Antônio Carlos Jobim
Composer, pianist, and arranger whose sophisticated harmonies and melodic innovations defined bossa nova's sound. Born in Tijuca, Rio in 1927, studied under German composer Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, who introduced twelve-tone composition to Brazil. Before he started composing bossa novas in the 1950s, he wrote symphonies, drawing from his training as a classical musician. Rose to fame with music for the 1956 play Orfeu da Conceição, beginning a crucial collaboration with poet Vinicius de Moraes. Wrote 'The Girl from Ipanema,' 'Desafinado,' 'Corcovado'—songs that became jazz standards performed by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Frank Sinatra. His most widely circulated works introduced America and Europe to bossa nova, the sensual, urbane musical idiom of Brazil. His influences ranged from French impressionism to American cool jazz, but the core remained distinctly Brazilian, creating harmonic complexity that matched the literary weight of Moraes's lyrics.