Antonio Carlos Jobim: An Illuminated Man

As someone who has loved Bossa Nova since age 9 this is an important read. It is Tom Jobim's life as told by his sister Helena. And what a life! He was the most prolific author of perhaps Brazil's finest music (along side of Samba) It is difficult to explain Bossa Nova, the bah bah bah-bah-bah beat acompanied by piano or only the very subtle 6/9th guitar chords. The music of Antonio Carlos Jobim has always taken me away. As a young boy I would imagine myself driving a convertable sports car up California Highway 1 wearing sunglasses with a beautiful blonde beside me.. The Beatles pretty much overtook Bossa Nova as pop music but sophisticated people everywhere still moved to the Brazilian beat-

Antonio Carlos (Tom) Jobim died 17 years ago in a New York City hospital. It is high time we learned more about a priceless legacy to the music and music-lovers of the world. Poet and novelist Helena Jobim's book makes his personal, intellectual, and professional history come alive in a compelling story. It is, likewise, an illuminating document for researchers in the fields of music, literature, art, philosophy, and popular culture.As if it were not for the vast, intimate, and revealing set of photographs, the engaging elegance and unique structure of the prose, or even the enlightening description of creative processes and partnerships of a true twentieth-century's genius, one single element adds much to Helena Jobim's endearing biography of her brother: a portrait of Tom Jobim's emotional world. We learn that some of his greatest anguish (but not resentment), for example, resulted from his own image in the Brazilian press: too often distorted and misunderstood. The harshest attacks on him arguably came from prejudiced critics who, rather unfairly and unwisely, regarded his music as imitation of foreign sounds. Helena Jobim's moving and enchanting book explores the human dimension of a life dedicated to music that never surrendered to national borders. Quoting Pablo Picasso (and he loved quoting artists and poets) the maestro once explained that out of that anguish, his own "cube of darkness," he was "born again" on a daily basis (163).Jobim's exceptional talent as songwriter follows a tradition in Brazilian music since Chiquinha Gonzaga 150 years ago: sometimes to bridge over and sometimes to do away with the illusive divide between erudite and popular culture, including music and poetry. Toward that goal he was certainly lucky and clever enough to chose and to be chosen to work with giants of either end, classical or popular, whose art has also spanned all over that open field of borderless creation.The author of "Waters of March" actually read, questioned, and recreated the world he lived in not only through mesmerizing melody, but also through down-to-earth poetry. Helena Jobim does justice to her brother's poetic voice in many dazzling instances. It all starts on a high note of low spirits by a singular composer whose ecological concerns made him a bit gloomier every day. It is indeed too sad that he had to leave us prematurely, at the peak of his career, but before writing another 500 tunes of inexplicable grace. Tom could have added to one of those unwritten tunes his own verses which stand as epigraph in An Illuminated Man: "Every time a tree is cut down here on Earth, I believe it will grow again somewhere else, in another world. So, when I die, it is to this place that I want to go, where forests live in peace."

"Tom", or "Tomas" as he was affectionately known to his intimates, embodied a wealth of contra...indicators (not dictions, as he was extremely well spoken and erudite) even up until his death when a doctor stated, "He appeared to be a strong man but he was actually fragile." He was a genius in almost every sense of the word - quick to dismiss his own importance, yet craving understanding from both public and critics alike - sometimes moody, and at other times gregarious to an extreme (as with New York taxi drivers) - he was always concerned; concerned as only an empathetic man can be about the things that moved him deeply. One of those things was music, and the arrangement of music specifically - the harmonies...in fact I found it extremely telling that Jobim would use the harmonies to get to the melody, much as I also found it telling that Jobim was naturally left handed, but (like myself) had been forced to write right handed. No matter, he simply adapted. His other passion was the environment, and his writing, musical and otherwise, betrayed an almost cynical sense of where Humanity was heading with the destruction of the Planet. His quote about "another world" where each tree that fell in this one was headed (like himself) for another where it would stand is a testament to his sense of the futile destiny of this one. An interesting read from start to finish, I was somewhat struck by 'synchronicities' throughout with my own path - the interest in Casteneda, the bi-dexterity, and finally, the last piece of music on his piano when he died "There Will Never Be Another You". This was the piece I chose to do in a samba-style, with Jimmy Ponder, as a duet on Jimmy's CD "Somebody's Child" from 2007. I thought I had chosen it at "random". It is a bit disconcerting to be the first reviewer of this other than the translator, yet here I am. Robert Lamm deserves a lot of credit also (good work, Mr. Chops!) Thoroughly enjoyable and educational.

First of all let me be honest: I'm a crazy Tom Jobim fan. I've been listening to his music since I was a kid, and right now I have dozens and dozens of albums and recordings from him that I keep listening over and over again.I was really eager to read this book, specially since it was written by someone so close to him: his sister. Unfortunately this book left me wanting for more. I was expecting more information about the man and the musician. Even though this has a lot of information previously unknown - at least for me - most of if is already known by most of us. Plus, most of this information provided is clearly biased, which may be a good thing here.Yet, it is a good book. I've read it in less than a day and this is another complain from me. The book should be bigger. Should have had more information. C'mon, we're talking about Antônio Carlos Jobim. This guy is one of the most interesting musicians ever and this book only has 300 pages!?Unfortunately I haven't found any other biography of the man, which is a shame because Jobim was one of the most important composers of the XX century. I will rate this with 3 stars and a half. Any Jobim biography should rate 5 stars, since it's music rates 6 stars!

This is the third one I have ordered for a gift. Just love his music and this book is magic if you are a Jobim fan...

Wer die Musik von Antonio Carlos Jobim liebt, wird durch dieses Buch noch mehr bereichert werden.Jetzt verstehe ich wie tiefgründig und liebevoll dieser einmalige Musiker war.Ich bin sehr gerührt über seine gelebte Herzensverbindung zu Mutter Erde, dem Wasser, dem Wind, den Bäumen, seine Wertschätzung und Feinfühligkeit dem Leben gegenüber!Sehr emphehlenswert!

Déçu par cette "biographie" qui est plutôt un témoignage, celui de sa sœur. On reste un peu trop dans l'album de famille et le côté anecdotique. J'aurais préféré en apprendre d'avantage sur tout l'aspect créatif : composition et écriture des chansons, travail avec les arrangeurs et les musiciens, enregistrements, etc... Bref, ce n'est pas ce j'attendais d'un bouquin sur Jobim.

I loved this book! If you are a fan of this man's music then I would recommend it.