Covered: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Volume 1: 1962-1998

The next songwriter in my Covered series is a really big one: Antonio Carlos Jobim. He's written more standards than practically anyone, especially for jazz. And he's a rarity in the series in that he wasn't from one of the usual native English speaking countries like the U.S., Britain, or Canada, but from Brazil. And while he mostly wrote in Portuguese, I've selected only English language versions, to give this a wider appeal.

Actually, I should say "we selected." For Jobim, I relied heavily on the work on a new volunteer, who goes by the name "Fabio from Rio." As you can guess from the name, Fabio is a Brazilian, from Rio de Janeiro, so he was the ideal person to help with a Jobim collection. Furthermore, Fabio enjoyed helping to make three volumes of Jobim covers, and has been helping me with other collections, for instance Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Lennon-McCartney, Neil Young, and more. So look for some of those in the near future.

Rather than say more, I've asked Fabio to give the introduction to Jobim for this first volume. Take it away, Fabio:

Since I'm Brazilian, Paul kindly invited me to help him curate this tribute collection of Antonio Carlos ("Tom") Jobim covers. Jobim was, quite literally, my neighbor - my family lived near his home in the Jardim Botanico district of Rio during my teenage years. I even bumped into him once at a local restaurant where he used to go for a drink or two. (There's a photo of the two of us somewhere, probably lost in a box in my mother's basement.) I was also lucky enough to attend a couple of his concerts at the legendary Canecao in the late 1980s and early 1990s. So, working on this project and revisiting his vast body of work has been a real treat.

Jobim's career began in the mid-1940s and lasted until his passing in 1994. He gained international fame in 1962 after a historic concert at Carnegie Hall. From then on, many English-speaking artists - as well as Brazilian musicians with international careers, like Astrud Gilberto and Sergio Mendes - began recording his music. While he's best known for his contributions to bossa nova, Jobim's work spans other genres too, including jazz, soul, and classical music. He even composed a full symphony!

According to his biographers, Jobim wrote between 350 and 400 songs - and at least half of them are considered standards, especially for jazz musicians. For that reason, my initial selection for this project included 97 songs, totaling nearly eight hours of music. Paul wisely suggested we trim it down, and we ultimately arrived at a more manageable set: three albums featuring 37 songs. As per Paul's request, we focused on songs with available English lyrics. Sadly, that meant leaving out some incredible tunes that only exist in Portuguese - but they can be discovered elsewhere. Due to this limitation, the collection is not fully comprehensive, but it serves as a strong introduction and a welcoming entry point for anyone curious to explore Jobim's remarkable legacy. I hope you enjoy the journey!

If you enjoy this collection, there's more! I've posted my Youtube channel a different compilation of Jobim covers, called "The Tom Jobim Songbook." It consists of 74 tracks at five volumes, but arranged by year of composition instead of year of recording. Here are the links:

Volume 1 (1954-1959 songs) -
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdAlno7O9qY0EjtcIu1yWzVedm2CDUVH&si=wXEDLOVHVxzCuxA9

Volume 2 (1960-1965 songs) -
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdAlno7O9qbR05RYgOLSjre8ZjATfuSE&si=6rGE19iG467gQy27

Volume 3 (1966-1971 songs) -
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdAlno7O9qb_K6GUUlXwGFHD5Lq0Qx9e&si=lAjrtD7Zk4wNb4kJ

Volume 4 (1972-1994 songs) -
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdAlno7O9qYLnNNv1AsqV6tmJsZl7Iim&si=hjqsRtZ1gpkodLYf

Volume 5 (instrumentals) -
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdAlno7O9qYIFTYOFcS09DDPBSwJFBbO&si=o97Ryn158raeVUC3

Additionally, here's a zip file with all five volumes, plus a bonus:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/QLY5Fh3w

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/izPoztcsjW9CsxZ/file

Due to personal preference, I selected different interpreters than Paul for some of the songs, and also included an 'instrumentals only' volume (although no Portuguese versions). For these reasons, there is little overlap with the Albums That Should Exist version, which I feel is a good thing since these playlists may function as a complementary treat to the official "Covered: Jobim" collection, for those willing to delve further into the Brazilian maestro's music. 

---

Thank you, Fabio from Rio. This is Paul again.  I'll write more about Jobim in the other two volumes. But, for now, here's the Wikipedia link about him:

Antônio Carlos Jobim - Wikipedia 

I will add that although Jobim wrote many classics, his signature song has to be "The Girl from Ipanema." I've included two versions of that for this series, both of which happen to fall into this volume. There's the female perspective version by Astrud Gilberto that was a huge worldwide hit in 1963. But also, near the end of this album, I've chosen a male perspective version by Frank Sinatra in 1981. Sinatra famously did an album with Jobim in 1967 called "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim." But I accidentally stumbled across a version he did for a TV show in 1981 that I liked better, due to the guitar work of Tony Mottola, so I picked that one. I believe it's unreleased.  

This album is 48 minutes long. 

01 Slightly Out of Tune [Desafinado] (Julie London)
02 The Girl from Ipanema [Garota de Ipanema] (Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz)
03 Jazz 'n' Samba [So Danco Samba] (Milt Jackson)
04 Dindi (Astrud Gilberto)
05 Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars [Corcovado] (Marvin Gaye)
06 Dreamer [Vivo Sonhando] (Astrud Gilberto)
07 Pardon My English [Samba Torto] (Sylvia Telles)
08 Water to Drink [Agua de Beber] (Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66)
09 Stone Flower (Santana)
10 Triste (Sarah Vaughan)
11 Don't Ever Go Away [Por Causa de Voce] (Ella Fitzgerald)
12 The Girl from Ipanema [Garota de Ipanema] (Frank Sinatra with Tony Mottola)
13 A Felicidade [Happiness] (Susannah McCorkle)
14 Waters of March [Aguas de Marco] (Marisa Monte & David Byrne)
15 How Insensitive [Insensatez] (Sting & Antonio Carlos Jobim)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/rkiYbEoT

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/nnC8cTrqoh0LJvJ/file

For the album cover, I used a photo that appeared on the cover of a Jobim album called "World's Greatest Composer." I don't know the exact year, but I picked it because he's obviously quite young in the image.