Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim: 1927-1994: Musician

During this same period, Jobim began working on a series of albums with João Gilberto that would transform the music scene in South America and abroad. When their first single, "Chega de Saudade," became a hit, Odeon asked Gilberto to record an album. Eventually the two musicians recorded three albums featuring Jobim's arrangements and a number of his songs. Jobim and Gilberto added cool tones to the samba, downplaying the melody while retaining the steady rhythmic underpinning. The lyrics were simple and romantic, continually returning to images of the sun and the seaside. "We can eavesdrop on the exact beginning of the bossa nova movement with the 1958 single containing Jobim's 'Chega de Saudade' and Giberto's 'Bim Bom,'" wrote Richard S. Ginell in All Music Guide. "One can easily see why this quietly revolutionary record hit the Brazilian music scene like a silent cruise missile."

Brazilian music spread to the United States when Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd released Jazz Samba in 1962, and the bossa nova became a sensation the following year when Getz returned to the studio with Gilberto and Jobim. At the last moment, it was decided that Gilberto's wife, Astrud, would sing the vocal on the song "The Girl from Ipanema." The song became a huge hit, leading to the widespread popularity of bossa nova in the United States. "When the bossa nova seemed in danger of being written off as a fad," noted Ginell of Getz/Gilberto, "this classic album came out and made bossa nova a permanent part of music." "The Girl from Ipanema" would win a Grammy, sell more than a million copies, and reach number five on Billboard.

On November 21, 1962, Jobim, Gilberto, and other musicians performed at Carnegie Hall in a concert organized by the Brazilian Foreign Services, but many Brazilians criticized the performers for singing in English. The popularity of bossa nova in the United States had the unexpected result of offending many fans in Brazil who believed that the music had been watered down and commercialized for American consumption. Success in the United States nonetheless guaranteed Jobim an opportunity to record a series of solo albums. During the 1960s he released several albums, including The Composer of the Desafinado Plays and Wave.