The Music According to Antonio Carlos Jobim

Half a century ago, Brazilian composer and musician Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim (1927-1994) introduced bossa nova to a worldwide audience with "The Girl from Ipanema." This relaxed, cool, sensuous music blended jazz and samba. After recording an album of songs by his friend Jobim, Frank Sinatra is reported to have said, "I haven't sung so quietly since I had laryngitis." Naturally, "The Girl from Ipanema" and Frank Sinatra are featured in this musical collage of countless seamlessly edited excerpts of concert footage that cover decades of events all over the world: from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon, Paris, Copenhagen, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Montreal, New York and back to Rio. And we see a huge range of artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Jr., Oscar Peterson, Diana Krall, Birgit Brüel, Lio, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Chico Buarque, Lisa Ono, Cynara & Cybele, and the maestro himself Jobim. There is no commentary; the music speaks for itself. Picture postcards, private photos, official documents, posters, album covers, and sheet music complement the concert footage. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)