Antonio Carlos Jobim Anthology [Paperback]

Antonio Carlos Jobim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1994

An excellent collection of over 20 of his most-loved songs, including: Girl From Ipanema * How Insensitive * One Note Samba * Desafinado (Out of Tune) * Quiet Night of Quiet Stars * Song of the Sabia * and more.

Product Details

Sample Music Notation [24kb PDF]

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793516773
• ISBN-13: 978-0793516773
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Professional and Commendable, January 11, 2002

By 

joel fass (bronx,, n.y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antonio Carlos Jobim Anthology (Paperback)

For serious musicians/vocalists this is really very worth getting. At its best, the book has very accurate chords, piano reductions of the scores, and Portugese lyrics. A case in point is Passarim, one of Jobim's more complex, airtight, and difficult pieces. The transcription here really nails it. Corcovado has the orchestral introduction from "Elis & Tom". A few chords are different than that arrangement (for example, Fmaj7 in the 7th bar of the tune instead of Gb7b5, and some in the intro). Maybe they wanted to go with the more accepted practices, or maybe they worked from different lead sheets or Jobim provided one with changes. Who knows? They don't list their sources or transcribers. But the fact that they even published this definitive version rather than any number of embarrasing American covers is an indication of what a class act this book is. Anos Dourados is also very good. Agua de Beber has all the important inner voice leading and the right intro. Voice leading is everything in Jobim. The rhythms are also pretty accurate and in the true cut time Brazilians think in.

In some cases there are inconsistencies or versions not quite up to the level of the above, making me wonder which version they were gotten from (a discography would've helped. For example, Inutil Paisagem (Useless Landscape)has the right chords, but leaves out those wonderful piano background figures that Jobim plays on "Elis & Tom", and on the recording with Sinatra, and that Jobim interpreters in the know always use. That's a real shame. It's an Americanized version, as is Desifinado (English lyric only), written in smaller type for some reason and with chords also not as accurate as other tunes here.

Again, my thought is that different transcribers were used for different tunes---the only explanation for some of the disparities. But this is still a very good book---wonderful at its best. It's best to look at scores (there are some available on the "Clube do Tom" website----a few in Jobim's hand). As masterful and prolific a composer as Jobim needs and deserves an accurate collection of transcriptions. But "until the real thing comes along" this is well worth the attention of serious musicians and Jobim lovers.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction, May 12, 2002

By 

BK (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antonio Carlos Jobim Anthology (Paperback)

There's another book of Jobim songs out there, but I decided to choose this particular collection because it boasts favorites "Agua de Beber" and "One Note Samba" in addition to "Ipanema", "Corcovado", etc. Overall, I happily found the transcriptions to be a little less complex than expected, which was great for me (an average pianist).

The book is also very helpful in introducing a degree of improvisation; once I got the basic rhythm down, I found that I could use the chord transcriptions to create some nifty left-hand arrangements (which aided in eventual memorization), and eventually add melodic improvisations with the free hand - with varying degrees of success, of course. The publishers were kind enough to provide most all the Portuguese and English lyrics.

My personal favorite arragement is "Wave" - it's amazingly fun to play. The opening to "Insensatez" was a little different than what I expected from the recording, though.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cool jobim, July 28, 2008

By 

Gary J. Moore "gary from SI" (Staten Island, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Antonio Carlos Jobim Anthology (Paperback)

This book nails down all the important Jobim pieces and gives a very accurate transcription for each. Wonderful if you know the tunes and are dying to play along. If you don't, get a CD, listen to them till you love them, THEN play along!