Antonio Carlos Jobim: Being the Best!

Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim was born in 1927 in Rio de Janeriro. This Brazilian artist was one of the most important performers during the bossa nova boom. He is not only a singer but also composer, pianist and arranger.  In fact, some of the song he has written has being performed by very important artists such as João Gilberto. Two performers influenced his life greatly: Pixiguinha and Claude Debussy. The former played an essential role in the modernization of Brazilian music. The latter was a French composer. He was also greatly influenced by jazz.

He started his musical career when he was 20 years old playing the piano in club nights. Her first record was released in 1954. Nevertheless, the work that provided him with recognition and fame was the one he did with the poet Vinicius de Moraes providing the music for the play Orfeu de Conceição in 1956. One of the most important singles within the play was Se todos fossem iguais a você. At this time, he was a very important artist in Brazil, but he was still missing something: international recognition. In 1963, in spite of not being concerned about fame and fortune, his album Getz/Gilberto and the single “The Girl From Ipanema” caught the attention of international audiences to Antonio Carlos Jobim.

All this resulted in the participation of Frank Sinatra in Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim in 1967 and Ella Fitzergald in Ella Abraça Jobim in 1981. His discography encompasses 28 albums approximately, among them: The Composer Plays (1963), Wave (1967), Elis & Tom (1974), Miucha & Tom Jobim (1979), Terra Brasilis (1980), Antonio Brasileiro (1994), Antonio Carlos Jobim And Friends (Live,1996), and Tom Jobim: Raros Compassos (2000). Today, The Rio de Janeiro Galeão-Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport is named that way in honor to one of the most important Brazilian composers worldwide.