Jobim, Antonio Carlos

Antonio Carlos Jobim is, without a doubt, the most renowned composer of popular song to come out of Brazil. In addition to being lionized as a hero in his homeland, his compositions have had a profound impact on artists all over the world, playing a key role in shaping the sounds of jazz, pop, and easy listening music. His songs have an inescapably romantic quality to them, making casual use of mild dissonance to create a sound all their own.

Born in a middle-class area of Rio de Janeiro in 1927, Jobim would be raised primarily by his mother after she and his father separated while he was just an infant. He began studying piano at age 14 with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, an influential teacher who introduced him to impressionist and modern European classical music, which were at the time still fairly new sounds to the ears of Brazilians. Jobim would also be exposed to jazz during this time, a music that he would fast fall in love with.

Having worked his way up from performing solo piano and guitar shows in Rio night clubs to working as a staff arranger for two of Brazil's premier record labels, Jobim's music began to rapidly grow in popularity after two key events. First, in 1956, he would team up with poet Vinicius de Moraes to write the score for the play "Orfeu da Conceição", which would be later adapted into the film "Black Orpheus." Second, the 1958 release of a recording by future star vocalist/guitarist João Gilberto of one of Jobim's most treasured compositions, "Chega De Saudade," became a surprise hit. The music contained in these two events pioneered a new form of music that, while maintaining the basic rhythmic underpinning of the samba, featured new, subtly jazz-influenced harmonies. Critics would dub this new style "bossa nova," or "new wave."

The bossa nova craze would eventually reach the United States with the 1963 release of "Getz/Gilberto." This album featured several of Jobim's most well-known compositions being performed by American tenor sax legend Stan Getz, João Gilberto, and Gilberto's wife Astrud, as well as Jobim himself on piano. The recording achieved massive popular and critical acclaim, eventually becoming the first jazz recording to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1965.

Although bossa nova would die out as a fad by 1970, Jobim continued to work prolifically, expanding outward into other musical styles. His 1972 composition "Aguas de Março (Waters of March)" is considered one of his finest, being frequently covered by a wide variety of artists and being considered by some as one of the greatest songs ever composed. The 1980s saw Jobim put together a touring band with his son Paulo on guitar, which would perform at some of the most high profile music venues throughout the United States.

By the time of his passing in 1994, Jobim's legacy as one of music's most important composers had been cemented. Songs such as "The Girl from Ipanema," "Desafinado" and "Corcovado" have entered the pantheon of jazz standards, and the list of artists who have recorded entire albums of his material include vocalists Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. His life's work was officially canonized in 2012 when he was posthumously given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at the 54th Grammy Awards.

ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM JAZZ LINES PUBLICATIONS SERIES: SET OF SIX ARRANGEMENTS

Recorded by Antonio Carlos Jobim

Arranged by Claus Ogerman and Nelson Riddle, Prepared for Publication by Rob DuBoff and Jeffrey Sultanof

Six Jazz Ensemble/Studio Orchestra Arrangements

Jazz Lines Publications

JLP-1009

$250.00

The Global Source for Jazz

Jobim, Antonio Carlos