🎷 AotW: CTI Antonio Carlos Jobim - WAVE (SP-3002)

All the CTI releases

How Would You Rate This Album?

  • ***** (Best)

    Votes: 9 81.8%
  • ****

    Votes: 2 18.2%
  • ***

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • **

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • * (Worst)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Never Heard This Album

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    11
I'll admit it's a nice song, but when you get songs like "Wave", "Agua De Beber", "Triste", and a wonderful "One Note Samba" - you won't settle for anything less. Say, Harry have you ever heard "Cycles"? That song was a chart hit for Frank in '68 and it's sorta got a message somewhat like "Bein' Green". That song's reflective on his decision about his retirement in a way. Joe, who can reccomend Sinatra & Company for your music collection but not 1970's Watertown... not a pretty Sinatra but yet a reflective message album
 
Whew! I haven't listened to "side two" very much at all. All I know is, on the CD, when track #8 comes on, it's like a slap in the face with a wet dish rag--it just doesn't fit! "Close To You," on the other hand, comes across as a very dry, emotionless reading. Hard to listen to it after hearing the definitive version all these years.

Sinatra & Co. almost reminds me of an "odds 'n' ends" album. Another few songs for each side and they could have had two separate albums.

-= N =-
...who's saving the other Sinatra question for another thread...
 
Yes Joe, I do like "Cycles." My Sinatra listenings began in the mid-60s when such hits as "My Way" and "Cycles" were big radio hits on MOR radio. I recall hearing "Bein' Green" and "Agua de Beber" as well, along with the other hits like "Somethin' Stupid." As a result, those songs are remembered fondly, and are even preferred by me over Sintara's more favored Capitol era. Just personal taste.

Harry
NP: radio at work
 
I think my dad had Watertown but I can't say I ever listened to it. I think he was hit and miss with his Sinatra--he liked Sinatra, but I don't think he ever really knew what to buy. My own first Sinatra was a family affair--my mother bought me a single of "Something Stupid." (Probably for the father/daughter novelty...and it was kinda catchy, too!)

I recall a compilation album in mono entitled, I think, This Is Sinatra, on Capitol. It opened with "I've Got The World On A String." And that's what sold me on "this Sinatra guy"...y'know, he wasn't half bad! (I believe that was his first Capitol single release...on 78RPM.) I'm partial to the Capitol sides since my background leans toward big band jazz...I like the sides as much for Nelson Riddle's arrangements.

It's not like I have a lot of Sinatra on CD, though. The three-disc Capitol set covers the earlier era well. (I don't have any of the bobby-soxer Columbia recordings.) On Reprise, it's mainly the Jobim recordings and the Sinatra/Basie/Quincy Jones albums. (This also includes a Count Basie CD that contains their "warm-up" set for Sinatra at the Sands.) And the first Duets CD.

-= N =-
NP: "Agua de Beber", from...you guessed it. :wink:
 
OK, much has been said about the elegant and opulent strings, the spiraling woodwinds and occasional blaring and moaning slide trombone, not to mention the seemingly con-current collaboration of Jobim with Frank Sinatra (during the making of WAVE? Or just the material being shared by each at the time this was made?). And of course, the gently playing drums and percussion, much lighter than what you'd hear on Jobim's second release, and Antonio's very SPARSE, but very INVOLVED instrumental contributions. And his singing on "Lamento", which the liner notes of the A&M/MFP Series Compilation, THE GIRL FROM IPENEMA (combining some sample tracks from both albums) point out (and praise) as being a "talent" of his, along with his guitar and piano playing.

As for me, WAVE is a good quasi-easy listening, Brazilian mood-music piece of work...and let's not forget, JAZZ--SMMMOOOTH JAZZ--as it should be known. And when I was on my "Jobim Kick of '97", I had this on CD, along with STONEFLOWER and even the long out-of-print compilation on Verve, containing very ESSENTIAL works of that period. And lastly, it's FINE Non-Christmas Christmas Music, as well. Is that why I have my Christmas Tree Color-Wheel facing the bed? As well as when hearing music by TAMBA 4 and Paul Desmond's FROM THE HOT AFTERNOON, among other A&M and A&M/CTi Jazz & Brazilian outings on wax? :laugh:

Dave


...finally weighing in my comments on one of the few 3000-series Jazz albums, that spans TWO pages... :D
 
Where do we begin with this one? This is the touchstone of the A&M/CTi partnership. There is not a bad track here, the personnel are superior, and the production isn't stifling. Brought many Jobim tunes to the fore, and more rounded than Tide. Five stars without hesitation.
 
A very "definitive" body of work... Easily the place where the "Jobim Novice" should start and in my "Great Antonio Carlos Binge of '97", I bought Wave, as well as Stoneflower and even Tide, all on CD...!!

As for a favorite track, it is hard to choose; Triste appropriately went on A&M's Family Portrait collection, while the singing on Lamento makes that track a "standout" cut (though it comes on much too soon on one of the A&M/CTi multi-artists sets it's featured on) and the Harpsichord on Antigua give it a very distinctive touch... While Mojave and The Red Blouse have long been very catchy pieces, and really rank "up there", too!

****1/2 -Stars, from Me! :cheers:



Dave
 
This has to be my most played album/recording ever! I've had several incarnations of it. I had the lp with the red cover. Then the pre-recorded open reel tape on Ampex tapes, also with the red cover. Then I bought the green lp cover with better re-mastering. Then around 86-87 I bought the cd, and frankly was a bit dissapointed with its sound quality, or rather lack thereof. I always wished that Mobile Fidelity Labs would do a proper re-mastering. The music is outstanding, and is a perennial A&M/CTI favorite. This recording is the best "stress-buster" out there. Very, very soothing. I love to play it say, out in a natural environment. There is a haunting quality, a brooding sadness in some of the tracks. In Brazil they call this quality: "Saudade". A certain longing, for something or someone....Tom Jobim was a deep or profound composer, and an erudite one as well. He often wrote his own lyrics. He stated in a 1994 Old York Times article: "Every song I write, represents a woman I could not have"..... :)
 
What's the best-sounding CD version of this record? I see there are some expensive Japanese editions on Amazon. Anyone have an opinion on whether they're worth the upgrade?

Also--were the red and green covers both originally released with vinyl? Any significant differences other than the color?
 
Red is the original release. When A&M re-released it in 1984 as part of the Audio Master Plus (AM+) series it got the green color, supposedly because someone mixed up the printing plates and the correct colors of ink (a story I don't buy 100% as I worked in a print shop for a while years ago).

Anyway, there's no difference in the recording between the two covers, though the 1984 editions were pressed on Quiex vinyl and were cleaner than any 15 year old vinyl copies most people already had in their collections.

The AM+ series didn't last long because of the advent of the CD and because A&M soon used this translucent vinyl for ALL their releases about a year or so later...

--Mr Bill
 
Five stars from me. :thumbsup: Definitely a favorite that gets a lot of spin time here. Of the "trilogy" of CTi albums, this ranks #2--Stone Flower being #1 for me. (The two are very close, but Stone Flower is musically richer IMHO.) The best version I've heard is the AM+ vinyl reissue.
 
Abso-blessed-lutely, unconditionally 5 stars. Probably my number one desert-island album, and the most perfectly realized Jobim collection in release, at least here in the Big PX. Ogerman's charts, especially the string voicings, are ideally suited to the Jobim song forms. Haven't tired of listening to Wave in 38 years, and am seriously considering being buried with my mint red-filter (as God and Pete Turner intended) vinyl copy!

By the way, re the personnel listings: who else among you had heard that Claudio Slon was-- apparently according to his own statement in an interview-- the album's only drummer, and that Dom Um Romao and Bobby Rosengarden played only percussion?
 
Al A-S said:
By the way, re the personnel listings: who else among you had heard that Claudio Slon was-- apparently according to his own statement in an interview-- the album's only drummer, and that Dom Um Romao and Bobby Rosengarden played only percussion?

I don't see any immediate reason to distrust Claudio's claim; Bobby Rosengarden had worked with Slon previously in Walter Wanderley's trio up until 1967, I believe. The incorrect listing could have been a mistake in production notes--a notorious example is the dubious piano of Herbie Hancock on George Benson's The Shape of Things to Come.
 
I'll give you two reasons to get this album: Urbie Green! His trombone work on this album is absolutely gorgeous. Yeah, these are solid songs by Jobim, but Urbie really makes them work. This is a terrific album, although once again the strings tend to get overbearing at times. But that aside, it's nice to have a solid set of songs other than "Girl From Ipanema" or "Desafinado" or the usual Jobim classics. And, of course, the final tune is probably the greatest song title known to man. :D 4 stars from me.



Capt. Bacardi
 
Captain, couldn't agree with you more about Urbie Green. The most beautiful tone, tasteful, never showy, yet always swinging, always inventive--the perfect solo-horn complement to Jobim's tunes. Sort of a trombonist's Jim Hall, if you will.

And as for Wave's kicker.. wow, kicka** bossa blues! Who woulda thunk it before then? And Claudio Slon-- swingingest samba sidestick work ever, possibly rivaled only by Dom Um Romao's groove on the Brasil '66 Norwegian Wood.
 
Dittos Cap'n regarding Urbie Green. I don't know how I forgot to mention him. His tone, and "delicate" embouchure add just the right touch to the music. Yes, this is the perfect "desert island" pick. A must have! :love:
 
Rudy said:
There are only a handful of the A&M/CTi albums I really like, and this is one of them. :thumbsup:

I couldn't have summed it up better myself. But I will add that this is the best Jobim album I ever heard!

Tony
 
Hi Tony!

Jobim was in a nice low-key jazz mode on this disc. As much as I like this one, I really don't care for most of "Tide", where even the title cut sounds like an overly noodly clone of "Wave" played sideways. "Stone Flower" is far better than "Tide" and on par with "Wave", if not better; "Stone Flower" is more dark in mood, but has just as many rich melodies as "Wave" does, some of which you can't get out of your head for days.

The Warner CD "Composer" compiles two of his Reprise albums, but it's an entirely different setup: beside Jobim's piano and guitar, the album has a lot of lush strings to it. His album on Verve, "The Composer of Desafinado Plays", is about halfway between both extremes...it has some strings, but also has more jazz elements.

"Stone Flower" and "Wave" get the most play around here.
 
As a footnote to this discussion, I wonder how many Brazilian artists consider this album, and the two that follow, to be influential. The trilogy of Wave/Tide/Stone Flower does make for some good listening (although Tide is admittedly weak), and I know that Carlos Santana appropriated "Stone Flower" for his Caravanserai album (and does quite well by it, even quoting another song from the Stone Flower album in the beginning bars). The song "Brazil" from Stone Flower has also been covered by many artists.

These three albums find Jobim more in a jazz mode than his other albums, which may explain their broader appeal. He gets to shine as a pianist and guitarist, rather than relying on his vocals as some of his other albums have. Creed Taylor and Claus Ogerman also worked together on Jobim's 1963 album "The Composer of Desafinado Plays", but for some reason, their formula seems to click better on "Wave".

I do urge you--if you've heard Wave and not Stone Flower, pick up the latter.
 
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