Beco Das Garrafas

Beco das Garrafas – Bottles Alley

The success of Gilberto’s 1958 Chega De Saudade record inspired many young Brazilian musicians, and a movement ensued. Two important gathering places emerged. The first was the guitar studio of Roberto Menescal (1937–) and Carlos Lyra (1939–). Students would gather at apartments to play and socialize. The family of singer and guitar student Nara Leão (1942–1989), who was just a fourteen-year-old girl at the time, offered the living room of their home in the Copacabana section of Rio. Many of the future greats attended these informal sessions.

The second brought the music beyond the private circles of musicians and involved three small nightclubs (Little Club, Bacarat, and Bottles) along a side street in Copacabana known as Bottles Alley. These clubs became the meeting place for many musicians interested in the new style and gave the public the unique opportunity to see how the music was developing. The pianist Sérgio Mendes (1941–) and his Bossa Rio Sextet as well as Luiz Eça and his Tamba Trio appeared regularly, along with other up-and-coming musicians such as Dom Um Romão.

Sérgio Mendes recalled this in the 2007 BBC documentary: Brasil Brasil! “Part 1: From Samba to Bossa.”

“Rio was wonderful. There was a bar named the Bottles Bar and that’s where I started playing. There was a trio and everybody used to come there every night – Baden Powell, Jobim...

“There was a club on the end of the street called the Little Club. We would do jam sessions there. And every jazz musician that would come to Rio would stop by. And you know, it was just wonderful, wonderful times in the early sixties in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.”