The ‘Composer’ is one of our favorite compilations for Antonio Carlos Jobim and his music in the 60’s, a time when his lyrical style found its stride and helped to propel his reputation far beyond the borders of Brazil. What we like most about this 28 song collection is that it gives us the opportunity to hear how Jobim and his music was ‘interpreted’ by two of America’s top arrangers – Claus Ogarman and Nelson Riddle. Jobim preferred to hand his songs over to others for the orchestration chores, so in this case, the personalities of the arrangers take on deeper meaning.
Ogarman had been with Jobim from the start, when producer Creed Taylor matched him up with the Brazilian for Jobim’s first solo artist debut – 1961’s ‘The Composer of Desafinado Plays…” and it was apparent from the start that their styles were very complimentary. Nelson Riddle on the other hand, had become probably the best-known arranger in pop music during the early 60’s by virtue of his steady work with Frank Sinatra.
Antonio Carlos Jobim’s phenomenal success with Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto and their self-titled album of 1964 heralded the rise of Bossa Nova in the US with “The Girl From Ipanema” even as his homeland turned away from the Bossa sound.
It was time for something new.
That ‘something’ came in the form of a flurry of recordings during a two-year span beginning in 1965, when the Brazilian composer teamed up Riddle for ‘The Wonderful World of Antonio Carlos Jobim’. The following year would see the release of ‘Love Strings & Jobim’ featuring Deodato’s arrangements, while 1967 found Jobim reunited with Claus Ogarmen for ‘A Certain Mr. Jobim’, which was recorded a week after Jobim’s first studio sessions with Frank Sinatra had wrapped up.
‘Composer’ opens with the complete track list of ‘The Wonderful World’ album, which features Jobim debut as a singer on most tracks; also something that was new for the Brazilian. Fairly, no one would confuse his vocal talents with those of Joao Gilberto, but Jobim’s heartfelt delivery on songs like ‘Dindi’, Só Tinha de Ser Com Vocé’, ‘Samba do Avião’ and ‘Bonita’ carries its own charm – the songwriter telling his stories. Riddle’s strings provide a denser palette for Jobim’s melodies, but as the English lyrics from his song ‘Desafinado’ state, “all the feeling’s there...” ‘Surfboard’ carries the instrumental signature here and it also provides us with a rare side-by-side comparison of musical perspective between Ogarman and Riddle. Which do you prefer?
Another instrumental comes from Deodato’s skill as an up-and-coming arranger. ‘Pardon My English’ is light and playful, and almost too transparent as a tongue in cheek reply to Hugo Montenegro’s ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ theme, which was one of the most watched sitcoms of the day. Perfect!
But it’s the last part of ‘Composer’ where we see Jobim really come into his own as a songwriter, stylist and, yes, even as a singer. These tracks comprise the complete songlist of A Certain Mr. Jobim, one of our all-time favorite Bossa Nova recordings.
These 12 songs carry an air of spontaneity and unfettered joy; elements curiously absent from his set with Old Blue Eyes only a week removed. With a wonderful mix of instrumental and vocal favorites (which are contrasted in both English and Portuguese versions) like ‘She’s A Carioca’, ‘Zingaro’, ‘Outra Vez’. ‘Estrada do Sol’ and ‘Photograph’, Composer moves from song to song with all the grace of a seagull in flight.
