Sambalanço

Sambalanço is the Brazilian dance style that emerged at the end of the 1950s, joining samba to the harmonic sophistication of bossa nova and the swing of North American jazz. The term, coined by singer *Orlandivo*, describes music built for dancing: prominent piano or organ, tight rhythm sections, brass punctuation and a buoyant, swinging groove that is more upbeat and percussion-driven than bossa nova's intimacy. Singers and bandleaders including *Elza Soares*, *Jorge Ben*, *Ed Lincoln* and *Walter Wanderley* made sambalanço the sound of Brazilian ballrooms and radio in the first half of the 1960s.