Jazz Samba

Recorded at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington on 13 February 1962 and released by Verve that April, with Creed Taylor producing. Charlie Byrd had heard bossa nova on a 1961 State Department tour of Brazil. He chose the songs, supplied the musicians and wrote the arrangements, and Getz flew down from New York for the day with Taylor. Chris McGowan reports that the session took about two hours. Byrd's trio partners Keter Betts and Buddy Deppenschmidt had bought João Gilberto's first records in Brazil and learned the style, and McGowan argues the album would not have sounded the same without them.

Almost all the material is by Brazilian composers, and Byrd wrote Samba Dees Days. Desafinado and Samba de Uma Nota Só were issued as singles in the United States and Europe. The cover painting is by Olga Albizu.

The album reached number one on the Billboard album chart in 1963, and McGowan counts seventy weeks on the charts. Byrd and Deppenschmidt have both said it is not strictly bossa nova but jazz musicians interpreting it. John Fordham of the Guardian also singled out Bahia and Samba Triste among its memorable songs.