He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within Brazil and internationally.
In 1965 his album Getz/Gilberto was the first jazz album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It also won for Best Jazz Instrumental Album – Individual or Group and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The album's single "Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema"), one of the most recorded songs of all time, won the Record of the Year. Jobim has left many songs that are now included in jazz and pop standard repertoires. The song "Garota de Ipanema" has been recorded over 240 times by other artists. His 1967 album with Frank Sinatra, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim, was nominated for Album of the Year in 1968.
Antônio Carlos Jobim was born in the middle-class district of Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro. His father, Jorge de Oliveira Jobim (São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, April 23, 1889 – July 19, 1935), was a writer, diplomat, professor and journalist. He came from a prominent family, being the great nephew of José Martins da Cruz Jobim, senator, privy councillor and physician of Emperor Dom Pedro II. While studying medicine in Europe, José Martins added Jobim to his last name, paying homage to the village where his family came from in Portugal, the parish of Santa Cruz de Jovim, Porto. His mother, Nilza Brasileiro de Almeida (c. 1910 – November 17, 1989), was of Indigenous Brazilian descent from Northeastern Brazil.
When Antônio was still an infant, his parents separated and his mother moved with her children (Antônio Carlos and his sister Helena Isaura, born February 23, 1931) to Ipanema, the beachside neighborhood the composer would later celebrate in his songs. In 1935, when the elder Jobim died, Nilza married Celso da Frota Pessoa (died February 2, 1979), who would encourage his stepson's career. He was the one who gave Jobim his first piano. As a young man of limited means, Jobim earned his living by playing in nightclubs and bars and later as an arranger for a recording label, before starting to achieve success as a composer.
Jobim's musical roots were planted firmly in the work of Pixinguinha, the legendary musician and composer who began modern Brazilian music in the 1930s. Among his teachers were Lúcia Branco and, from 1941 on, Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, a German composer who lived in Brazil and introduced atonal and twelve-tone composition in the country. Jobim was also influenced by the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and by the Brazilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos and Ary Barroso. The bossa nova guitar style in Jobim's music has become firmly entrenched in jazz culture. Among many themes, his lyrics talked about love, self-discovery, betrayal, joy and especially about the birds and natural wonders of Brazil, like the "Mata Atlântica" forest, characters of Brazilian folklore and his home city of Rio de Janeiro.
In early 1994, after finishing his album Antonio Brasileiro, Jobim complained to his doctor, Roberto Hugo Costa Lima, of urinary problems. He underwent an operation at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on December 2, 1994. On December 8, while recovering from surgery, he had a cardiac arrest caused by a pulmonary embolism, and two hours later another cardiac arrest, from which he died. He was survived by his children and grandchildren. His last album, Antonio Brasileiro, was released posthumously three days after his death.
His body lay in state until given a proper burial on December 20, 1994. He is buried in the Cemitério São João Batista in Rio de Janeiro.
Three Notes Samba
Antônio Carlos Jobim Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
built upon a single note
Other notes are bound to follow but the root is still that note
Now this new one is the consequence
of the one we've just been through
As I'm bound to be the unavoidable consequence of you
There's so many people who can talk and talk and talk
I have used up all the scale I know and at the end I've come
To nothing, or nearly nothing
So I come back to my first note
as I must come back to you
I will pour into that one note
all the love I feel for you
Any one who wants the whole show do-re-mi-fa-so-la-si-do
He will find himself with no show
Better play the note you know
There's so many people who can talk and talk and talk
And just say nothing or nearly nothing
I have used up all the scale I know and at the end I've come
To nothing, I mean nothing
So I come back to my first note
as I must come back to you
I will pour into that one note
all the love I feel for you
Any one who wants the whole show do-re-mi-fa-so-la-si-do
He will find himself with no show
Better play the notes you know
The lyrics to "One Note Samba" by Antonio Carlos Jobim, as performed by Frank Sinatra, convey a poetic and introspective perspective on the simplicity and beauty of love. The song starts by acknowledging that it is just a simple samba, centered around one single note. However, it emphasizes that other notes are bound to follow, signifying the development and growth of the relationship. The new note is described as a consequence of the note that came before it, just as the singer himself is described as an unavoidable consequence of the person he is singing to.
In the following verses, the lyrics reflect on the limitations of language and communication. It states that many people can talk endlessly without saying anything significant. The singer compares this to using up all the notes in the musical scale, but still feeling like he has come to nothing, or nearly nothing. In this realization, he comes back to the first note, symbolizing a return to what truly matters – the love and emotion he feels for the person he is singing to.
Line by Line Meaning
This is just a little samba
This song is a small, simple samba
built upon a single note
The entire song is based on a single musical note
Other notes are bound to follow but the root is still that note
Although other notes may be introduced, the main focus remains on that original note
Now this new one is the consequence of the one we've just been through
The next note in the song is influenced by the previous note
As I'm bound to be the unavoidable consequence of you
In the same way, my presence in your life is an inevitable result of our connection
There's so many people who can talk and talk and talk
There are countless individuals who love to talk excessively
And just say nothing or nearly nothing
Unfortunately, their words lack substance or meaning
I have used up all the scale I know and at the end I've come To nothing, or nearly nothing
I have exhausted all the musical possibilities I am familiar with, resulting in a lack of meaningful music
So I come back to my first note as I must come back to you
Inevitably, I return to that initial note, just as I always find myself returning to you
I will pour into that one note all the love I feel for you
Through that single note, I will express the immense love I have for you
Any one who wants the whole show do-re-mi-fa-so-la-si-do
Those who desire a complete performance expect all the musical notes
He will find himself with no show
However, they will be disappointed when there is no elaborate performance
Better play the note you know
It is wiser to focus on playing the notes you are familiar with
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Antonio Carlos Brasileiro De A Jobim, Newton Mendonca
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Richard Norris
on Samba Do Soho
It's "Diadem" which is a fancy headband. Also, I believe this song was written by Jobim's son, Paolo.