Verve Mondays continues in May with four records that showcase the remarkable range of the Verve Records catalog. This month takes us from the sunlit bossa nova of 1960s Brazil to the velvet elegance of Ella Fitzgerald‘s definitive Cole Porter interpretations, with stops along the way for Art Farmer’s lush orchestral settings and Stan Getz’s genre-defining Brazilian collaborations.
Every Monday night at Kissa Kissa, the featured reissue becomes the evening’s centerpiece — played in full on vinyl through our Technics SL-1200GR turntables and Harbeth speakers, with a full evening of complementary programming curated from our library of more than 5,000 LPs. The Verve 70 cocktail — our Monday-night-only signature drink — is available all evening.
This Month on the Turntable
Four records. Four Mondays. Each one played on vinyl the way it was meant to be heard.
Marcos Valle was the Renaissance man of Brazilian pop — a singer, songwriter, and producer who straddled the country’s music world from the early days of bossa nova through the fusion-soaked sound of the 1980s. Though his reputation in America never quite matched contemporaries like Caetano Veloso or Gilberto Gil, he remains one of the most important figures in Brazilian music history.
Samba ’68 was Valle’s only album for Verve — recorded in English with brilliant arrangements by Eumir Deodato to capitalize on America’s bossa nova craze. The vocal harmonies with his wife Anamaria are gorgeous throughout, and “Crickets Sing for Anamaria” remains a stone-cold classic. One of the grooviest records in the entire Verve catalog.
Art Farmer was one of the most lyrical brass players in jazz — a musician whose warm, rounded tone on both trumpet and flugelhorn set him apart from the fire-breathers of his generation. He came up playing with Lionel Hampton and Horace Silver, and co-led the influential Jazztet with Benny Golson before building a remarkable solo career.
This Verve Vault reissue captures Farmer in a lush orchestral setting — his flugelhorn floating above richly arranged strings and woodwinds. The result is sophisticated, deeply swinging, and beautifully recorded — music that rewards the kind of attentive listening a jazz kissa was built for.
There is no voice in jazz quite like Ella Fitzgerald’s — pure, effortless, and capable of turning any lyric into something that sounds inevitable. Norman Granz founded Verve Records in 1956 specifically to showcase her talent, and the series of Songbook albums she recorded for the label became her definitive artistic statement — eight collections spanning the greatest composers in American popular music.
The Cole Porter Songbook was the very first album released on Verve — the record that launched the label. Seventy years later, it remains one of the most definitive vocal jazz recordings ever made. This Acoustic Sounds reissue, mastered from the original analog tapes and pressed on 180-gram vinyl, is the way to hear Ella at her most elegant and effortless. A landmark record reissued for a landmark anniversary.
Stan Getz’s silken tenor saxophone became the sound of bossa nova in America. His collaborations with Brazilian musicians for Verve — beginning with Jazz Samba in 1962 and culminating in the Grammy-winning Getz/Gilberto — created an entirely new genre crossover and brought Brazilian music to a global audience. Few jazz musicians have ever changed the shape of popular music so dramatically.
Jazz Samba Encore! paired Getz with guitarist and composer Luiz Bonfá — the man behind “Manhã de Carnaval” from the film Black Orpheus. Recorded in 1963, the result is warm, intimate, and deeply musical — two masters finding common ground between jazz improvisation and the rhythmic sophistication of samba. This Acoustic Sounds pressing is mastered from the original analog tapes.
What Is Verve Mondays?
Verve Mondays is a year-long weekly listening event series at Kissa Kissa in partnership with Verve Records, celebrating the legendary label’s 70th anniversary. Every Monday from April through December, a different Verve reissue becomes the evening’s centerpiece — played on vinyl, through our audiophile hi-fi system, in Brooklyn’s only traditional jazz kissa. 39 Mondays. 39 reissues. One historic series.
The Verve 70 — an exclusive Monday-night-only signature cocktail (Song Cai floral gin, Prosecco, housemade sage lavender syrup, lemon) — is available all evening. Pair it with our full menu for the complete experience.
Each month’s lineup will be announced here and on our Instagram in advance. Read the full series announcement for the complete story behind the partnership.
Verve Mondays Continue Every Monday in May
667 Franklin Avenue · Crown Heights, Brooklyn
No cover. No reservations required but always encouraged.
