Walter Wanderley

• Genre: Vintage Lounge
• Hometown: Sao Paulo

About

No matter what kind of mood you're in, it's hard to keep a straight face when confronted with the sounds of Walter Wanderly's obliviously chipper organ -- his staccato Hammond tones and occasional synth dabblings remain, in the most technical sense of the word, "cheesy," though not necessarily in a negative sense. Specializing in lightly jazzy reworkings of Samba and Bossa Nova numbers, Wanderly scored his biggest hit with "Summer Samba" (1966), though he covered all the usual bases elsewhere ("The Girl From Ipanema," "Desafinado," "Brazil," etc.). He recorded prolifically in the late '60s, only to essentially drop off the map before the '90s lounge revival resurrected interest in his work.

- Will York