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ANTIGUA By Paul Desmond
With its beautiful chord changes, catchy melody, and fantastic Latin groove from drummer
Connie Kay, this Desmond original easily could become a new standard in the bossa nova
repertoire.
“Bossa Antigua” has a 32‐bar head, in ABA form, all based on a simple melodic theme that digs
deep into the bossa nova groove.
Desmond’s solo in “Bossa Antigua” is a perfect blend of all the ingredients necessary for a tasty
bossa nova dish: a smooth sound, a floating vibrato, and great rhythmic motifs. His brilliant use
of space sets up his fabulous melodies in such a way that every two‐bar phrase can be viewed
as its own mini‐composition; indeed, his first chorus sounds like a whole new song. Check out
the delightful riff introduced in measure 38, which initiates a theme‐and‐variation section that
continues through measure 45.
Desmond starts the second chorus with some nice syncopated, staccato rhythms (measures
65–67) and revisits the approach in measures 84–94, giving the song a true bossa feel. The
alternating 2nds in measures 71–72 and 74 offer yet another interesting melody idea.