Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Jobim was a prominent Brazilian composer, musician, and songwriter, born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in the Ipanema neighborhood. He began his piano studies at the age of fourteen and was heavily influenced by various Brazilian music styles, especially chôros and sambas. Jobim gained international fame in the late 1950s through his collaborations with singer-guitarist João Gilberto and lyricist Vinicius de Moraes, notably for the soundtrack of the film "Black Orpheus." His composition "Chega de Saudade," co-written with de Moraes, helped launch the bossa nova movement, which blended Brazilian rhythms with jazz influences.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Jobim collaborated with renowned American artists, including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, further solidifying his place in global music. His song "The Girl from Ipanema," performed with Stan Getz, became an iconic hit. Jobim's extensive body of work is celebrated for its sophisticated harmonies and lyrical depth, earning him a lasting legacy in both popular music and jazz. In his later years, he became an advocate for environmental issues and indigenous rights in Brazil. Jobim's music continues to inspire artists worldwide, reflecting the beauty and complexity of Brazilian culture.
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Composer
- Born: January 25, 1927
- Birthplace: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Died: December 8, 1994
- Place of death: New York City, United States
Brazilian Latin jazz composer
Jobim, in the late 1950’s, helped create a modern version of Brazilian samba called bossa nova, which was integral in the development of Latin jazz and has become an important component in the jazz repertoire.
The Life
Antônio Carlos Jobim (ahn-TOH-nyoh KAHR-los zho-BEEM) was born in Rio de Janeiro and grew up in the neighborhood of Ipanema. He began studying piano relatively late, at age fourteen, with Hans Koellreuter, a German conservatory-trained composer and pianist. As a youth, Jobim loved Brazilian popular music of all types, particularly the chôros and sambas of composer and flutist Pixinguinha, the songs of Ary Barroso, and the intrinsically Brazilian classical music of Heitor Villa-Lobos.
In the late 1950’s Jobim came to the world’s attention through albums he arranged and produced with singer-guitarist João Gilberto and his collaboration with Vinicius de Moraes on the sound track for the film Orfeu negro (Black Orpheus, 1959). In 1958 Gilberto released “Chega de Saudade” (no more blues), which Jobim cowrote with de Moraes. These recordings brought bossa nova and Jobim’s songwriting to the attention of the world.
In 1964 Gilberto recorded “Garota de Ipanema” (“The Girl from Ipanema”) with jazz saxophonist Stan Getz. The song was a huge hit in the United States and Europe and won a Grammy Award for Best Song. In the 1960’s and early 1970’s Jobim recorded with a number of American artists, including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, which brought him further recognition. Jobim continued to compose and record until his death from a heart attack following surgery in New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital in 1994.
The Music
Jobim began his career as a professional musician—playing in small clubs in Rio de Janeiro and transcribing and arranging music for recording sessions—in the early 1950’s. In 1953, while he was writing songs with other young musicians living in Rio de Janeiro, he began working as artistic director for Odeon Records. Jobim’s harmonic conceptions and skills as a songwriter were already well developed at this time, but, like many Brazilian composers, Jobim often wrote songs in collaboration with a lyricist.
Black Orpheus.Jobim and de Moraes met in 1956 and immediately began writing together. De Moraes brought a modern sophistication and subtlety to lyrics that complemented Jobim’s melodic and harmonic inventiveness. The two collaborated on the music for a stage version of the Orpheus legend, as well as a number of songs that Gilberto would later record. When French director Marcel Camus came to Rio de Janeiro to film Black Orpheus, he asked Jobim and de Moraes to write several more tunes for the sound track. The film was extremely popular, both in Brazil and internationally.
“Chega de Saudade.”In 1958 Jobim and de Moraes met Gilberto, a singer and guitarist from Bahia. Gilberto sang in a cool, intimate style and had developed a new method of playing samba on the guitar. All the elements were now in place, and a new musical style was born—bossa nova. Between 1958 and 1961 Gilberto recorded three albums in the new style, produced and arranged by Jobim. Many of Jobim’s tunes that have since become standards—such as “Desafinado” (out of tune), “Insensitez” (how insensitive), and “Meditação” (meditation)—were recorded for the first time on these seminal albums.
Jobim in the United States.In the early 1960’s the U.S. State Department sponsored tours of Brazil by a number of jazz musicians. Many were profoundly affected by Brazilian music in general and captivated by bossa nova in particular, with its sophisticated harmonies and lyrical melodies. Guitarist Charlie Byrd and saxophonist Stan Getz were the first to begin recording and performing in the new style.
In 1963 Getz, Gilberto, and Jobim recorded Getz/Gilberto in New York City. It fused the bossa nova style with Getz’s lyrical and understated jazz saxophone. The album won three Grammy Awards, with “The Girl from Ipanema,” which was sung in both Portuguese and English, winning a Grammy Award for Best Song.
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Jobim made several popular and influential recordings in the United States, including two albums with Frank Sinatra, and appeared on a number of television shows. By the mid-1970’s Jobim’s songwriting was famous throughout the world.
Urubu, Passarim, and Antônio Brasileiro.Jobim continued to compose and record throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, occasionally performing. He became a revered figure in his country, not least because of the national pride his worldwide success kindled in Brazilians.
In the last several decades of his life, he became more and more concerned with ecology and the plight of indigenous Brazilians known as Indios. Several albums contained songs about Brazil’s natural beauty and the peril modern society posed. Not well known in the United States, Urubu and Passarim are masterpieces, containing some of Jobim’s greatest songs and themes. The album Antônio Brasileiro was released after his death.
Musical Legacy
Jobim created an immense catalog of songs. His work is known and appreciated throughout the world, and his songs continue to be performed and recorded by musicians working in a wide variety of styles. His harmonic conception and melodic lyricism profoundly affected both popular song and jazz. Working either with a partner or alone, Jobim crafted lyrics of a surface simplicity that disguises a depth difficult to perceive in translation. In his songwriting, all the elements—harmony, melody, lyric, rhythm, and groove—work in a delicate, dynamic balance. The beauty of his songwriting transcends style and fashion and will inspire musicians for years to come.
Principal Recordings
albums:Orfeu da çonceicão, 1956; The Composer of Desafinado Plays, 1963; Getz/Gilberto, 1963 (with Stan Getz and João Gilberto); The Man from Ipanema, 1963; Caymmi Visita Tom, 1964 (with Dorival Caymmi); The Wonderful World of Antônio Carlos Jobim, 1964; The Astrud Gilberto Album, 1965; Love, Strings, and Jobim, 1966; A Certain Mr. Jobim, 1967; Francis Albert Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim, 1967; Wave, 1967; Stone Flower, 1970; Tide, 1970; Constucão, 1971; O som do pasquim, 1972; Jobim, 1972; Matita Pere, 1973; Elis and Tom, 1974 (with Elis Regina); Urubu, 1976; Miúcha and Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vol. 1, 1977 (with Miúcha); Miúcha and Tom Jobim, Vol. 2, 1979 (with Miúcha); Brazil, 1980; Terra Brasilis, 1980; Edu e Tom, 1981 (with Edu Lobo); Um homem de Aquarius, 1981; Gabriela, 1983; Passarim, 1987; Echoes of Rio, 1989; Antônio Brasileiro, 1994; Antônio Carlos Jobim and Friends, 1996.
Bibliography
Castro, Ruy. Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music That Seduced the World. Chicago: A Cappella Books, 2000. An exhaustive and well-written history of the development of bossa nova, including numerous references to the life and work of Jobim. Extensive index, discography, and glossary of musical terms.
Jobim, Antônio Carlos. Jobim Cancioneiro: Obras Escolhidas. Rio de Janeiro: Jobim Music: Casa da Palavra, 2000. Written in Portuguese with English translations, this book contains piano-vocal arrangements of many of Jobim’s famous songs. Jobim also writes about what was happening in his own life when he composed these songs.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Songbooks. 3 vols. Edited by Almir Chediak. Rio de Janeiro: Lumiar Editora, 1990. In addition to more than a hundred lead sheets and chord charts of Jobim’s songs, these volumes contain photographs of Jobim, his family, and his musical collaborators; several essays about his life and music (in Portuguese with English translation); and an extensive discography.
McGowan, Chris, and Rocardo Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. This well-researched book tells the story of Brazilian popular music, beginning with samba at the beginning of the twentieth century and covering the development of bossa nova and MPB (música popular brasileira). Excellent photographs, discography, and bibliography.
Schreiner, Claus. Música Brasileira: A History of Popular Music and the People of Brazil. New York: Marion Boyars, 1993. A German radio producer and journalist, Schreiner became involved in the Latin music scene in the early seventies. Bibliography, glossary, index, and list of samba schools in Rio de Janeiro.