mendes performed at the 1962 Carnegie Hall concert and soon relocated permanently to the United States, where he reshaped bossa nova into glossy crossover pop with Brasil '66. The New York concert was the threshold of his emigration north. He is the clearest case of a bossa player who crossed over and stayed.