Jobim Swinging North of the Border
Jobim showed he could hold his own in a straight-ahead jazz setting, bossa nova rhythms meeting American hard bop.
The Swinger From Rio arrived in 1965 as Jobim ventured into territory that surprised many of his fans — a straightforward jazz date recorded in New York with American sidemen. By this point, bossa nova had already crossed over to mainstream audiences, but Jobim's reputation rested on composition and arrangement more than on his abilities as a soloist or bandleader in a conventional sense. This album tested that assumption head-on.
The lineup here is no accident: Phil Woods on alto, Art Farmer on flugelhorn, Hubert Laws on flute, Sérgio Mendes on piano, Sebastião Neto on bass, and Chico DeSouza on drums. It's a working jazz quintet, not an export product. Jobim plays guitar and composes, but he's not the spotlight. The arrangements blend samba phrasing with American swing vocabulary — cooler than hard bop, but grittier than the bossa nova albums that had made him famous. The horns negotiate between two musical languages, and the rhythm section keeps both in motion. Nothing here sounds strained or tentative. It's a confident record, recorded with the efficiency of musicians who know the material and trust each other.
The album never became a standard reference point in Jobim's discography, partly because it doesn't break new ground and partly because it asks listeners to hear him as a working composer-bandleader rather than a visionary. But it holds up well — a solid small-group date that proves he understood American jazz fundamentals as well as anyone.
Who's playing
Sebastião Netobass
Sérgio Mendespiano
Antônio Carlos Jobimguitar
Phil Woodsalto saxophone
Hubert Lawsflute
Chico DeSouzadrums
Art Farmerflugelhorn
Where next?
More by Antonio Carlos Jobim
All 37 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
