Tom Jobim

Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (January 25, 1927 – December 8, 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈtõ ʒoˈbĩ]), was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within Brazil and internationally.

Widely known as the composer of "The Girl from Ipanema" (Garota de Ipanema), one of the most recorded songs of all time, Jobim has left a large number of songs that are today included in the standard Jazz and Pop repertoires.

Early life

Antônio Carlos Jobim was born in the middle-class district of Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro. His father Jorge de Oliveira Jobim (São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, April 23, 1889 - July 19, 1935) was a writer, diplomat, professor and journalist. He came from a prominent family, being the great-grand nephew of José Martins da Cruz Jobim, senator, privy councillor and physician of Emperor Dom Pedro II. While studying medicine in Europe, José Martins added Jobim to his last name, paying homage to the village where his family came from in Portugal, the parish of Santa Cruz de Jovim, Porto.

When Antônio was still an infant, his parents separated and his mother, Nilza Brasileiro de Almeida (c. 1910 - November 17, 1989), moved with her children (Antônio Carlos and his sister Helena Isaura, born February 23, 1931) to Ipanema, the beachside neighborhood the composer would later celebrate in his songs. In 1935, when the elder Jobim died, Nilza married Celso da Frota Pessoa (died February 2, 1979), who would encourage his stepson's career. He was the one that gave Jobim his first piano. As a young man of limited means, Jobim earned his living by playing in nightclubs and bars and later as an arranger for a recording label, before starting to achieve success as a composer.

Jobim's musical roots were planted firmly in the work of Pixinguinha, the legendary musician and composer who began modern Brazilian music in the 1930s. Among his teachers were Lúcia Branco, and, from 1941 on, Hans-Joachim Koellreutter. Jobim was also influenced by the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, and by jazz. Among many themes, his lyrics talked about love, self-discovery, betrayal, joy and especially about the birds and natural wonders of Brazil, like the "Mata Atlântica" forest, characters of Brazilian folklore like Matitaperê (Saci Pererê), and his home city of Rio de Janeiro.

Career

Jobim became prominent in Brazil when he teamed up with poet and diplomat Vinícius de Moraes to write the music for the play Orfeu de Conceição (1956). The most popular song from the show was "Se Todos Fossem Iguais A Você" ("If Everyone Were Like You"). Later, when the play was turned into a film, producer Sacha Gordine did not want to use any of the existing music from the play. Gordine asked de Moraes and Jobim for a new score for the film Black Orpheus (1959). Moraes was at the time away in Montevideo, Uruguay, working for the Itamaraty (the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and so he and Jobim were only able to write three songs, primarily over the telephone ("A Felicidade", "Frevo",and "O Nosso Amor"). This collaboration proved successful, and Vinicius went on to pen the lyrics to some of Jobim's most popular songs.

A key event in making Jobim's music known in the English speaking world was his collaboration with the American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz, João Gilberto and Gilberto's wife at the time,Astrud Gilberto, which resulted in two albums, Getz/Gilberto (1963) and Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2 (1964). The release of Getz/Gilberto created a bossa nova craze in the United States, and subsequently internationally. Getz had previously recorded Jazz Samba with Charlie Byrd (1962), and Jazz Samba Encore! with Luiz Bonfá (1964). Jobim wrote many of the songs onGetz/Gilberto, which became one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, and turned Astrud Gilberto, who sang on "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Corcovado", into an international sensation. At the Grammy Awards of 1965 Getz/Gilberto won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group and theGrammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. "The Girl from Ipanema" won the award for Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

Personal life

Jobim was married to Thereza Otero Hermanny on October 15, 1949 and had two children with her: Paulo Jobim (born 1950), an architect and musician, married and father of Daniel Jobim and Dora Jobim (born 1976); and Elizabeth "Beth" Jobim (born 1957), a painter. Jobim and Thereza divorced in 1978. On April 30, 1986 he married 29-year old photographer Ana Beatriz Lontra, with whom he had two more children: João Francisco Jobim (1979–1998) and Maria Luiza Helena Jobim (born 1987). His grandson Daniel Jobim (born 1973), Paulo's son, followed his grandfather's steps, becoming a pianist and composer.

Death

In early 1994, after finishing his album Antonio Brasileiro, Jobim complained to his doctor, Roberto Hugo Costa Lima, of urinary problems, which included urinating blood. A bladder tumorwas detected, but Jobim postponed the recommended immediate surgery for several months, while he tried spiritual treatment with a Brazilian medium and started working on his albumTom Jobim. After receiving a message allegedly coming from Frederik von Stein, a dead German doctor, who recommended not having the surgery, Jobim decided to stop listening to the spiritual guidance and have the surgery instead. His operation took place at Mount Sinai Hospital, in New York, on December 2, 1994. On December 8, while recovering from surgery, he had a cardiac arrest caused by a pulmonary embolism and two hours later another cardiac arrest, from which he died. He was survived by his children and grandchildren. His last album, Antonio Brasileiro, was released three days after his death.

Jobim's body was flown back to Brazil on December 9, 1994 and was given a private funeral on December 13, 1994 in Rio de Janeiro. His family, his friends Miúcha, Edu Lobo, João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto and his close friends came to his funeral.[citation needed] His body lay in state until given a proper burial on December 20, 1994. He is buried in the Cemitério São João Batista in Rio de Janeiro.

Legacy

Jobim is one of the most important songwriters of the 20th century. Many of Jobim's songs are jazz standards. American jazz singers Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra prominently featured Jobim's songs on their albums Ella Abraça Jobim (1981), and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (1967), respectively. The 1996 CD Wave: The Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook included performances of Jobim tunes by Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Toots Thielemans. Jobim was an innovator in the use of sophisticated harmonic structures in popular song. Some of his melodic twists, like the melody insisting on the major seventh of the chord, became common use in Jazz and easy listening music after him. The Brazilian collaborators and interpreters of Jobim's music include João Gilberto (often credited as a co-creator of bossa nova), Chico Buarque, Gal Costa, Elis Regina, Sérgio Mendes,Astrud Gilberto, and Flora Purim. Eumir Deodato and the conductor/composer Claus Ogerman arranged many recordings of Jobim tunes. He won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the54th Grammy Awards.

As a well-deserved posthumous homage, on January 5, 1999 the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro changed the name of Rio's Galeão International Airport, located on Governador Island, to bear the composer's name. Galeão Airport is explicitly mentioned in his composition "Samba do Avião."

Discography

Studio albums

• 1963: The Composer of Desafinado, Plays
• 1965: The Wonderful World of Antonio Carlos Jobim
• 1967: Wave
• 1967: A Certain Mr. Jobim
• 1970: Stone Flower
• 1970: Tide
• 1972: Look to the Sky
• 1973: Matita Perê
• 1973: Jobim
• 1974: Elis & Tom (with Elis Regina)
• 1976: Urubu
• 1977: Miúcha & Antônio Carlos Jobim - Vol. 1 (with Miúcha)
• 1979: Miúcha & Antônio Carlos Jobim - Vol. 2 (with Miúcha)
• 1980: Terra Brasilis
• 1981: Edu & Tom (with Edu Lobo)
• 1987: Passarim
• 1987: Inédito
• 1989: Echoes of Rio
• 1994: Miúcha e Tom Jobim (with Miúcha)
• 1994: Antonio Brasileiro
• 1998: Tom Jobim (Brazil only)

Compilations

• 1999: The Best of Tom Jobim
• 2000: The Tom Jobim Sessions (outtakes with various artists)
• 2002: The Outtakes (outtakes as a solo artist)
• 2006: Sinatra-Jobim (outtakes with Frank Sinatra)
• 2009: The Complete Tom Jobim (boxset)

[edit]Live albums

• 1977: Gravado ao Vivo no Canecão (with Vinícius, Toquinho, Miúcha)
• 1986: Jazzvisions: Rio Revisited (with Gal Costa)
• 1996: Antonio Carlos Jobim and Friends (with Joe Henderson, Shirley Horn, Jon Hendricks, Herbie Hancock, Gonzalo Rubalcaba)
• 2001: Tom Canta Vinícius: Ao Vivo (recorded in 1990)
• 2004: Em Minas ao Vivo: Piano e Voz (recorded in 1981)

Soundtracks

• 1959: Black Orpheus (Soundtrack)
• 1970: The Adventurers (Soundtrack)
• 1983: Gabriela, Cravo e Canela (Soundtrack)[10]
• 1986: Moments of Play (Soundtrack)[11]

As contributor

• 1958: Canção do Amor Demais – Elizete Cardoso
• 1959: Amor de Gente Moça – Silvia Telles
• 1959: Chega de Saudade – João Gilberto
• 1959: Por Tôda a Minha Vida – Lenita Bruno
• 1960: O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor – João Gilberto
• 1965: The Swinger from Rio – Sérgio Mendes
• 1966: Love, Strings and Jobim
• 1995: Abandoned Garden – Michael Franks

With Stan Getz

• 1962: Jazz Samba
• 1963: Getz/Gilberto
• 1963: Jazz Samba Encore!
• 1964: Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2
• 2007: Greatest Hits

With Frank Sinatra

• 1967: Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
• 1971: Sinatra & Company
• 1979: Sinatra-Jobim Sessions
• 1994: Duets II

Compositions

• "A Felicidade"
• "Água de Beber"
• "Anos Dourados" (Looks Like December)
• "As Praias Desertas"
• "Águas de Março" (Waters of March)
• "Bonita"
• "Brigas Nunca Mais"
• "Caminhos Cruzados"
• "Chega de Saudade" (No More Blues)
• "Chovendo na Roseira"
• "Corcovado" (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)
• "Desafinado" (Slightly Out of Tune)
• "Dindi"
• "Favela"
• "Fotografia"
• "Garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema)
• "Insensatez" (How Insensitive)
• "Inútil Paisagem" (If You Never Come to Me)
• "Look to the Sky"
• "Meditação" (Meditation)
• "O Amor em Paz" (Once I Loved)
• "Outra Vez" (Once Again)
• "Passarim"
• "Sabiá"
• "Samba de Uma Nota Só" (One Note Samba)
• "Samba do Avião"
• "So Danço Samba"
• "Só Tinha de Ser com Você
• "Se Todos Fossem Iguais A Você" (Someone to Light Up My Life)
• "Tema de Amor de Gabriela"
• "Triste"
• "Vivo Sonhando" (Dreamer)
• "Vou Te Contar" (Wave)

Concert films

• 2002: Antonio Carlos Jobim: An All-Star Tribute (with Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Shirley Horn, Jon Hendricks, Gonzalo Rubalcaba)[12]
• 2007: Antonio Carlos Jobim in Concert
• 2007: Live at Montreal Jazz Festival
• 2009: Tom Jobim: The Waters of March