CD review: Antonio Carlos Jobim – Live In Montreal 1985 – 2022: Video, CD cover

Antonio Jobin grew up on the music of Pixinguinha, considered the founder of Brazilian pop music (MPB). Jobin was influenced by some academic composers (Debussy, Ravel, Villa-Lobos). Elements of North American jazz are also found in his music.

He first gained public acclaim as the composer of music for V. di Morais’ play Orfeo de Conceição (1956; his best-known song was “Se todos fossem iguais a você”). When the film Black Orpheus (1959, directed by Marcel Camus) was based on this play, the producer did not want songs from the play to be used in the film and asked Morais and Jobin to write new ones. Jobin discussed the lyrics with Morais over the phone and wrote three songs on them, “A felicidade,” “Frevo,” and “O nosso amor.”[9] The film Black Orpheus won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival (1959) and the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of the Year (1960).

In November 1962, Jobin’s music was performed at the famous Bossa nova concert of Brazilian musicians at Carnegie Hall in New York City (a concert program entitled “Bossa nova in Carnegie Hall” was released on LP in 1963; the album has been reissued several times since then).

In addition to Morais, Jobin’s success was aided by the professional arrangers Eumir Deodato and Klaus Ogerman, who also served as editors of his music, made thematic selections for concerts and audio recordings, etc.

Beginning in 1963, Jobin released solo (his first solo album, The composer of Desafinado plays) and collaborative (in an ensemble with other performers, repeatedly with Frank Sinatra) albums. He often performed on albums of other artists as a session musician. Jobin’s last album Antônio Brasileiro was released in 1994, shortly after his death. Jobin’s songs have been used in movie soundtracks and theatrical plays and have been performed by many famous singers in Brazil and around the world, among them Frank Sinatra, Alice Regina, Ella Fitzgerald, Sting, George Michael, Al Gerro, Eliana Elias, Stacy Kent. The album Getz/Gilberto (1963), consisting mainly of music by Jobin (not Getz and Gilberto at all, as the album title would suggest), won a Grammy Award, and Jobin’s song “Girl from Ipanema,” performed by Astrud Gilberto, became a worldwide hit.

Jobin’s music has often been arranged by major jazz musicians, including Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Toots Thielemans. Some of the songs (“Desafinado,” “Girl from Ipanema,” “Samba on One Note,” “Wave”) became jazz standards[10].
Jobin’s grave.

Buried in Rio de Janeiro in St. John the Baptist Cemetery. The Rio de Janeiro International Airport is named in Jobin’s memory.

01. Agua De Beber
02. Chega De Saudade
03. Two Kites
04. Wave
05. Borzeguim
06. Falando De Amor
07. Gabriela
08. A Felicidade
09. Samba Do Aviao
10. Waters Of March
11. Girl from Ipanema
12. Canção Do Exilio / Samba De Uma Nota So

Piano – Antonio Carlos Jobim