"Soul Bossa Nova" is a popular instrumental, composed and first performed by musician and record producer Quincy Jones. It appeared on his 1962 ''

Big Band Bossa Nova ''Big Band Bossa Nova'' is an album by American Quincy Jones. Track listing Digital Re-issue, on Verve label Performers * Quincy Jones – conductor, arranger * Phil Woods – alto saxophone * Paul Gonsalves – tenor saxophone * R ...

'' album on Mercury Records. Jones said that it took him twenty minutes to compose the piece, which features prominently a cuíca (responsible for the distinctive "laughing" in the first bars). Roland Kirk was the flute soloist,

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elemen ...

was the pianist, Chris White was the bassist,

Rudy Collins Rudy Collins (July 24, 1934 – August 15, 1988) was an American jazz drummer born in New York City. Collins played trombone in high school and started on drums at that time as well. He studied with Sam Ulano during 1953–57 and began gigging in ...

was the drummer, and Jerome Richardson was the alto flutist."Mercury Records Discography: 1962"
''jazzdisco.org'' Retrieved November 7, 2018 The album liner notes do not specify the brass players.

Media use

*The song is used in the films ''

The Pawnbroker ''The Pawnbroker'' (1961) is a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant which tells the story of Sol Nazerman, a concentration camp survivor who suffers flashbacks of his past Nazi imprisonment as he tries to cope with his daily life operating a pawn sho ...

'' and ''

Take the Money and Run ''Take the Money and Run'' is a 1969 American mockumentary comedy film directed by Woody Allen. Allen co-wrote the screenplay with Mickey Rose and stars alongside Janet Margolin. The film chronicles the life of Virgil Starkwell, an inept bank rob ...

''. *The theme was used in a long-running Canadian television game show, ''

Definition A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...

''. *Canadian hip hop group Dream Warriors sampled the title heavily for their popular track "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style", in their debut album ''

And Now the Legacy Begins ''And Now the Legacy Begins'' is the debut album of Canadian hip hop duo Dream Warriors, released April 23, 1991. It was released worldwide on Island Records and in the United States on sub-label 4th & B'way Records (although it was not a hit in ...

'' in 1991. *Canadian comedian Mike Myers used the song as the theme for his James Bond parody film series '' Austin Powers''. The song was recommended to Myers by

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

DJ Chris Douridas, who had been hired on the film as a music consultant. *It was used as a theme for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

. *It was sampled by Ludacris for his ''Austin Powers''-themed single, " Number One Spot". *In 2014, Jones executive produced Canadian jazz singer Nikki Yanofsky's album ''Little Secret'', which featured a song entitled "Something New". The song interpolated melodic references to "Soul Bossa Nova". *The song is used as the menu music of the 2007 Gameloft Game, Las Vegas Nights: Temptations in The City *It was used as an act of humour magic show on ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

'' and '' Britain's Got Talent''. *A version of the song was used as the title theme in the German comedy show ''Was guckst du?!''. * In 2022 Canadian cellular provider Telus used the music for a TV commercial.

References

{{Authority control 1962 songs Songs written by Quincy Jones 1960s instrumentals Quincy Jones songs Austin Powers