7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7noted for their collaboration with lyricist Vinícius de
Moraes on the score for Orfeo negro ( Black Orpheus ), which
won an Academy Award for best foreign fi lm. By the early
1960s, Jobim’s music was being played around the world.
Jobim maintained a second home in the United States,
where bossa nova ’s fusion of understated samba pulse
(quiet percussion and unamplifi ed guitars playing subtly
complex rhythms) and gentle, breathy singing with the
melodious and sophisticated harmonic progressions of cool
jazz found a long-lasting niche in popular music. In 1962 he
appeared at Carnegie Hall with his leading jazz interpreters,
tenor saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd.
Jobim collaborated on many albums, such as Getz/Gilberto
(1963) and Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (1967). He
also recorded solo albums, most notably Jobim (1972) and
Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, shown here around 1970, is
best known for his “bossa nova,” which became an international sensation.
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