Stamp of the Month: December 2019

Antônio Carlos Jobim

The Brazilian singer, pianist, guitarist and composer Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim was born on January 25, 1927 in Rio de Janeiro, he died on December 8, 1994 in New York. December 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of his death.
 
As a child, Jobim learned guitar and piano and was taught in composition from 1941 onwards. He played in various night clubs and arranged works of various composers in the studio of the music label Continental. Jobim achieved his first success in 1954 with the composition “Teresa da Praia”. Until 1958 Jobim was Artistic Director of the record label Odeon. During this time, his friend Vinícius


Brazil 22.11.1999
de Moraes recorded many of his songs, which are now among the classics of Brazilian popular music. The final breakthrough as a composer Jobim achieved with the debut album of the hitherto unknown singer João Gilberto, which included the title song “Chega de saudade” and, among others, the compositions “Desafinado” and “Samba de uma nota só”. After that Jobim was finally considered as the most influential composer of Brazil of his time and as one of the founders of Bossa Nova.
His arrangements opened up new paths and possibilities for Brazil’s popular music. In his arrangements he mixed traditional Brazilian song forms, such as Choros and Samba with elements of jazz and classical music. Antônio Carlos Jobim partly performed and recorded his compositions together with international artists, among others with Stan Getz, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
 
The video shows Antônio Carlos Jobim as a guest of a show by Andy Williams. Together, they sing Jobim’s most famous composition, “The Girl from Ipanema” from 1962. A recording of this song on March 19, 1963 in New York, with the American jazz tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, the Brazilian singer and guitarist João Gilberto and his wife Astrud Gilberto made the piece one of the world’s most famous songs of bossa nova.