{"id":445562,"date":"2026-11-02T23:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T23:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/445562\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T23:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T23:32:09","slug":"jazz-roots-opens-with-jobim-tribute-in-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/445562\/","title":{"rendered":"Jazz Roots opens with Jobim tribute in Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making music sound difficult is easy. Creating subtly subversive music and making it sound easy demands a special talent. Brazilian composer Ant\u00f4nio Carlos Jobim made a mark in American culture with music of deceptive simplicity.<\/p>\n

Part of repertories in concert halls and heard in the piped-in music in malls and elevators, his songs are by now part of the American soundtrack, from \u201cDesafinado,\u201d his first U.S. hit in 1962, and \u201cGarota de Ipanema\u201d (\u201cThe Girl from Ipanema\u201d), which won the Grammy for Record of the Year at the 1965 Grammy Awards, to \u201cChega de Saudade\u201d (\u201cNo More Blues\u201d), \u201cInsensatez\u201d (\u201cHow Insensitive\u201d), and \u201c\u00c1guas de Mar\u00e7o\u201d (\u201cWaters of March\u201d).<\/p>\n

Ant\u00f4nio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim was also known as Tom Jobim, a variant of Ton Ton, the nickname his sister Helena gave him. \u201cAh, the critics in Brazil began to say, \u2018Tom is an American name,\u2019 \u201d he once lamented in an interview, throwing his hands up in mock despair.<\/p>\n

The legacy of Jobim, who died in 1994 and would have celebrated his 100th birthday on Jan. 25, 2027, will be honored Friday, Nov. 6. The concert opens the 2026-27 Jazz Roots series at the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center.<\/p>\n

\"Brazilian Brazilian pianist, singer, composer and arranger Eliane Elias is one of the premier interpreters of Ant\u00f4nio Carlos Jobim music. (Photo by Nagy Attila) <\/p>\n

Titled \u201cJobim and the Music of Brazil,\u201d the tribute features pianist and singer Eliane Elias, clarinetist Anat Cohen and Trio da Paz, comprising guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist Nilson Matta and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca.<\/p>\n

Pianist Shelly Berg and the Frost School of Music\u2019s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, led by resident conductor Scott Flavin, round out the lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, as we\u2019re thinking about the Jazz Roots opening concert, we discuss what artists we should honor,\u201d says Berg, artistic advisor for the series and former dean of the University of Miami\u2019s Frost School of Music, a position he held for 19 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing that the Jobim Centennial was coming, we felt that this was appropriate, especially in Miami, a multicultural city. It is such beloved music and so important in the history of two streams of music, Brazilian music and jazz music that it was an easy decision \u2014 and a fun decision to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pianist Pianist and arranger Shelly Berg, Jazz Roots Artistic Advisor, says that knowing the Ant\u00f4nio Carlos Jobim Centennial was coming, paying tribute to his music was appropriate, \u201cespecially in Miami, a multicultural city. \u201d (Photo by Daniel Azoulay) <\/p>\n

The appeal of Jobim\u2019s music, Berg explains, lies in the sophistication beneath its apparent simplicity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes Jobim\u2019s music special? Jobim wrote beautiful melodies, but also really wonderful harmonic progressions, and because of his classical studies, he injected some classicism into the mix of jazz and Brazilian music and the result is unique \u2014 except you don\u2019t realize that because it all works so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rarely does music serve as such a discreet but fitting self-portrait of the man who wrote it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, I pretend to be a simple man,\u201d Jobim said in a 1987 interview with this writer at his New York apartment. \u201cI say this, and people get furious. Maybe it\u2019s the language. In Portuguese, pretender means something else. It means to intend, to aspire. So, I intend to be a simple man. But I also pretend to be simple, presenting things in a simple way \u2014 but there\u2019s always something under the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elias laughs when she hears the quote.<\/p>\n

Intending to be simple \u201cis why he could reach so many people. He had this incredible way of writing music, just incredibly beautiful,\u201d she says. Brazilian music and West Coast jazz were defining influences in Jobim\u2019s writing, but so was his classical education. \u201cHe loved the romantics; he loved Chopin, the impressionist, Debussy and Ravel and Villa-Lobos, and that music, that beautiful baggage is part of his music. It\u2019s a good thing that you can hear it playing in an elevator or a supermarket,\u201d she says. \u201cIt also means that this music reaches everyone, that you went from a more intellectual audience to the simplest audience. And that\u2019s the beauty of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Formed Formed in 1985, Trio da Paz features, from left, bassist Nilson Matta, drummer Duduka Da Fonseca and guitarist Romero Lubambo. (Photo courtesy of artist management) <\/p>\n

Elias got to meet and play with Jobim early in her career, when she was still a teenager, and over the years has become a premier interpreter of Jobim\u2019s music. She has released two strong albums of Jobim\u2019s music: the instrumental \u201cEliane Elias Plays Jobim\u201d (1990), which highlights the jazz influence in Jobim\u2019s writing, and \u201cEliane Elias Sings Jobim\u201d (1998), in which she revisited classic titles as a vocalist. Elias\u2019 third album of Jobim\u2019s music will be released next January to coincide with the centennial celebration.<\/p>\n

Emerging in small spaces and clubs in Rio, bossa nova was vocal, not dance music. Jobim wrote some of the lyrics for his songs, but also worked with exceptional lyricists such as Vin\u00edcius de Moraes and Newton Mendon\u00e7a, in the original Portuguese, and Gene Lees and Norman Gimbel, for the English versions.<\/p>\n

In bossa nova there was no melodrama, not in the lyrics, and not in the delivery. Instead, the singing suggested a confidence shared with friends. Astrud Gilberto, who was not a professional singer when she recorded \u201cThe Girl from Ipanema\u201d with her then-husband Jo\u00e3o Gilberto and saxophonist Stan Getz, once explained that \u201cOne\u2019s song should be as simple as human speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSinging bossa nova does require a certain approach,\u201d notes Elias. \u201cIt\u2019s not about powerful vocals or great vocal ranges, volume or power. It\u2019s intimate, it\u2019s about how you phrase the melody, the lyrics, how you sing to the rhythm of the song. It\u2019s very, very particular. It\u2019s not for demonstrations of technique. It\u2019s about placement and how you say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elias was 17 and on a tour with guitarist and singer Toquinho (Antonio Pecci Filho) and lyricist and poet Vinicius de Moraes, a friend and close collaborator of Jobim, best known as the co-writer of the original Portuguese version of \u201cGarota de Ipanema\u201d (\u201cThe Girl from Ipanema\u201d), when she met Jobim.<\/p>\n

\"Virtuoso Virtuoso clarinetist Anat Cohen, who is part of the lineup for \u201cJobim and the Music of Brazil,\u201d fell in love with the choro music of Brazil and the country eventually became a home away from home for her. (Photo by Shervin Lainez) <\/p>\n

\u201cHe would sometimes be with us on our shows,\u201d recalls Elias. \u201cThis tour lasted three years, and we would stay for a full month in Rio de Janeiro, or in Argentina so that Jobim would come around and sometimes he would join us, or he would come around to Vinicius\u2019 villa where we would get together when we were in Rio. So, I got to spend time with him, and that friendship continued throughout the years. It was a beautiful, long relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those years gave Elias more than a personal connection to Jobim. They provided an education in Brazilian music from the artists who helped define it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole experience was very special, musically, personally, in every way,\u201d she says. \u201cVinicius was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, lyricists and poets that Brazil ever had. Being around him, Toquinho and Tom was something very, very special. I learned and lived this music right from the creators of this music.\u201d What we\u2019ll hear, she notes matter-of-factly, \u201ccouldn\u2019t be more authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you go:<\/p>\n

WHAT: \u201cJobim and the Music of Brazil,\u201d opening concert of the 2026-27 Jazz Roots Series.<\/p>\n

WHERE: The Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd. Miami<\/p>\n

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6<\/p>\n

COST: $52.65\u2013$152.10, including fees.<\/p>\n

INFORMATION: (305) 949-6722 and www.arshtcenter.org<\/a><\/p>\n

ArtburstMiami.com<\/a> is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don\u2019t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Making music sound difficult is easy. Creating subtly subversive music and making it sound easy demands a special…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-445562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}