ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM A Felicidade

Antonio Carlos Jobim and his ensemble interpret "A Felicidade." Jobim's place in the annals of popular music was secured by a single hit song, "The Girl from Ipanema" (1964), which he co-wrote with lyricist Vinícius de Moraes. Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, often known by the nickname Tom, was born in Rio de Janeiro on January 25, 1927. The film Orfeu Negro became an international success, and Jobim's score, featuring guitarist Luiz Bonfá, kicked off a new musical craze that quickly spread beyond Brazil. It was based in samba rhythms, but it featured subtle harmonic shadings drawn from jazz. The new style was given the name bossa nova, meaning "new wave," and the 1958 single "Chega de Saudade" (No More Blues), with music by Jobim, words by Moraes, and guitar by future Brazilian pop star João Gilberto, was the style's first major hit. Both "Chega de Saudade" and the flip side of the original single, Jobim's composition "Desafinado" (Out of Tune), have remained jazz standards. Jobim died suddenly of heart failure at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital on December 8, 1994. Jobim's body was returned to Brazil, he was buried in a tomb near that of Vinícius de Moraes, who had died in 1980. The pair had created two of the icons of twentieth-century culture, Black Orpheus and "The Girl from Ipanema," and the music that came from Jobim's pen lent the music of much of the centuries second half a distinct Brazilian tinge.