De Musica Ligera: Jobim

This Saturday marks what would have been the 87th birthday of the famed Brazilian singer and songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, "Tom" gained prominence in his native land after he collaborated with poet Vinícius de Moraes to write music for the 1956 play "Orfeu da Conceição" and its subsequent film adaptation, "Black Orpheus." He would soon help spearhead the bossa nova musical genre along with the likes of Luiz Bonfá and João Gilberto.  Jobim would make his name on the world stage by the mid-1960s with the skyrocketing popularity of bossa nova music worldwide.  His first big hit abroad was the recording of "Desafinado" by saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd in 1962.  Yet his main claim to fame was Astrud Gilberto's version of "The Girl From Ipanema" from the classic 1964 album "Getz/Gilberto."
 
Over the next three decades Jobim emerged as an influential jazz artist who worked on albums with well-known musicians such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald as well as Brazilian contemporaries like Ellis Regina, Gal Costa and Sergio Mandes.  Songs including "Waters of March", "One Note Samba" and "Wave" became mainstays of jazz and Brazilian music.

The video below the page break comes from Jobim's 1986 performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival.  Recorded eight years before he passed away, Jobim interpreted some of his best-known tunes that continue to be cherished today: 



Video Source - YouTube user Dinho Atto

Online Sources - Verve Music Group; NPR