Soul Bossa Nova

"Soul Bossa Nova" is a popular instrumental, composed and first performed by American musician Quincy Jones. It appeared on his 1962 Big Band Bossa Nova 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 was the pianist, Chris White was the bassist, Rudy Collins was the drummer, and Jerome Richardson was the alto flutist. The album liner notes do not specify the brass players.

Media use

 * The song was featured in a choreographed dance scene starring Judy Garland in the second episode of The Judy Garland Show in 1963.
 * The song is used in the films The Pawnbroker and Take the Money and Run.
 * The theme was used in a long-running Canadian television game show, Definition.
 * 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 in 1991.
 * Canadian comedian Mike Myers used the song as the theme tune for his James Bond parody film series Austin Powers. The song was recommended to Myers by KCRW DJ Chris Douridas, who was hired for the films as a music consultant.
 * It was used as a theme for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
 * It was sampled by Ludacris for his Austin Powers-themed single, "Number One Spot", and another single, "Soul Bossa Nostra".
 * It was used as a theme music of the ABC 5 sketch comedy show Ispup.
 * 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".
 * A version of the song was used as the title theme in the German comedy show Was guckst du?!.