The Composer of Desafinado, Plays [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Antonio Carlos Jobim

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 29, 1997)
• Original Release Date: May 9, 1963
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000047D1
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,088 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

• This is item 8 in The Verve Music Group Desert Island Discs Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal Bossa, October 23, 2002

By	John C. Mariz (Dulles, VA United States) - See all my reviews

Everybody seems to be in agreement, so we can skip the part about how great this album is. Let's take a look at how this recording stands in relation to the development of Jobim's music and the whole bossa craze.

Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd initiated that craze in the U.S. with the release of "Desafinado" in the summer of 1962. To capitalize on this, Jobim arrived in the U.S. for the first time toward the end of the year. He recorded "The Composer Plays" in May, 1963 in NYC. Before all this, though, the 36 year-old Jobim had co-protagonized the full cycle of Brazil's bossa nova revolution and subsequent counter-revolutions in his native Rio. The oldest songs on this record were by then six years old. Nearly all were already full-fledged Brazilian standards. Even "Girl from Ipanema," which only debuted in the spring of 1962 with the mark of an instant classic, had already been played to death. This recording then, made 6,000 miles from the maelstrom of Rio and its by then inbred bossa scene, was a chance for Jobim to reclaim his music.

What claim then, did Jobim make? Bossa is often described as a marriage of the samba rhythm to the cool jazz aesthetic. No bossa recording demonstrates that better than this one. Melodically, Jobim coulnd't have played it any "cooler." Melody is front and center, played on the piano -- one finger most of the time -- or sometimes shared out to the alto flute or trombone. Though Jobim was immersed in jazz in the U.S., there is hardly a lick of improvisation. The solos are carefully constructed and played simply as alternate melody lines. The marvelous Claus Ogerman string arrangements -- amazingly spare and lush at the same time and added like dashes of color -- are used to highlight Jobim's harmonics.

Rythmically, Jobim pays direct homage to samba in its purest form. For me the hero of this record is the drummer, uncredited as far as I can tell. Right out front in the mix, but restrained at the same time, he perfectly reproduces the rhythms of the samba tambourine, the focus of samba rhythm. (A digression: the drummer here plays the signature bossa syncopated beat on the snare rim and straight eighths on the high hat. A skilled "sambista" does the eighths with the rattles of the tambourine and the syncopated beat with his hand on the head. If you don't think that's hard, try it sometime.) The bass player, also uncredited, plays a simple root on the downbeats, mimicking the part of the sole bass drum in a samba "conjunto." The acoustic bossa guitar, Joao Gilberto's invention, is also there, lighty strumming counterpoint to the drums. This sublime rhythm arrangement is a constant on the entire record.

So, we've got hot rhythms and cool stylings: this alone would have made the record great. What puts it in the all-time-great category are the songs themselves. Jobim is without doubt one of the great song writers of all time. It's a shame that Jobim sometimes gets lumped in with the Bachrach crowd. How many Bachrach tunes are jazz standards? (This may be due to the fact that in general, the English versions of Jobim's songs are poor. Desafinado in English is execrable, in Portugese it's probably the best lyric ever put to a Jobim tune.)

Shortly after this record, Jobim participated in the first of the Getz/Gilberto collaborations, and he would relive the arc of fame and fortune internationally that he had already gone through in Brazil. Thus, "The Composer Plays" catches Jobim during a calm interlude in his otherwise meteoric career, at a time when he had the time and perspective to put down on record his most considered personal statement of what his music was all about -- bossa that is simple yet sophisticated and elegant, never overshadowing his gorgeous melodies.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, mature, romantic, pure: a true masterpiece, May 12, 2002

By	"songlife" (Dayton, OH) - See all my reviews

I was pleased to see someone else refer to this as possibly the best bossa recording in history. I've often thought about that when I hear it; it could very well be, and anyone who says that will get no argument from me. I've referred it to friends as "the best debut album by anyone, in any genre", and I still stand by that. It is perfect.

I discovered this album, and bossa nova, in a record store in the early 80's. I was young and searching for new musical styles to get into, and I had no idea who Jobim was and asked the shop owner to play it. It really caught my attention big time, and I commented to the guy that it sounded brilliant, but he didn't seem too impressed; being a modal jazz guy, he just thought it was "sweet" (saccahrine). I bought it, listened to it a million times, and thus began my lifelong love of bossa nova and Brazilian music. I now have collected over 500 CDs of bossa nova, and have found that genre to be the most reliably passionate and lovely music ever made.

"The Composer Plays" is a masterpiece. Upon it's release, it was given 5 stars by an astute popular jazz reviewer, Pete Welding. Personally, I think it's off the ratings scale. Every song on this album became a standard forever. How many albums ever accomplished that?! Arranger Claus Ogerman really understood the composer's intentions, and his arrangements are sweet, highly romantic, very mature, and very sympathetic. ...This is not jazz or improvisation. Jobim's piano is his voice on these songs, his ultimate way of letting us know exactly what the melodies are and how they go. And they're so strong that it works, wonderfully. I consider most of these songs to be the definitive versions, although one I might give to Astrud Gilberto (Agua De Beber) and Girl From Ipanema certainly goes to Getz/Gilberto, although I prefer Jobim's instrumental version of it, which is quite different in style and melody (perhaps this is how he originally intended it).

This album, which I return to quite often and always will, has the perfect touch of "saudade" (sadness or wistfulness) that Jobim tried to capture so often in his music. As sunny and carefree as some of the music is, there is always a hint of sadness - a perfect combination. Of course, this was Jobim's specialty as a songwriter. The production and engineering are brilliant too; the sound is crisp and clear, especially the drums. The stereo separation and the mix are incredible, even groundbreaking. It was a little disappointing (I don't know why, really) to learn from the liner notes on this CD re-release that Jobim overdubbed his piano parts later, but let's face it, it's the result that counts. However a genius needs to work, then that's what he'll do.

Were I to have been the lucky record executive to hear this album first, I would have signed Jobim for life, unconditionally. I guess Creed Taylor pretty much did that, in fact. He knew how to present Jobim's genius to the public, he just let him be himself.

This album, to me, is the equivalent of the Sinatra classics "Only The Lonely" and "Where Are You", among others. I can think of so few recordings that are absolutely flawless masterpieces, and that's why I return to it so much; it will never let me down. It has a unique and very, *very* special feeling to it that no other recording has. As "Dark Side Of The Moon" is to Pink Floyd, "The Composer Plays" is to Jobim.

I am a person who is into many different styles of music, I'm a musical maniac and I've heard a lot of things, and taking all that into consideration, I put "The Composer Plays" in the top 10 albums of all time, of any genre. As the new packaging says, it is truly a ""desert Island" album.

I sometimes think about people who will never hear this music, people who have falsely preconceived notions of it and mislabel it as "easy listening" or "your parents music". ...And frankly, it doesn't take much mind opening to appreciate an album so universally appealing and easy to listen to as this one. But, I have long since discovered that you can't open anyone's mind for them; most people in these dreary, cynical times don't know what bossa nova is and don't want any part of it anyway. I've learned to treasure, cherish and appreciate albums like this for myself alone, and not try to force them upon anyone. But, it is still hard for me to fathom that the door to this music is so wide open, yet most will never enter it, and will go their entire lives without hearing it. It is their loss.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Achingly Cool, February 18, 2000

By	David J. DiSantis (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

It was 1975. Medical school -- interminable hours buried in the belly of the library, surrounded by dry books and drier company. It couldn't help but suck the cool right out of you. And then, like a fresh Brazilian breeze off the Atlantic, I heard these so sweet melodies flowing from my room mate's stereo. I was hooked instantly. These tunes are so phenominally beautiful that your mellowness meter and cool quotient will zoom. By the end of "Desafinado," you'll wish it were 1960 so Bossa Nova could start all over again.