Bossa Nova Pioneer Octavio Bailly Jr. Clings to the Latin Beat

Nov. 21, 1962, was a legendary day for Brazilian music, and bassist Octavio Bailly Jr. was part of it.

The new musical sensation bossa nova--literally “new wave”--was debuted to American audiences at a sold-out concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The event spotlighted such innovative Brazilians as Joao Gilberto, credited with launching the movement in Brazil in 1959; Luis Bonfa; Oscar Castro-Neves, and saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had recorded “Jazz Samba” on Verve Records earlier that year, an album that became one of the most influential American jazz interpretations of this new musical style.

Bailly’s appearance on the show was a stroke of luck because the band he played with--the Bossa Rio sextet, which included pianist Sergio Mendes--had only been formed six months before the concert.

“It was incredible,” recalled Bailly, 58, who has lived in Southern California since 1968 and now resides in Canoga Park. “Our timing was just about perfect. We started playing and then we got a call from the Brazilian Consulate, and we were put on the show.”

The band traveled from a sunny Rio de Janeiro to a very cold New York--”It was freezing, man, but it was fun!”--and opened the concert. Their performance reaped an unexpected benefit: a recording with a renowned jazz musician, alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. “We were the big instrumental band on the show, everyone else sang, and afterward, Cannonball came up to us, congratulated us, and said he wanted to make an album with us,” Bailly said.

That album, a first-rate project called “Cannonball’s Bossa Nova,” was recorded a month after the concert and released on Riverside Records. (It is available as a reissue on Landmark Records.)

Bailly went back to Rio after the recording, and though Bossa Rio broke up, he soon became a member of two other popular bands--the Tamba Trio, which featured pianist-composer Luis Eca and drummer Helcio Milito, and the Bossa Tres, which featured singer Leny Andrade.

It was indirectly through the Bossa Tres that Bailly came to the United States to stay. “The band took a two-month engagement in Mexico City in 1966, and we stayed two years,” he said with a laugh. “Then our visas expired, and we had to go to another country to get them renewed. I chose to come to Los Angeles, and I bumped into Sergio and he wanted to start the Bossa Rio sextet again, so I stayed here.”

After 20 years of playing with other people’s bands--among them the reformed Bossa Rio, with Mendes’ group from 1973-76, and with singer Al Jarreau, in 1979--Bailly decided in 1988 to form his own. He appears every Sunday in September at Windows on Hollywood in the Hollywood Holiday Inn, and Sept. 15 and 29 at Caffe Giuseppe in Northridge.

“I saw there was a lot of demand for Brazilian music, and I wanted to do something that I could be proud of,” Bailly said. “As a sideman, you sometimes have to play Brazilian music that, in my mind, is not happening. So I started to get organized, working toward something that sounds right, that is rehearsed.”

That “something” is the trio he fronts, a unit that plays many classics of the Brazilian pop and bossa nova repertoire, and which features keyboardist Liz Kinnon and drummer Claudio Slon. On some occasions, such as at Caffe Giuseppe, the threesome is joined by singer Carol Rogers.

Bailly cites his cohorts, and Slon in particular, as ideal for the musical goals he has set out to achieve. The bassist met the drummer in Brazil in the ‘50s, but didn’t play with him until they were both part of pianist Mendes’ band in the ‘70s.

“Claudio is one of the great Brazilian drummers, a man who has perfect time,” Bailly said. “He has such musicality, you don’t have to tell him what to do.”

Kinnon, whom Bailly met in 1985, when she was performing with the group Brazilian Winds, has a feeling for his kind of music, the leader says.

According to Caffe Giuseppe owner David Arthur, Bailly leads the type of band a club proprietor is constantly seeking. “The sound he puts out is excellent, such good music, and the clientele he brings in are a nice group of people, appreciative of the restaurant and the music,” he said.

Octavio Bailly plays from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. today and Sept. 13, 20 and 27 at Windows on Hollywood at the Hollywood Holiday Inn, 1755 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. $18.95, includes full brunch. Information: (213) 462-7181. Bailly also appears 7-11 p.m. Sept. 15 and 29 at Caffe Giuseppe, 18515 Roscoe Blvd., Northridge. No cover or minimum. Information: (818) 349-9090.