Mar 04 2008
Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto: Girl From Ipanema
Brazilian guitarist and singer Joao Gilberto is credited with creating the bossa nova. His solo guitar and voice renditions of Brazilian Samba music, without the usual percussion instruments, and sung in his, nearly whispering voice, were the inspiration for a musical form which was popular in jazz during the 1960s.
Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote the song “A Garota de Ipanema” with lyricist Vinicius de Moraes. Reputedly, the pair, sitting in a sidewalk cafe, watched a 15 year old girl from the Ipanema neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, going on her daily errands for several weeks and were inspired, by her grace and beauty, to write the song about her.
Gilberto’s wife, Astrud, sang the song in English, “The Gil From Ipanema,” on the 1963 international hit recording with Stan Gets and Charlie Byrd, which appeared on the ground breaking album “Gilberto/Getz.”
Here Gilberto and “Tom” Jobim reunite to perform the song in the original Portuguese. Jobim is on the piano.
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[…] from the root note of each of the song’s three chords with his banjo. It gives his tune a Jobim like quality, simple yet sophisticated. The melody hangs on a single note for extended periods of […]