An audio recording of "Samba de Orpheus," composed by Luiz Bonfá (1922-2001) and performed by Ira Sullivan (b. 1931) live on-air on WUCF-FM on December 8, 2006. A multi-instrumentalist, Sullivan was a crucial part of the Chicago jazz scene of the 1950s, performing with numerous artists, including a stint with Art Blakey (1919-1990) and the Jazz Messengers in 1956. He left the spotlight and moved to Florida to raise his family in the early 1960s, eventually starting a quintet with Red Rodney (1927-1994). Sullivan taught summers at the University of Miami's Young Musician's Camp, in which professional musicians and faculty from the UM School of Music instructed students between 7 and 18 years old in classical music, jazz, rock, songwriting, composition, and musical theater. One of the first bossa nova compositions to gain popularity outside Brazil, "Samba de Orpheus" has become a jazz standard. The song originally appeared in the 1959 film, Orfeu Negro ("Black Orpheus").
Creator
Bonfá, Luiz
Source
Original 6-minute and 24-second audio recording: Bonfá, Luiz. "Samba de Orpheus," by Ira Sullivan: WUCF-FM, Orlando, Florida, December 8, 2006.
Meredith, Bill. "Ira Sullivan: Family First." Jazz Times, December 2007. http://jazztimes.com/articles/19200-ira-sullivan-family-first (Accessed March 23, 2015).