Daughter of bossa nova pioneer João Gilberto and Brazilian singer Miúcha, Bebel Gilberto made her recording debut at 7 on Miúcha & António Carlos Jobim, and two years later performed with her mother and saxophone great Stan Getz at Carnegie Hall. The singer, 49, who lives in New York, plays the One World Theatre on Monday, May 16.
Austin Chronicle: It’s been two years since your last album. How was that cycle?
Bebel Gilberto: Well, of course I did a tour around the world after the release of Tudo. Then at the end of last year, I was thinking about what I’m doing now, which is basically songs that I like to sing mixed with my old songs and all totally stripped down with just words and guitar. In February, we did a Valentines is for Lovers tour with my longtime collaborator and guitarist Masa Shimizu.
He’s a very dear friend and co-writer. Since I moved to New York, it’s great working with him, because he’s done about 80 percent of my gigs with me. It was very special doing this with him. It took us like a week and was very laid-back. I just wanted to revisit some songs that I love without having to write new songs.
AC: You’ve said the recording of Tudo was the most intense process you’ve been through. How so?
BG: When I started with Sony, I’ll just say that it was a very rapid relationship. I obviously feel sorry, but that’s not meant for me. With all due respect, I’m not meant to be a major artist. So since I signed, I had to release an album in that particular frame of time and things were so difficult, because there was so much going on with just getting used to the contract, getting musicians together, and it was during Christmas time. Not only that, but the years prior I broke another ankle and lost my grandmother, which was very hard for me as well.
But there was also some good aspects to the process, because it was like, “Ok, we got to do this in this little time.” And for me, I can take six months making an album, because it’s sort of like making a baby. My producer Mario Caldato made it so much easier, though. He’s a Brazilian with an American heart. He was very straightforward, a hard worker, and so eclectic, so it was great working with him. It was nice because I learned the other way of doing things.
To be honest, it was very tense, too. I wish I could have increased the time of recording, just so they could settle with new arrangements and mastering instead of just write, write, write because of a deadline. It doesn’t go well with my music.
AC: That’s interesting, because the album sounds airy and light despite the situations you were in.
BG: Yeah, that was definitely the other side of the coin. The winter of 2013 was really bad, so I moved to Los Angeles and I got a house there. That was fun to be there on the West Coast and that vibe. I never had done any recording in L.A. before and that was new for me.
I’ve recorded in so many places like Bilozos, Brazil, New York, France, but never really the West Coast and I loved it. There’s just something about Los Angeles and the beautiful weather and warm temperatures that I definitely think translated into the album. It’s a beautiful album.
AC: On the album you sing in Portuguese, French, and Spanish. Do you consciously choose each language for a song, or do you have to hear a track first and then decide?
BG: Yeah, that’s interesting. I do speak Portuguese fluently, but Spanish is definitely tricky for me. Right now, especially since I’m doing songs from other artists that I love, if there’s a Spanish song and of course Spanish text, I will sing it in that language. But, I would say in most instances – especially in my songwriting process – I listen to the music and decide what language I need to sing in.
Like there’s this song on Tudo called “Tout Est Bleu,” where I heard the music and I was like, “I need to sing in French.” It’s funny though, because come to find out, my French doesn’t exist.
AC: You’ve lived all over the world. Where do you consider home?
BG: New York. I’ve lived here for 25 years and I lived in Brazil for 18. I don’t have a house in Brazil anymore and I only go to visit, honestly. I do love to play there though, and it will always be a part of me and who I am, but I wouldn’t live there for the world.
AC: Being around music at such a young age, did you always know that’s what you wanted to do?
BG: No. I was so young and it was like I was working, but I didn’t really know I was working. I was singing with my mother and was pretty much on every recording that needed a child’s voice. I loved it, because it was such a great training. It taught me my capacity of improvising and being so relaxed onstage with other musicians at such a young age.
AC: What was it like growing up in such a musical family?
BG: Thinking back, it’s crazy to think about how much I worked. My mother basically created me for the few years on her own when I lived with my grandmother. My life really wasn’t that glamorous, but it had its bright times, which includes the Stan Getz chapter, because I moved to New York and my mom would come along and we’d stay at Stan Getz’s house. Those moments were unforgettable. I’m very glad we lived there and especially that this was all happening during the Carnegie Hall scene.
But growing up with them was interesting, because I’ve grown up with entertainers around my whole life and sometimes they forget to be normal, so to say. That doesn’t mean I regret it or anything. Growing up with music around my whole life was amazing.
My father taught me to be a perfectionist, you know. Even to this day, he still practices guitar 24 hours [a day], even while he’s watching TV. It’s incredible to dedicate yourself to your art like that, but he does.
AC: By contrast, was it hard to find your own voice being around such music and artists your whole life?
BG: Well, in a way it was, but when I moved to New York things definitely got better for me, because I was away from my family, my friends, and my protectors. So then, little by little, I worked extremely hard and played all over New York. I was never the type of artist to want to play at a restaurant of anything, but I definitely had consistency.
Even at the World Trade Center, they had a bar there and that’s probably one of the places where I gained the most confidence. I got a residency there and I played every Wednesday. Those were some of the best days in becoming who I am today. Those moments helped me find my voice and my style.
AC: You released your first EP before you moved to New York in the mid-Eighties.
BG: It’s weird because I was only 20 at the time. Even though I did that recording and I sound like a little kid, I think it was pretty avant-garde. I was very unique, doing that. I had this very angelic relationship and attitude towards everything; I was working with a lot of people that got me somewhere.
So when I moved out of Brazil, I never got mainstream or anything. That’s fine, but I was thinking, “This got me here, I love these people, and everyone is more successful than me,” so I needed to look for something. That’s when everything started happening and I started listening to more music. There was Portishead, Michael Jackson, Prince, Björk, and even David Byrne became a friend. This was a whole different world to me.
Then, when I met Towa Tei and collaborated on his Future Listening! CD, I realized what I wanted to do. Something electronic, but something that still references my roots of Brazil and bossa nova.
AC: Going back to how you’re doing covers, you perform “Harvest Moon” on Tudo. Why that song?
BG: I was invited to participate in a tribute to Neil Young, and I really wanted to do “Harvest Moon.” And I learned guitar, because I told myself I needed to play guitar even though it’s really bad. That’s one thing about my parents: My dad never taught me, my mom never showed me, and they never got me a professor. So it’s bad.
But in this song, I rearranged it with the little that I knew and then we played it at Carnegie Hall. That was the first time I ever played guitar live.
AC: You’ve said that as a Brazilian you feel and live intensively. What do you mean by that?
BG: Well, Brazilians are intense. We are not full of shit, let’s put it that way. At least the real ones. Everything we do, we do. Nothing is halfway done, and I live everything intensively.
This article appears in May 6 • 2016.