artist info

Two of John Pizzarelli’s greatest influences, Frank Sinatra and the bossa nova composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, joined forces in 1967 to present a softer, sultrier side of Sinatra on the heels of “That’s Life” and “Strangers in the Night.” Half a century later, John Pizzarelli is celebrating that unique gathering with his July 28, 2017 Concord Jazz release Sinatra & Jobim @ 50.

Sinatraphiles consider the 1967 album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim one of Frank’s greatest, a meeting that found Frank in an out-of-character setting. Yet he delivered a commanding and understated performance over Jobim’s gentle rhythms and Claus Ogerman’s strings. With Sinatra & Jobim @ 50, Pizzarelli pays tribute to those original recordings, enhancing that collection with two originals, Michael Frank’s ode to Jobim and songs that Sinatra and Jobim recorded at a 1969 session.

Jobim’s grandson, Daniel Jobim, is John’s duet partner on the Jobim classics Sinatra and Jobim recorded together: “Agua de Beber,” “Bonita,” “This Happy Madness (Estrada Branca)” and “Dindi,” plus a medley of “Meditation” and “Quiet Night of Quiet Stars.” They also cover the standards from the 1967 LP, “Baubles, Bangles & Beads” and a medley of “Change Partners” with Jobim’s “If You Never Come to Me” plus Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You,” which is paired with Jobim’s “Wave.”

Pizzarelli & company also perform Jobim’s “Two Kites,” Michael Frank’s song about Daniel’s grandfather, “Antonio’s Song” and two Pizzarelli-Jessica Molaskey originals, “She’s So Sensitive” and “Canto Casual.”

The idea for Sinatra & Jobim @ 50 sprang up after Pizzarelli and his quartet had a successful string of shows in Brazil in June 2016. One of those shows fell on the birthday of guitarist João Gilberto, whose legendary recording of “The Girl From Ipanema” with Stan Getz made bossa nova a global sensation in 1964. John says his 2004 record Bossa Nova was in many ways a tribute to Gilberto.

"Over the period of one week, with Daniel in the Brazilian rain forest and the rest of us bearing the cold weather of a New York January winter, we put these duets together that honor the original Sinatra/Jobim collaboration, along with some of our own songs, adding the help of the great Brazilian musicians Duduka Da Fonseca and Helio Alves (who also appeared on Midnight McCartney) with my fine U.S. cohorts, bassist Mike Karn and saxophonist supreme Harry Allen.

If you listen closely to Daniel you can hear some of the rain forest birds from Brazil chiming in with background vocals.

It is an honor to present this album to you from Daniel and myself, as a birthday present to two masters from their humble servants." - John Pizzarelli