Two of John Pizzarelli’s greatest influences, Frank Sinatra and bossa nova composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, joined forces in 1967 to present a softer and more sensual side of Sinatra, shortly after “That’s Life” and “Strangers in the Night.” Half a century later, John Pizzarelli is celebrating this unique meeting with his Concord Jazz release on July 28, 2017, Sinatra & Jobim @ 50.
Sinatra fans consider the 1967 album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim one of Frank’s greatest, a meeting that placed him in a setting outside of his usual character. However, he delivered a dominant and restrained performance over Jobim’s gentle rhythms and Claus Ogerman’s strings. With Sinatra & Jobim @ 50, Pizzarelli pays tribute to those original recordings, enriching this collection with two original tracks, Michael Frank’s ode to Jobim and songs that Sinatra and Jobim recorded in a 1969 session.
“Jobim was a big influence on me in the 1980s — what I was listening to, then translating and what I was absorbing from it,” says John. “A lot of what we did on this record, the medleys and the 
arrangements for the new songs, come from what they did on their album and the influence they had on my music.”
Daniel Jobim, Jobim’s grandson, is John’s duet partner on Jobim classics that Sinatra and Jobim recorded together: “Água de Beber,” “Bonita,” “This Happy Madness (Estrada Branca)” and “Dindi,” plus a medley of “Meditation” and “Quiet Night of Quiet Stars.” They also perform the standards from the 1967 LP, “Baubles, Bangles & Beads” and a medley of “Change Partners” with Jobim’s “If You Never Come to Me” plus Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You,” which is combined with Jobim’s “Wave.”
Pizzarelli & company also perform Jobim’s “Two Kites,” Michael Frank’s “Antonio’s Song” about Daniel’s grandfather, and two original tracks by Pizzarelli-Jessica Molaskey, “She’s So Sensitive” and “Canto Casual.”
The idea for Sinatra & Jobim @ 50 came after Pizzarelli and his quartet had a successful series of shows in Brazil in June 2016. One of those shows fell on the birthday of guitarist João Gilberto, whose 
legendary recording of “The Girl From Ipanema” with Stan Getz made bossa nova a global sensation in 1964. John says his 2004 album Bossa Nova was, in many ways, a tribute to Gilberto.
“My manager said I should think about making another Brazilian album and I looked around to see what would make sense in terms of anniversaries,” says Pizzarelli, who spent much of 2015 and ’16 honoring Sinatra’s centenary with a show centered on Frank. “I looked around and noticed that Sinatra-Jobim would be completing 50 years. I thought about calling Daniel and asking, ‘do you want to do this?’ It could be fun.”
The two had worked together before. The new album was recorded in three days.
Sinatra and Jobim recorded 10 songs in early 1967 and in April it reached No. 19 during a 28-week run on the Billboard chart, eventually receiving a GRAMMY nomination for Album of the Year. Two years and four Sinatra albums later, they reunited, replacing Ogerman with Eumir Deodato and recorded another 10 tracks.
For show dates, visit: www.johnpizzarelli.com