Djalma Ferreira and Luiz Antônio · Recorded in Brazil in 1959 as Recado, “the message” · Known in English as The Gift
Recado Bossa Nova
Recado Bossa Nova is a Brazilian samba from 1959 by Djalma Ferreira and Luiz Antônio. Its minor-key tune and gentle Brazilian rhythm reached American jazz records by 1962. Singers know it in English as The Gift, and bands play it without words too.
Listen in this order
Eight versions, from a 1959 Brazilian single to a 2023 vocal recording. On the way you hear an orchestra led by a tenor saxophonist, a guitar quartet with brass, a quintet, a bass-led Paris quartet, a trumpet septet with vibes and a piano group with Brazilian percussion.
Singer Carlos José recorded the song with an orchestra for Odeon on 12 June 1959. It came out as a 78 rpm single that month, with Garotas on the other side.
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Listen for
A singer with an orchestra behind him, in the style Brazilian catalogs file as samba. The whole song takes just over two minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 8 as , one per bar: , Gm, , D7♭9, , , , Cm. If the ♭9 and ♭5 chords are new, play plain Gm, , and first.
Tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims recorded it with an orchestra in New York on 28 August 1962 for the Colpix album New Beat Bossa Nova. Al Cohn and Manny Albam wrote the arrangements, and the piece runs in two parts.
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Listen for
Flutes and clarinets sit beside Zoot Sims's tenor saxophone, with two guitars and Brazilian hand percussion underneath.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody once at a slow tempo. Then play only the roots of 1 to 8, one per bar: G, G, D, D, D, G, C, C.
The Howard Roberts Quartet (with brass) · 1964 · Bebop, Cool jazz
Something's Cookin'
Guitarist Howard Roberts led a quartet with added brass on this Capitol album, recorded in Hollywood on 1 and 2 August 1964. The track lasts under two minutes.
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A guitar-led group with an organ, plus the trumpets and trombones listed for the album sessions. The track is over in under two minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 8 with your left hand on the low notes and your right on the in a light bossa rhythm, then try the melody on top. Smaller version: play the chords in the right hand and hum the tune.
Hank Mobley recorded it for Blue Note on 18 June 1965 at Van Gelder Studio, with trumpeter Lee Morgan and pianist Harold Mabern. It appears on his album Dippin', released in 1966.
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Tenor saxophone and trumpet lead, with piano, bass and drums behind them. At over eight minutes, the track leaves room for long solos.
Try it on your instrument
Play the : for two bars, for two, for two, then and . Smaller version: play only the roots, G, G, C, C, A, A, D, D, one per bar.
Bassist Major Holley recorded it in Paris in March 1974 with pianist Gerry Wiggins, drummer Ed Thigpen and tenor saxophonist Gérard Badini. It came out on the French Black & Blue label on the album Mule, released in 1977.
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A quartet led by a bassist, with tenor saxophone and piano on top and drums underneath. The track runs almost six minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 8 as a bass line, one root per bar: G, G, D, D, D, G, C, C. If that feels easy, connect the roots with notes from the scale.
Trumpeter Roy Eldridge recorded it in New York on 16 January 1976 for the Pablo album What It's All About, with saxophonists Norris Turney and Budd Johnson.
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Vibraphonist Milt Jackson plays on this track and one other. Listen for the ringing tone of the vibes beside Eldridge's trumpet.
Try it on your instrument
Play 9 to 12 slowly, a bar each: , , , Gm, and hear D7♭9 pull into Gm. Smaller version: play only the roots A, D, G, G.
Pianist Joanne Brackeen recorded it on 15 and 16 June 1993 for the album Take a Chance, her second album of Brazilian music. Concord released it in 1994.
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Piano, bass and drums, with a percussionist adding Brazilian rhythms. The track runs seven minutes, so the piano has room to explore.
Try it on your instrument
Play 13 to 16 (, A7♭9, , D7♭9), where the tune leans toward D for four bars before settling. Smaller version: hold a low A for two bars, then a low D for two.
Singer Karrin Allyson recorded it in March 2023 under its English title, The Gift, for the album A Kiss for Brazil. Origin Records released the album in 2024.
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Listen for
A singer with piano, accordion, guitar, bass and drums. The track lasts four minutes, close to the length of the 1959 single.
Try it on your instrument
Play the of 1 to 8 while you hum the melody. Smaller version: hum the melody alone and tap a steady beat.
Djalma Ferreira and Luiz Antônio write the samba in 1959. Carlos José records it for Odeon in June, and Maysa puts it on an RGE album the same year.
1960s
Zoot Sims records it with an orchestra in New York in 1962, Howard Roberts adds brass to a guitar quartet in 1964, and Hank Mobley's quintet plays it for Blue Note in 1965.
1970s
Bassist Major Holley's Paris quartet records it in 1974, and trumpeter Roy Eldridge brings in vibraphonist Milt Jackson for a 1976 version on Pablo.
1990s
Pianist Joanne Brackeen records it in 1993 for Take a Chance, her second album of Brazilian music, with bassist Eddie Gómez and a percussionist.
2000s
Harold Mabern, the pianist on Mobley's 1965 record, plays it with his own trio on a Venus album, and Kenny Burrell plays it alone on guitar in Pasadena in 2009.
2020s
Karrin Allyson records it as The Gift in March 2023, with piano, accordion, guitar, bass and drums, for her Brazilian album A Kiss for Brazil.
More great versions
4 more, from 1959 to 2002. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sMaysa with Orquestra RGE1959
1960sEydie Gormé1963 · Bossa nova
The Hi-Lo's1963 · Vocal
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000sHarold Mabern Trio2002 · Bebop
Maysa with Orquestra RGE
1959
“Recado”, Maysa é Maysa... é Maysa, é Maysa!
Maysa sang it on her 1959 RGE album Maysa é Maysa... é Maysa, é Maysa, with the RGE orchestra.
“The Gift! (Recado Bossa Nova)”, Blame It on the Bossa Nova
Eydie Gormé sang it as The Gift on her 1963 Columbia album Blame It on the Bossa Nova. The album credits arrangements to Nick Perito, Billy May and Marion Evans.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
G minorusual key
40 barsA · A · B form
G minor · C minorkeys it moves between
A16 bars
A16 bars
B8 bars
G m
C m
G m
G m
C m
G m
C m
G m
The tune is a played twice, then an eight-bar B, forty bars in all. A opens in with and , then and lead to two bars of in bars 7 and 8. and D7♭9 return to Gm in bars 9 to 12, and into D7♭9 in bars 13 to 16 sets up the repeat. B starts with G7♭9 and settles on Cm for four bars, then A7♭9, and D7♭9 lead back to G minor. In iReal Pro's chart the last four bars of the A strain (, D7♭9, Gm, Gm) read as the ending.