Elis and Tom (2022) Movie Script
In 1974, composer Tom Jobim,
one of the founding fathers of Bossa Nova,
and Brazil's most popular singer at the time, Elis Regina,
got together to record an album in Los Angeles.
Nobody could imagine that this unlikely meeting,
filled with conflict, emotion and beauty,
would be such a pivotal moment in Brazilian music history.
The images of this recording,
filmed at the time in 16mm and now restored in 4K,
are remembered here, almost 50 years later.
Dedicated to Andr Midani
[Elis] I say "It's the foot". You say "It's the ground".
[Tom] Cesar needs to capture our voices.
[Elis] It's the foot It's the ground
[Tom] No, honey.
It's the foot It's the ground
Look here, Elis.
It's the foot It's the ground
Then we start playing with it.
[Elis] But I said "It's the foot, it's the ground"
and you spoke with me.
[Tom] But I can't, it was my mistake.
You go "The foot, the ground". I go "It's the road march."
- [Elis] Bird in your hand -[Tom] A slingshot's stone
[Elis] Okay.
[Tom] I want Elis to let loose and myself too.
If I mess up we'll just delete it.
[Elis] Okay.
[Tom] I don't want to be as stuck as Tom Jobim, you know?
[Elis] Okay.
[Tom] I want to do it in a more intimate way,
just like Aloysio said.
- [Elis] Again? -[Tom] Again, again.
We're getting warmed up.
Look at that, this one is cool.
-Right, my friend? -[Elis] It's turning out nice.
[Tom] Did I mess up?
[Helio] Don't stop if you mess up.
ELIS & TOM
FROM IPANEMA/RIO TO L.A. WITH THE BOSSA NOVA'S MASTER
[man] One, two, three.
A stick, a stone It's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump It's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass It is life, it's the Sun
It is night, it is death It's a trap, it's a gun
-The oak when it blooms -A fox in the brush
-A knot in the wood -The song of a thrush
-The wood of the wind -A cliff, a fall
-A scratch, a lump -It is nothing at all
[Elis] It's the wind Blowing free
It's the end of the slope
It's a beam, it's a void It's a hunch, it's a hope
[Tom] And the river bank Talks of the waters of March
It's the end of the strain The joy in your heart
[Elis] The foot, the ground
[Tom] The flesh And the bone
[Elis] The beat of the road
[Tom] A slingshot's stone
[Elis] It's a bird In the sky
[Tom] It's a bird On the ground
[Elis] It's a stream It's a fountain
[Tom] It's a piece of bread
[Elis] The bed of the well The end of the line
[Jon] Elis & Tom, it's a gem.
It's a crystalline diamond,
floating in the beauty of
the brightest outer space.
It's crystalline, it's perfect.
Every breath on that album,
every little tinkling piano note
is in the right place.
It's the firewood It's the day
It's the end of the trail
It's the bottom of the well It's the end of the trail
[Tom] The plan of the house The body in bed
And the car that got stuck It's the mud, it's the mud
-[Elis] It's a footstep -[Tom] It's a bridge
-[Elis] It's a fountain -[Tom] It's a frog
-[Elis] It's the rest -[Tom] Of the woods
-[Elis] In the morning -[Tom] Glow
[both] And the river bank Talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
[instrumental music keeps playing]
A snake, a stick
-It is John -It is Joe
-[Tom] It's a thorn -[Elis] In your hand
-[Tom] And a cut -[Elis] In your toe
And the riverbank talks Of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
-[Tom] A stick -[Elis] A stone
-[Tom] It's the end -[Elis] Of the road
-[Tom] It's the rest -[Elis] Of a stump
-[Tom] It's a little -[Elis] Alone
There's nothing missing in it. I think it's the perfect album.
[Elis] It's A beautiful horizon
[Tom] Intermittent fever
And the riverbank talks Of the waters of March
It's the end of all strain
All that was missing was you telling this story.
I still don't know why you held on to it for 40 or 50 years.
[Tom and Elis keep singing in the background]
Tom and Elis' album has very powerful stories,
which apparently went unnoticed.
[Joo] Just like Kubrick's Napoleon,
the greatest movie never made...
it almost became history's greatest record never made.
[music ends]
[laughing and cheering]
Did you see that? Elis was on B-flat after the keyboard.
How does it sound?
[whistling]
I don't know.
Show us.
Put this one, would you? You can do it now.
[in English] Would you...?
[in English] Sir, play it again?
[Elis keeps whistling]
[sound fades out]
[traffic hustle]
Lives In the suburb of Encantado
An abandoned shed
John Doe, a known fella
They say he lived Outside the law
He was a king That mocked death
And had a strong saint
In the middle Of the hooligans
His pleasure Was to play a samba
He jumped, kicked
He was up For a fight all the time
But today he is an old shard That is not worth anything
He has a white head And wrinkled skin
It's even sad To see his state
Poor guy
This is life
It's an instant That passes quickly
We all have our moment
And after it Only forgetfulness
It lives
[exhales sharply]
[Cesar] Is this an Ary song?
Ary Barroso.
-[Elis] Do you like Ary Barroso? -I love him.
[Elis laughing]
[Elis] You like Villa-Lobos as well, right?
I really like Villa-Lobos and Ary Barroso.
They are my two sacred titans.
-[Elis] Pixinguinha. -And Pixinguinha.
These are the people I copy from.
You can only copy from those you love.
[Elis giggles]
It's a Stravinsky quote.
You can only copy those you love,
you don't copy those you don't love.
[waves crashing]
[Andr] As time went past,
the two of them
were sort of hounding us, if we can call it that.
There's no question that Tom and Elis' record
was a watershed between what existed before
and after it.
TOM BEFORE
Bossa nova is hard to describe, but perfectly identifiable.
Other notes Are bound to follow
But the root Is still that note
Now this new one Is the consequence
Of the one We've just been through
As I'm bound to be
The unavoidable Consequence of you
Dizzy Gillespie,
Charlie Byrd,
and another guy came over here.
They told Ertegun, among others,
"Look at that music these guys are making.
It's spectacular!"
[narrator of clip] One of the heroes of the new wave
is Antonio Carlos Jobim,
who wrote Desafinado,
the bossa nova theme song.
In New York, he paid a visit to one of his heroes,
progressive jazz musician Gerry Mulligan.
And the first ones to adopt it
were the American jazz musicians.
Consequently, one cannot say
that this music was big in Brazil first.
It first became a hit abroad.
You mean the rhythm section?
[Mulligan] Hm.
[upbeat piano and clarinet music]
[music ends]
-Yes. -Yes.
I do that except, I do that phase backwards,
because, uh, it's very difficult phrasing that last thing.
Yes, I know.
[upbeat piano and clarinet music]
-[vocalizing] -[music continues]
[Ron] I saw xxx, Masason Tom, as I like to call him,
were kinda interesting.
When I met him, he spoke almost no English,
and I spoke exactly no Portuguese, so...
But he's able to tell me that he trusted my judgment,
and, uh, he hoped I'd find the notes and rhythms
to make his music have a life.
I explained to Mr Jobim, He said, "No, call me Tom.
Call me Tom."
Uh, "I'm sure I give you what I have,
and I think we'll find some nice notes
available to both of us."
We recorded three albums,
Wave,
uh, Stone Flower, and Tide,
with some wonderful arrangements.
And as it turns out,
those arrangements are kinda
how people see and hear the songs.
Great writer.
Interesting piano play.
He played some nice changes and right rhythms for the music.
As a guitar player, he plays pretty good, too, so,
he's just a casual genius.
I love him.
[laid back music continues]
[Jon] I would just say Tom Jobim
is one of the great musicians in the history of the world.
Not just Brazil, but everywhere.
He's got an incredibly sophisticated sense of harmony.
He's got
melodies that ride that harmony
and make it sound completely natural.
Uh, you go back, and you look at his song,
and you look how it's constructed
and you think, this is amazing.
And then you hear somebody singing,
and it's just like, completely natural.
So I just think he's a world-class musician,
up there with anybody in Brazil,
up there with anybody on this planet earth.
[music ends]
Tom was never well received in Brazil.
He did have some hits in Brazil.
But it wasn't like...
He wasn't deeply appreciated by the people.
I think people were shocked
with Tom Jobim's modern style at the time.
RIO DE JANEIRO BOTANICAL GARDEN
[Beth] My dad had
a lot of very important encounters throughout his life.
From meeting Koellreuter at such a young age
to having a partnership with Newton Mendona.
He also met Ary Barroso, who had a big influence on him.
Radams Gnattali.
He met Claus Ogerman.
He met Frank Sinatra
and it transformed his music's reach.
[Jon] I think Frank Sinatra chose to work with Jobim
because he recognized
the incredible level of craftsmanship,
he admired it.
Sinatra was a total perfectionist.
He connects Jobim's elegance and sophistication
to Irving Berlin,
where, in my generation,
I connect Jobim's elegance and sophistication
to the Beatles and Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder, too.
Sinatra chose to work with Jobim out of respect,
because they're beautiful songs,
because they're probably really fun to sing,
and [chuckling]
he just admired the craftsmanship,
and he thought he could add something to it.
He thought he could make an American
and Brazilian bridge.
[laid-back guitar music]
The instrument, guitar.
The beat, bossa nova.
The artist,
one of the inventors of this exciting all-new sound,
Antonio Carlos Jobim.
[applause]
-[vocalizing] -[gentle guitar music]
[vocalizing continues]
[laid-back music]
Must you dance every dance
Sinatra, for the first time in his career,
decided to record with a songwriter.
Who was that song writer? Mr. Tom Jobim.
Tall and tan And young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema Goes walking
And when she passes
Each one she passes goes, ah
[singing in Portuguese]
Yes, the only way.
[singing in Portuguese]
[music continues]
Oh, but I watch her so sadly
[singing in Portuguese]
[music fades]
Outside of Brazil,
Tom became the greatest songwriter
for a decade or two.
That includes all of the songwriters
that were active at the time.
He became "le nec plus ultra",
in other words,
the most important and the most talented.
ELIS BEFORE
[reflective violin music]
When I came back to Brazil in late 1967 or early 1968,
Elis started traveling right after that.
[humming]
This is just a little samba Built upon a single note
Other notes Are bound to follow
But the root Is still that note
Now this new one Is the consequence
Of the one We've just been through
As I'm bound to be
The unavoidable consequence Of you
-[laid-back music] -[harmonizing]
To be broken again
But let someone
With a deep love to give
Deep love to give
Give that deep love to you
And what magic you'll see
And on the moon I am
Another sponsor astronaut
I'm late, I lose my love
Another Sensational announcement
Peace I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace Get out of me
Leave me in peace
Peace I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace Get out of me
Leave me in peace
Get off my foot That I can't take it anymore
Leave me in peace Get out of me
Leave me in peace
Leave me in peace
[music fades out]
[Jon] I think she's one of the great singers.
And she could do so much with her voice.
She could be a kitten, she could be a tiger.
She could be light, she could be tragic.
She was amazing.
Because he's too right When he complains
So we leave it Leave it, leave it
No one lives more than once
Leave it Say yes not to say maybe
But let it go Passion also exists
Let me, don't let me be sad
1969 SWEDEN
When I saw you first
The time was half-past three
When your eyes met mine
It was eternity
But now we know
The wave is on its way to me
Just catch the wave
Don't be afraid of loving me
[upbeat harmonica music]
Fundamental loneliness goes
Whenever two Can dream a dream together
[music fades]
Elis was...
destined
to be an international singer of the utmost importance.
The expectation for her to have
an international career was huge,
it was almost demanded of her.
Everyone knew she could be
one of the top five singers in the world if she tried.
She was perfect across the board.
She had swing, she was in tune, she knew how to use her voice,
she did everything right.
But I think she didn't want it.
She had a tumultuous past early in her career.
She had been markedly harassed. It was really difficult for her.
She had to fight hard for her accomplishments
and she didn't want to go down that road again.
She stopped...
this project.
She refused to do it.
And...
She had a lot of preconceived notions,
a lot of warped ideas,
and she couldn't see
the potential
of her career.
[Nelson] She wasn't fearful, she had no fear.
I think she really wanted it, badly.
Why would Elis want to stay in her own backyard?
In Brazil, as we know,
there's always been a discomfort
with regard to Brazilian artists who went abroad
and had any relationship with the Americans.
Tom Jobim sold his song to the famous soft drink
and he was almost crucified in his own country.
Of course, back in the 1970s,
having an international career was problematic.
There was no communication between countries,
things took months to get here.
You had to take very long flights to do a tour.
Everything was complicated.
It's very hard for an artist to leave
their comfort zone and start from scratch.
And at that point and time, as we have said before...
everything had to be Brazilian.
In 1981,
she finally decided to try for an international career.
She went to the US and stayed with Wayne Shorter,
an American jazz musician
who was supposed to record an album with her.
-[reflective music] -[Wayne] I knew,
when I heard her,
and I knew that
her voice needed to be
heard around the world.
I had not seen
in America,
or heard, in America,
or Europe, different places,
any a voice
that holds
that...
has the adventure,
excitement, and the depth,
the deep feeling,
such as Elis.
And when she went back to Brazil,
she said, "You must stay in my house."
So I went to Brazil,
and stayed in her house
for ten days,
in Barra da Tijuca,
and we decided
to do an album together.
And we went to a recording studio
one day.
Elis
and her ex,
they went upstairs,
in the studio upstairs,
and I stayed downstairs,
and then they had a disagreement.
They were disagreeing about something.
And the disagreement became
pretty intense.
And so we canceled
the recording session for that day.
We didn't record anything.
And the next day,
I was gonna go back to California.
[melancholic piano music continues]
I feel that
Elis is not finished.
It is not finished, what we have to do, together.
We will meet, Elis,
down the road,
down the strada,
and I will meet Elis, yes,
along the strada of life,
and we will complete, and continue,
what we were supposed to do.
[Elis] All of a sudden, you...
realize there's nothing left to be done.
It's too late.
I already know the steps Of this road
I know it won't do anything
Your secrets I know by heart
I already know The stones of the way
JANUARY 19, 1982
And I also know That there alone
I will be so much worse
What can I do Against the enchantment
Of this love That I deny so much
I avoid so much
And meanwhile Always returns to enchant
With the same sad old facts
That in a photo album
I persist to collect
I don't think it's too late
because I don't think it ends here.
We're here in passing,
we came here to improve ourselves.
That's why we're here, to spend some time
and do things.
[birds chirping]
To make a big contribution
for us and other people so that we can move on.
And have a better life because if this is all there is
it doesn't make sense, you know?
If that's all there is, it's pointless.
I don't believe that's all there is.
Anyway, it's sad to think
people only know we like them after they're gone.
I will collect One more sonnet
Another black And white portrait
Mistreating my heart
[Jon] Whether she would have been
a bigger international star, I don't know.
I do think she gave us so much,
you know, coming to a tragic end.
Before that she left,
she left behind a lot of great music,
including the incredible album with Jobim.
-[indistinct chatter] -[guitar playing]
Listen
It's raining On the rose bush
When I'm ready?
That only gives rose But doesn't smell
THE ENCOUNTER
[Andr] There was this one day at Phonogram.
We had a habit
of giving a gift
or doing something special for the artists
when they celebrated ten years in their career.
[Elis] I was very undecided
and I didn't really know what to do.
I received many offers.
And I didn't know what to do, nothing seemed just right.
That's when Roberto de Oliveira
suggested I should make an album with Tom.
And I thought it was a fabulous idea right away.
I remember sitting down with Roberto Menescal
and I said "What should we do?"
Neither of us had any idea.
Then I said "Let's call Roberto de Oliveira."
[Elis] Yeah Nobody knows but me
[R. de Oliveira] As soon as Andr invited me,
I thought about a duet.
I went back to So Paulo
and I remember flying on an Electra,
a plane that used to shake a lot.
But it had this neat little backroom,
where everyone used to smoke and drink and laugh.
It was me, Cesar and Elis. And I threw in Tom's name.
I felt he would be an ideal partner for that project.
In the early 1970s I produced the university circuit,
which was a Brazilian artists tour
in colleges, especially in the countryside.
Elis came to me to participate in the university circuit.
We did it, she got excited, and asked me to be her manager.
I said yes.
We had a challenge out of the gate,
which was enhancing her prestige,
especially because she sang in the Army Olympics.
[fanfare marching]
Elis didn't support the military dictatorship,
quite the contrary.
But she was on tour
doing three shows a day
and her manager was not on point.
She ended up doing a show that didn't serve her right.
The press, academics
and leftists were paying attention to it
because doing anything
to support the dictatorship was like a sin.
An artist couldn't support a government
that oppressed culture and persecuted people.
And she knew it.
We made it a point to tackle this problem
and re-brand her career
by partnering up with someone
that could lend some credibility.
He was very upset.
He was in Los Angeles.
He was complaining that Bossa Nova was over,
nobody played his songs on the radio anymore.
He was very bitter.
After a few days, he came over
and said "I have a great idea."
"Let's put Elis and Tom together."
He said "Is that all?"
I almost fainted because it was a great idea.
But to make it happen...
Elis didn't like Tom.
She kind of liked his music.
I'm sure Elis was not one of Tom's favorite singers.
I'm positive.
It was like Apollo and Dionysus. They were polar opposites.
She liked very exuberant performances.
And Tom Jobim was
Bossa Nova personified.
His piano playing sounds like he is just clicking beads.
He's very economical with it.
Just a couple notes.
He had a quote which I love.
He said he used more eraser than pencil.
She didn't feel it made sense to be minimalistic in music.
She didn't want to cut down on her strengths.
Bossa Nova, in her opinion,
she never really said it,
but it was for people who couldn't sing.
Simple melodies in harmony.
His complexity was in the harmony.
Tom's Bossa Nova background was the opposite to Elis'.
And Elis after the Fino da Bossa show.
It was Jair, samba, political songs
and everything was very flashy and out there.
Nobody sat down with a guitar.
You've heard it
Look at the trawler Entering the endless sea
Hey, my brother Bring Iemanj to me
Look at the trawler Entering the endless sea
Hey, my brother Bring Iemanj to me
is really an incredible person.
Even if I didn't like him
I would have to admit he is a wonderful person.
But that's not the case.
I introduced Elis to Tom
on a network television show.
I was talking to Tom and Elis walked by.
I said, "come here, let me introduce you to the maestro."
She goes, "Hey, how's it going? Anyway, Menescal..."
She dismissed him, just like that.
I thought, "How are we going to make an album?"
[Elis] I had met Tom roughly 18 months ago.
I mean on a personal level, like, saying "Hello"
and having a conversation.
He went to my place to play "guas de Maro".
Menescal came in first and said
Tom was coming with a new song for me to sing.
And then it turned into this whole thing.
A new song for me to sing
and Antonio Carlos Jobim was coming.
I said, "You open the door because I don't have the guts."
"I don't know what to do."
He goes, "Nonsense".
I said, "I can't do it" and sat there
on pins and needles. I didn't know what to do.
On Chega de Saudade, author Ruy Castro
says you didn't want Elis Regina
on the Pobre Menina Rica album
which you were supposed to direct
but it was Radames, correct?
You supposedly turned her down and even said,
"This gacha still smells like barbecue".
[all laughing]
A decade later you both recorded the most beautiful album,
which will celebrate 20 years next year.
And we know her perspective on the recording of this album.
She said a lot of things about it, as did Cesar Mariano.
What was your experience?
And is it true that you rejected her?
What was the experience of making that record?
That sounds so prejudiced.
[man] You do like barbecue, don't you? [chuckles]
I love barbecue. But you know what happens?
The creative press makes a lot of stuff up.
[all laughing]
They make up stuff we didn't say.
And he's a very coy person.
He joked to break the ice
and the initial awkwardness of that encounter.
He played the song like 70 times.
He used his glasses to read the lyrics which he didn't know.
He would put me up to sing the song and say,
"That's a great one! Not even Sinatra deserves it."
"Call me 'llis'."
It's not going to work just because you call me llis.
She didn't like Tom
because she was afraid that he would reject her.
The record company talked to Aloysio de Oliveira,
a Brazilian producer who lived in LA who was quite good.
He founded the Elenco record company.
He decided the record should be made in LA
because Tom lived there at the time.
[airplane engine revs]
[Elis] Yeah, it just Had to be with you
It had to be for you
If not then It was one more ache
Otherwise It wouldn't be love
The one we don't see
The love that came to give
What no one gave you
The love that came to give
What no one gave
Yeah You who are made of blue
Let me live in this blue
Let me find my peace
You, who are so beautiful
If only you could know
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
[laid-back music continues]
Yeah You who are made of blue
Let me live in this blue
Let me find my peace
You, who are too beautiful
If only you could know
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
[laid-back music continues]
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
[laid-back music continues]
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
-[laid-back music continues] -[inaudible]
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
[Joo] It's a lot of lightning striking at the same place.
From the sound engineer, Humberto Gatica,
that was his first job as a sound engineer.
Then he became
one of the most renowned sound engineers in the world.
He recorded everyone you can imagine.
Quincy Jones and so on.
That was his first gig.
[Elis] And you've always been Only mine
[Humberto] This record of the year is
you know, there's another way, [unintelligible] for Haiti,
you know, we did several times before.
That's Lionel Richie's xxx thank you.
And Quincy Jones write the most beautiful words
for me on the inside the number,
see, where it says 25?
-Uhuh. -That's Quincy.
I only have four, five Grammys.
This is, this is one of those, where I can't see-
That's Chi- that's my first Grammy I ever won.
That's Chicago.
Right.
Uh, and then...
we have another one from Michael Jackson.
But,
I have 17 Grammy.
I don't have it all here, it would look kinda si-
it would look ridiculous.
[laid-back music]
[R. de Oliveira] LA was buzzing in 1974
when we first landed to record the album.
One could see the buzz
which made California what it is today,
one of the most important hubs for technology,
culture, and democratic values.
That had a lot of influence in our work,
we came from a military dictatorship,
and arrived in a city
where everything was so free, modern, and open.
That impacted the record.
We could see the city's influence on the studio.
The chords and all the songs with Elis' voice.
Los Angeles had an underlying influence.
[Humberto] MGM Recording Studio was a very, sort of a,
unique place.
The music that was done
at the time,
at MGM Recording Studio,
it was kinda like big band,
jazz.
And we have Ella Fitzgerald,
Dizzy Gillespie,
Oscar Peterson,
Ray Brown,
Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
those were the genius street jazz, as they call them.
The MGM studio was closed for vacation.
[chuckles] We got in thanks to the receptionist
who was there and did us a solid.
And Humberto Gatica was available,
he was the studio assistant.
[jazz music]
[Humberto] When the producer of this project
uh, approached the studio manager,
that will be interested in using the facilities,
and they realized that he had an accent
and he speak perfect English and also perfect Portuguese,
they knew I speak Spanish,
so somehow they figured out I would be the closest,
and it will be a positive thing.
Is this the part of the rose garden?
[Elis] This recording session turned into a party, huh?
-It's a Brazilian mess. -[indistinct chatter]
[Tom] It's a good recording session.
-Where's the assistant? -[indistinct chatter]
It's like a bar
with smelly snacks which stink up your clothes.
You buy one and you're done.
[Elis in Spanish] Roberto!
[in Spanish] What's up?
[in Spanish] "Raining on the rosebush."
[in Spanish] How do you say it?
[Elis in Spanish] Raining on the rosebush.
[Tom] It's raining on the rosebush. Bush. Bush.
[indistinct chatter and laughing]
[Tom] The rosebush. Bush.
[indistinct chatter]
It's raining on the rosebush.
[laid-back guitar music starts]
[Humberto] I played for Celine Dion one time.
She was very touched.
And the first thing that she said to me,
the first thing that Celine says to me,
that she was touched by the emotions.
[Cesar] That had a huge impact all over the globe.
Japan, Africa,
Yugoslavia, Russia,
United States, Canada.
Everyone talks about this record and has a copy.
[Ron] She's got a really delicate voice,
kinda like the person of a Blossom Dearie,
if you know her name.
Great singer, great pianist.
I don't know she plays piano,
but she's got a nice comfortable voice.
[Joo] Artists like Madonna, for example.
Bob Dylan gave an interview about it once,
which fascinated me.
Also, Dianne Reeves,
Diana Krall.
Even Bjrk,
who wanted to meet me when she came to Brazil.
She said, "My God,
how could your mother go to the places she went?"
"I don't have the emotional courage to go there
because I don't think I would make it back."
[Elis] It's a footstep It's a bridge
[Tom] It's a toad It's a frog
Artists like Celine, artists like...
Elis, artists like Edith Piaf,
artists like Barbra Streisand,
they can really feel.
-[Elis] A stick -[Tom] A stone
It was my first solo project as an engineer, and mixer.
And I would say
that I was blessed
to be part of this incredible
and historical recording.
I had no idea that this music,
this record was gonna be such a historical legendary...
-[music keeps playing] -[Elis and Tom vocalizing]
-[music ends] -[Elis laughing]
The fact Pedro Almodvar chose "Por Toda Minha Vida"
as the soundtrack
to one of the most beautiful movie scenes ever made
propelled the song around the world.
[Elis] Oh! My beloved
TALK TO HER (2002) FROM PEDRO ALMODVAR
Pure risen star
I love you
And I proclaim you
My love
My love
Bigger than all there is
[violins playing]
[Cesar] I think, at this point, it's worthwhile
to tell a story that has never been told.
Elis and Tom's album has very powerful stories
that apparently went unnoticed and unseen.
They weren't supposed to see it.
But they're very powerful, at least for me.
I was really young at the time, I was sixteen.
I don't remember too much.
I just heard the comments around the house
and I knew there was some tension.
I asked my mom about this Elis and Tom thing
and how come...
the initial mood was so tense.
[Cesar] We came out of the plane and went to his apartment
on Sunset Boulevard.
At 8 a.m. he was up and waiting for us.
I thought there was good energy in the air.
And she told me Elis came by.
But nobody told my dad
that Elis would come with the pianist and the arranger.
He sat down and asked Aloysio, "Who will do the arrangements?"
He sat down on that day,
"Good morning, glad that you're here.
Aloysio, who'll do the arrangements?"
He looked uncomfortable and said "He will, Cesar."
He turned to me and said, "You?"
His idea of him being on a record
was about getting involved in the whole musical production,
not just sing a few tracks.
He wanted it to be his record and, for this much,
he wanted to play the piano and do the arrangements.
But it was her record, you know?
Tom Jobim was a special guest.
We were paying tribute to him as a composer and songwriter
with the tracks we wanted to record with him.
Since his early career at EMI,
at Odeon,
he was the arranger.
He decided everything from the musical composition
all the way to the arrangement.
He was the guy that was in control of the situation.
"You and your puny Brazilian notes
compared to this pencil and paper
and US musicians and studios?"
"No, you're not. Call Claus Ogerman."
Those were his first words to me.
-[loud chatter] -Do you know what he told Cesar?
"You don't know American nomenclature,
you have no experience to compose."
"You're a 27 year-old kid. We need a grown man."
"We better call Claus Ogerman because he knows better."
"Or Dave."
And Cesar was intimidated.
That's ridiculous.
[man] You can't say that.
[Helio] Ridiculous!
-[music playing] -[loud indistinct chatter]
Peace
I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace
Get out of me
Leave me in peace
I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace
Get out of me
Leave me in peace
I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace
Get out of me
Leave me in peace
Leave me in peace
I was unsure during the recording process.
I called her every morning
and said, "Hey, Elis." She said, "Hey, what?"
[laughs]
"How did the session go?"
"Terrible. I don't know what he thinks."
"Calm down, Elis. Let's talk about the rest of the trip."
She was accepting it up to a certain point.
But at one point she had enough and wanted to get out of there.
[Cesar] Elis would come to the hotel
and she was desperate.
"That's not going to work!"
"That guy is crazy! I can't talk to him."
"I can't get anything out of him
and I can't contribute to anything!
It's too hard!"
-[reflective music] -[distorted voice]
[R. de Oliveira] Elis called me on a Sunday night
saying she was coming back.
She said she was leaving, the mood was terrible,
and she didn't agree with the arrangements.
I took the next flight and arrived in LA the next day.
And her bags were packed, she was really ready to leave.
[reflective music]
[distant indistinct chatter]
Imagine you were there.
I was feeling so anxious. It was a good idea,
but it didn't mean it would come through.
And I was able to talk with her and she listened to me,
we had worked together on many projects.
The relationship became very strained
because of the arrangements,
it took 18 days to compose them.
Cesar and Tom were at odds with each other
and Elis became very tense.
She was biting all her nails.
She got very tense and a little cross-eyed.
-[coughing] -[indistinct chatter]
[Tom] Because of those words?
[Elis] I'll lay the vocals again,
if you'll allow me.
It's looking good now.
Why do you want to change it? Is it the lyrics?
-It is. -Never mind the lyrics.
They're great.
But I would rather do my own.
Things would come in. "What's this?"
I said, "It's the bass amplifier."
He said, "The bass amplifier?"
"A guitar amplifier?"
"Don't you have an acoustic bass?"
"Not here." I didn't know what to tell him.
"What's this?" "It's the electric piano."
"How are you going to use that?"
I said, "I'll use both
the electric and the wooden one."
"Aloysio!
He said that's a wooden piano.
That wonderful musical instrument."
[chuckling]
It was hilarious.
It's funny now that I'm telling it,
but at the time it was like a knife through my chest.
[Elis] I want to hear it calmly.
[Tom] What does Cesar's organ sound like?
-I'll put it now. -[inaudible whispering]
-What's Cesar's organ like? -[all laughing]
I gave him an answer but I guess he didn't hear it.
I know, I know.
What does Cesar's electric piano sound like?
[all laughing]
Got to include an errata.
Listen.
[all laughing]
-What do you want to know now? -The RMI Electra-piano.
-What's it like? -What's the RMI like?
What does it sound like?
It sounds bad, we'll do it again.
It does sound "sharp".
It sounds what? "Sharp?"
Let's do this thing.
Shall we?
"Mariano, what's your compass?
Have you done that introduction?"
"Careful with the flutes."
The phone was ringing off the hook.
Spring...
She doesn't do that. Play this.
[playing piano]
Look...
He stopped what I was doing and said,
"How many fingers do you have on each hand?
You have ten."
I thought he was about to pay me a compliment.
I was like, "That's cool". He goes, "That's not cool.
Don't you believe in three-note chords?"
"Guitar chords have three or four notes max."
"Don't you believe in that?"
This one day, Cesar was playing a song,
and he came in from the back and did this.
Looking at Cesar.
As alcohol goes in, the tempo goes on faster.
Then she goes "You, me, us both".
"Here in this bar with dimming lights."
We can get to B.
Elis?
[indistinct chatter]
Elis!
[Cesar] That's okay.
That's okay.
He must be just as concerned as we are.
Okay.
Let's turn that into something.
Again, that's okay.
But it wasn't okay because it endured.
So it was really terrible and difficult for me.
At the same time, I would turn the camera that way
and find this god in front of me.
That wonderful and fantastic artist.
His mind was incredible
and he would say incredible things.
I loved him.
Then I turned the camera this way
and there was an enormous problem.
He would do the chords and say, "Mariano knows his stuff."
"Look at this chord."
But he was commenting on the guy's song.
Nobody can do the harmonies to his own song better than him.
Either he would adapt, which he did,
or he would go back to Brazil.
He wasn't indispensable.
Tom and Elis were indispensable.
So you're dominating, right, Cesar?
-Everything is under control. -It's "C", so it's easy.
-[Elis] What a dick. -Come on.
[Paulo] What did Tom want?
Cesar couldn't deviate too much from his song.
It's his song,
if you want to replace the chords,
it better be fucking great.
And I think he gave Cesar a lot of leeway.
[Helio] He would watch it and be quiet,
just like the electric guitar thing.
After he heard "Triste", he came around.
He didn't have to, but he did.
"When I heard there was an electric guitar,
I wanted to stop that plane." He was a piece of work.
[chuckles]
"But now I've heard it, I like it." It was all good.
[R. de Oliveira] Tom had never been a conservative musician.
Quite the contrary, he'd always been modern.
He looked ahead.
He preferred a more acoustic sound at that moment,
due to the repertoire they chose.
SEPARATION SONNEAs a matter of fact, in the legendary Stone Flower,
recorded in the US,
he played the Fender Rhodes electric piano,
it wasn't new for him.
He was very thorough
and didn't accept anything less than what he expected
or what he had planned out for that particular project.
I didn't bump heads with him.
I would stick with him,
talk about Capybaras and Minas Gerais.
There's a very funny story.
We were doing the fade out for a song.
I said, "Tom, how should we end?"
He goes, "Paulo, imagine you're in a car
driving into a sugarcane field.
You get out of the car while it's still on
and disappear into the sugarcane field."
I said I got it, I understood the expression.
The initial idea was to make an Elis record featuring Tom.
But it's impossible to record with Tom
and not have him completely take over.
Cesar and Elis quickly realized
Tom was getting more involved in the project.
And they were very accepting of it.
Then everything turned out well.
[Elis] Because You came to me
Without telling me You were coming
And your hands Were mine calmly
[Tom] Calmly
Because you were in my soul
Like a dawn
Cause you were What you had to be
-[music ends] -[shouting]
I want to die during carnival!
[shouting]
I want to die.
Elis Regina, the Portuguese language is still on.
"The Portuguese language,
filled with S's and R's that make me husk",
as Caetano Veloso said.
I'm going and I'm not coming back.
That's right, my dear.
-Let's do it. -Let's go.
[Tom] Listen, I want to grab that guy
who's cutting wood on the other side of the river.
Joo, aren't you coming to have lunch?
Then, you introduce it.
[Elis and Tom harmonizing]
My life is a...
-My life was taken... -No.
My life is a small island
And...
"It's a very distant island."
"Surrounded by joy."
"My life is a distant island floating in the ocean."
"Our life adventure."
"Our ocean of life,
our life adventure", something like that.
Sky and sea Stars in the sand
I don't know that scale.
Green sea, mirror of the sky
My life, I'm passing by
My love, I'm going to love
And my boat will take you To sky and sea
Generally What we want in life
You have to wait for it To happen
[Tom vocalizing]
Fortunately We find happiness
In the affection And devotion of a loved one
[humming]
Sky and sea
Stars in the sand
Green sea, mirror of the sky
My life, I'm passing by
My love, I'm going to love
And my boat will take you To sky and sea
Tom.
Generally What we want in life
You have to wait for it To happen
[clears throat]
Fortunately We find happiness
In the affection And devotion of a loved one
Sky and sea
[laughing]
Stars in the sand
[laughing]
Green sea, mirror of the sky
Mirror of the sky
My life, I'm passing by
My love, I'm going to love
And my boat will take you To sky and sea
Did it all start with this guy?
[Tom] This guy is great, Johnny Alf is beautiful.
[Elis] I didn't know. I mean, I heard the rumors.
Word on the street.
[Cesar] I saw him walk on the beach
near Atlntica Avenue.
[Tom] Donato, Joo Gilberto,
Johnny Alf and me.
-[Elis laughing] What a gang. -What a gang.
Suddenly From laughter tears came
Silent and white as the mist
And from the joined mouths Foam was made
And from The outstretched hands
There was amazement
Suddenly from calm came wind
That from the eyes undid
The last flame
And from passion Came presentiment
And from the still moment
The drama was made
Suddenly
Nothing more than suddenly
What made him sad
Made him a lover
And loneliness Left him content
He became the close friend From being distant
His life became A wandering adventure
Suddenly
Nothing more than suddenly
[piano music ends]
When he felt Cesar Camargo Mariano knew his stuff
and Luiz Maia was the best bass player we could have
and Paulo Braga, according to Jobim,
elevated drums as a musical instrument...
And there was another genius called Helio Delmiro.
He heard all of that and he was from the business.
He said, "Wait, something is working out here."
[upbeat jazz music]
1979 MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL
[imitating bass]
That was my right hand.
[imitating bass]
Since you're here Half of you, but you're here
You better watch out
Don't drop the ball
Helio is a genius with the guitar.
[imitating bass]
[Helio] Paulo would play the drums in such a unique way.
He had a way of playing the bass drum.
He played it harder in the first tempo
of each measure.
[imitating bass]
It was opposite.
He played it low.
Then Luiz and I started playing
like a second or a third bass drum.
[imitating drums]
[Elis harmonizing]
And that comes from the samba-school.
[imitating drums]
That's the response.
Meanwhile, the samba is going on.
Luiz was about that.
[imitating drums]
[imitating instruments]
[imitating bass]
Since you're here
[imitating instruments]
You better watch out Don't drop the ball
Don't let it slip
[Elis] Luiz is first and foremost a good person.
Besides being a good guy, he plays fat in such a good way,
just like he is.
And I love it.
In my opinion, and who am I to say,
I think he is the best in the country.
[Paulo] It was like a machine.
Elis used to say,
"After we play, everyone seems old-fashioned."
Besides being young, everyone was 27 or less,
they thought we were great. And maybe we were.
I think now it is
It became an eternal milestone in Brazilian music.
I think now it is
It was fantastic and everyone was fantastic.
It was fantastic to have Cesar Camargo.
He wasn't that friendly during the recording session.
[chuckles]
But it's essential to recognize his importance as a musician.
[R. de Oliveira] Cesar pulled it off.
He knew to respect
some of Tom's well-known and traditional arrangements.
He maintained their original sound and style.
He also was able to successfully introduce
the electric guitar and the Fender piano
into a Brazilian piece of music.
He also had an important personal contribution,
which is a modern samba beat
that he did so well and it was his hallmark.
He didn't like the fact Elis kind of wanted to date Tom.
But that's part of the creative process.
[laid-back jazz music]
[Paulo] Tom would hug her and it was love all around.
But it's a different love that's hard to understand.
It's another kind of love.
It's that musical love
which transcends, it might be the purest love in the world.
[Helioo] Music is about surrender,
it's just like love.
That's how music is supposed to be.
It's what creates the groove and sync.
That from the eyes undid
The last flame
[Elis laughing]
Go, Cesar!
Wonderful.
So beautiful!
And from the frozen moment
The drama was created
Suddenly
Nothing more than suddenly
What made him sad
Made him a lover
And loneliness Left him content
-Left him content. -Yes.
He became distant From being a close friend
Life became A wandering adventure
[indistinct chatter]
Suddenly Nothing more than suddenly
[music intensifies]
[piano music ends]
[all cheering]
From then on, they were on their way to producing
a masterpiece.
Listen
The rain is falling On the rosebush
That only blooms But has no perfume
The freshness of wet drops
Which is from Lusa Which is from Paulinho
Which is from Joo
Which is from nobody
Rose petals carried By the wind
What a scale, huh?
A love so pure carried...
That's why I didn't record this song.
You've outsourced it.
-Listen... -It's for pros only.
A sparrow lives next door
And raining and it's wet
-"Walking in the wetness." -I know!
He's come to tell us It is spring
Look at the double rainbow
That comes To water my rosebush
Good rain, fecund
That soaks the earth That swells the streams
That cleans the sky
And brings the blue
[Tom] Cesar.
What a beautiful fucking song.
This song is beautiful, isn't it?
-You think so? -Yes.
The world used to be nice when there were trees and birds.
[Elis laughing]
That is ecology.
Pure ecology.
[Elis laughing]
Elis.
Listen
See how the jasmine tree Is all in flower
The little sweet brook
Joins with a river Of calm waters
And the cattle make Their watering hole
The cattle do this?
If you want to. But it's crazy, they might censor it.
No they won't. What's wrong with cattle?
Tom used to sit down with her all the time in the studio.
She started saying a lot of stuff
and he would come in and sit.
He loved her.
He said, "Nobody sings like Elis."
He would sit down nonchalantly at his piano.
But he had a smooth style.
He could sit down at any piano and make that sound.
And when she sang with him it sounded like she was calmer.
[Elis laughing]
-[Cesar] Blah, blah, blah. -[Elis] Blah, blah, blah.
Let's sing, I don't like talking.
What do you want to sing?
What is your full name? What are you going to sing?
[both laughing]
-What's your full name? -Do you work or go to school?
[giggling]
-I work a lot. -I'll tell you a little joke.
Ary Barroso hosted an amateur singing show.
He used to make it a point to name composers.
In Brazil we usually say,
"That's Angela Maria, that's Nelson Gonalves."
[Elis laughing]
Ary Barroso was trying to get people
to say the composers' names.
So this woman came to sing.
"I'll sing 'If Everyone Were Just Like You'."
Ary goes,
"If..."
"Who are the composers?"
She goes, "Vinicius de Moraes."
Barroso goes, "What about Tom?" She goes, "A-major."
[all laughing]
True story.
I didn't make this up.
She thought he had said "What's the tone?"
"Vinicius de Moraes. What about Tom?"
"A-major."
A meeting of two artists on that level of talent
and being that she was so sensitive,
this absolutely transformed her.
I imagine she felt really challenged
in the most positive sense of the word.
She probably fine tuned her singing.
She was like a hurricane
with her style opposite to Bossa Nova.
Then, she matured.
I used to talk a lot to Luiz
and I said, "She's singing differently, she's expanding."
Sometimes she sang two or more harmonies.
Tom used to do that a lot.
It's like being on the other side of a river.
She sang two additional harmonies.
From then on we recorded different stuff with her.
And many things
in her repertoire
had harmonies that were more Jobim-like.
On the day...
-Speaking of which. -Wait a second.
Sing it on your tone, I don't know this song.
On the day
I appeared in the world
There gathered a group
Of vagabonds from a party
At night, there was Moon and drumming
That ended in the wee hours
With a crescendo of rhythm
After my baptism of fire
I drank a liter and a half Of cachaa
I was worn out
And slept like a stone
Lying on the mat
At the foundlings' door
I grew up looking at life Without malice
Until a police corporal
Awakened my heart
And I was very good to him
But he left me On the street with nothing
Despised like a dog
And today I'm the same As life goes on
And I would do anything
For a plate of food
I will get More and more twisted
I will always Be singing sambas
In the rhythm of life
[Tom vocalizing]
[Elis laughing]
[Elis] Sounds like that's rehearsed.
Take four, piano Modinha.
[dramatic violin music starts]
No
My heart can no longer
Live like this, torn apart
Enslaved to an illusion
which is just disappointment
Life isn't always like this
Like desperate moonlight
Filling me with melancholy
With inconsolable poetry
Go, sad song, leave my chest
And sow the feeling
That cries inside my heart
Heart
[music ends]
After she finished the album,
I think she became more concise, precise,
and more efficient as a singer.
Like Pel in the soccer field.
He was so good you couldn't even comprehend it.
He would dribble an opponent two meters in advance.
Unfortunately the music today,
it doesn't allow to really do much of an art, it's just...
everything in your face, and compression, and bang!
[soft reflective jazz music]
But...
it doesn't last.
You know?
It deteriorates, it disintegrates.
It will have any future, is today, you know?
Artistic creation today is much more
focused on new technologies
than new lines of thought.
This record?
Forty-five years, some later.
Forty-five years some later.
Some of the musicians
they went to heaven already, they're not around.
They're gone.
But look what they left.
They left
something beautiful, for generations to come.
Everything about her, her tone, her performing,
her musicality and rhythm.
She was so musically gifted.
The other day I was reading an Elis Regina interview.
And she said
the thing she liked the most in life was
"Singing and singing."
Oh well It is said and redacted
To be unsaid
It's hard to say That it is still beautiful
To sing what is left of you
So, our better than perfect
Is undone
And what felt so right
Fell just like that Without forgiveness
So, I cannot hide My pain anymore
And say That we are good friends
It's too much Of a lie for me
So anyway
Today in solitude I still find hard
To understand how love
Was so unfair
To whom only gave to him Dedication
Yeah... So...
[music ends]
[Cesar] "For All My Life", just the instruments.
[Tom] Can we play it?
[beep]
She told me she was terrified of physically decaying.
Yes.
She didn't want to grow older in front of her audience.
-Did that play a role? -Of course.
[soft reflective violin music]
I personally think that Elis was a total slave
to her talent
and professional and artistic power.
You're right in the sense
that Elis sort of froze when she was on top.
Elis never had time to get into a process
I saw many of my idols go into,
which is the process of artistic decaying.
[soft dramatic violin music continues]
She killed herself, she cut her career short.
And...
And she did so
in a conscious and determined manner.
An artist's strength is their complexity.
If an artist is not complex, they're not a real artist.
[R. Menescal] Which bromeliad reminds you of Elis?
That's her right there.
It's an Ananas, actually. Pineapple is a bromeliad.
And it has many spikes,
just like Elis had. [laughing]
At the same time, it's astonishing.
I mean, you see the spikes all of the sudden
turning into color and beauty.
It's a red pineapple,
not like the ones you see at the farmers' markets.
I think it looks just like Elis.
Tom would be a different one.
I'll show you his bromeliad, it's right there.
I've done the research on this plant.
It's one of a kind.
It's unique,
I'm terrified that an animal or a pest will ruin it.
But it's one of a kind.
It'll bloom this year for the first time.
This one popped up
and nobody understood it, everyone has the green one.
I think Tom Jobim is one of a kind as well.
So this plant is unique.
And I'll call it Tom Jobim.
Maybe that was him just now, who knows?
[birds chirping]
[soft reflective violin music]
Oh, my beloved
I want to make you An oath, a song
I promise...
[R. de Oliveira] The experience
she had with Tom recording this album
and diving into Tom's minimalism rose Elis to perfection.
It was the peak of her career.
And love you Like never before
No one ever loved
No one
Oh, my beloved
Pure risen star
From then on, she had no more battles to wage.
She could shed the angst which had weighed so heavily on her,
which she carried for a such long time
and that brought so much suffering.
My love
She could finally rest.
My love
Bigger than everything That exist
Oh, my beloved
[audience cheering and applauding]
[cheering fades out]
ELIS & TOM
FROM IPANEMA/RIO TO L.A. WITH THE BOSSA NOVA'S MASTER
A stick, a stone It's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump It's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass It is life, it's the Sun
It is night, it is death It's a trap, it's a gun
-It is Peroba of the field -It is the knot of the wood
-Caing, candeia -Is the Matita Pereira
-The wood of the wind -Tumbling of the ribanceira
-It is the deep mystery -It is the want or not want
It's the wind blowing free
It's the end of the slope
It's the beam, it's the vain Party of the ridge
It's the rain raining
And the river bank Talks of the waters of March
It's the end of the strain
The foot, the ground
It's the treadmill
Bird in hand
A slingshot's stone
It's a bird in the sky
It's a bird on the ground
It's a stream It's a fountain
It's a piece of bread
It's the bottom of the pit The end of the line
On the face the disgust It is a little alone
-It's a strepe -It's a nail
-It's a tip -It's a point
-It's a dripping drizzle -It's an account
-It's a tale -It's a tale
-It's a fish, it's a gesture -It's a shining silver
-It's the morning light -It's the brick coming
It's the firewood It's the day
It's the end of the trail
It's the cane bottle The shrapnel on the road
The plan of the house The body in bed
And the car that got stuck It's the mud, it's the mud
-It's a footstep -It's a bridge
-It's a fountain -It's a frog
-It's the rest -Of the woods
-In the morning -Glow
And the river bank Talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
[laid-back music continues]
A snake, a stick
-[Tom] It is John -[Elis] It is Joe
-[Tom] It's a thorn -[Elis] In your hand
-[Tom] And a cut -[Elis] In your toe
And the riverbank talks Of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
-[Tom] A stick -[Elis] A stone
-[Tom] It's the end -[Elis] Of the road
-[Tom] It's the rest -[Elis] Of a stump
-[Tom] It's a little -[Elis] Alone
[Elis] It's a footstep It's a bridge
[Tom] It's a fountain It's a frog
[Elis] It's A beautiful horizon
[Tom] Intermittent fever
[both] And the riverbank Talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
-[Elis] ...tick -[Tom] ...tone
-[Elis] ...nd -[Tom] ...oad
-[Elis] ...tump ...est -[Tom] ...ittle ...lone
-[Elis] ...ard ...lass -[Tom] ...ife ...un
-[Elis] ...ight ...eath -[Tom] ...ie ...ook
[both] And the riverbank Talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
[both vocalizing]
one of the founding fathers of Bossa Nova,
and Brazil's most popular singer at the time, Elis Regina,
got together to record an album in Los Angeles.
Nobody could imagine that this unlikely meeting,
filled with conflict, emotion and beauty,
would be such a pivotal moment in Brazilian music history.
The images of this recording,
filmed at the time in 16mm and now restored in 4K,
are remembered here, almost 50 years later.
Dedicated to Andr Midani
[Elis] I say "It's the foot". You say "It's the ground".
[Tom] Cesar needs to capture our voices.
[Elis] It's the foot It's the ground
[Tom] No, honey.
It's the foot It's the ground
Look here, Elis.
It's the foot It's the ground
Then we start playing with it.
[Elis] But I said "It's the foot, it's the ground"
and you spoke with me.
[Tom] But I can't, it was my mistake.
You go "The foot, the ground". I go "It's the road march."
- [Elis] Bird in your hand -[Tom] A slingshot's stone
[Elis] Okay.
[Tom] I want Elis to let loose and myself too.
If I mess up we'll just delete it.
[Elis] Okay.
[Tom] I don't want to be as stuck as Tom Jobim, you know?
[Elis] Okay.
[Tom] I want to do it in a more intimate way,
just like Aloysio said.
- [Elis] Again? -[Tom] Again, again.
We're getting warmed up.
Look at that, this one is cool.
-Right, my friend? -[Elis] It's turning out nice.
[Tom] Did I mess up?
[Helio] Don't stop if you mess up.
ELIS & TOM
FROM IPANEMA/RIO TO L.A. WITH THE BOSSA NOVA'S MASTER
[man] One, two, three.
A stick, a stone It's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump It's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass It is life, it's the Sun
It is night, it is death It's a trap, it's a gun
-The oak when it blooms -A fox in the brush
-A knot in the wood -The song of a thrush
-The wood of the wind -A cliff, a fall
-A scratch, a lump -It is nothing at all
[Elis] It's the wind Blowing free
It's the end of the slope
It's a beam, it's a void It's a hunch, it's a hope
[Tom] And the river bank Talks of the waters of March
It's the end of the strain The joy in your heart
[Elis] The foot, the ground
[Tom] The flesh And the bone
[Elis] The beat of the road
[Tom] A slingshot's stone
[Elis] It's a bird In the sky
[Tom] It's a bird On the ground
[Elis] It's a stream It's a fountain
[Tom] It's a piece of bread
[Elis] The bed of the well The end of the line
[Jon] Elis & Tom, it's a gem.
It's a crystalline diamond,
floating in the beauty of
the brightest outer space.
It's crystalline, it's perfect.
Every breath on that album,
every little tinkling piano note
is in the right place.
It's the firewood It's the day
It's the end of the trail
It's the bottom of the well It's the end of the trail
[Tom] The plan of the house The body in bed
And the car that got stuck It's the mud, it's the mud
-[Elis] It's a footstep -[Tom] It's a bridge
-[Elis] It's a fountain -[Tom] It's a frog
-[Elis] It's the rest -[Tom] Of the woods
-[Elis] In the morning -[Tom] Glow
[both] And the river bank Talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
[instrumental music keeps playing]
A snake, a stick
-It is John -It is Joe
-[Tom] It's a thorn -[Elis] In your hand
-[Tom] And a cut -[Elis] In your toe
And the riverbank talks Of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
-[Tom] A stick -[Elis] A stone
-[Tom] It's the end -[Elis] Of the road
-[Tom] It's the rest -[Elis] Of a stump
-[Tom] It's a little -[Elis] Alone
There's nothing missing in it. I think it's the perfect album.
[Elis] It's A beautiful horizon
[Tom] Intermittent fever
And the riverbank talks Of the waters of March
It's the end of all strain
All that was missing was you telling this story.
I still don't know why you held on to it for 40 or 50 years.
[Tom and Elis keep singing in the background]
Tom and Elis' album has very powerful stories,
which apparently went unnoticed.
[Joo] Just like Kubrick's Napoleon,
the greatest movie never made...
it almost became history's greatest record never made.
[music ends]
[laughing and cheering]
Did you see that? Elis was on B-flat after the keyboard.
How does it sound?
[whistling]
I don't know.
Show us.
Put this one, would you? You can do it now.
[in English] Would you...?
[in English] Sir, play it again?
[Elis keeps whistling]
[sound fades out]
[traffic hustle]
Lives In the suburb of Encantado
An abandoned shed
John Doe, a known fella
They say he lived Outside the law
He was a king That mocked death
And had a strong saint
In the middle Of the hooligans
His pleasure Was to play a samba
He jumped, kicked
He was up For a fight all the time
But today he is an old shard That is not worth anything
He has a white head And wrinkled skin
It's even sad To see his state
Poor guy
This is life
It's an instant That passes quickly
We all have our moment
And after it Only forgetfulness
It lives
[exhales sharply]
[Cesar] Is this an Ary song?
Ary Barroso.
-[Elis] Do you like Ary Barroso? -I love him.
[Elis laughing]
[Elis] You like Villa-Lobos as well, right?
I really like Villa-Lobos and Ary Barroso.
They are my two sacred titans.
-[Elis] Pixinguinha. -And Pixinguinha.
These are the people I copy from.
You can only copy from those you love.
[Elis giggles]
It's a Stravinsky quote.
You can only copy those you love,
you don't copy those you don't love.
[waves crashing]
[Andr] As time went past,
the two of them
were sort of hounding us, if we can call it that.
There's no question that Tom and Elis' record
was a watershed between what existed before
and after it.
TOM BEFORE
Bossa nova is hard to describe, but perfectly identifiable.
Other notes Are bound to follow
But the root Is still that note
Now this new one Is the consequence
Of the one We've just been through
As I'm bound to be
The unavoidable Consequence of you
Dizzy Gillespie,
Charlie Byrd,
and another guy came over here.
They told Ertegun, among others,
"Look at that music these guys are making.
It's spectacular!"
[narrator of clip] One of the heroes of the new wave
is Antonio Carlos Jobim,
who wrote Desafinado,
the bossa nova theme song.
In New York, he paid a visit to one of his heroes,
progressive jazz musician Gerry Mulligan.
And the first ones to adopt it
were the American jazz musicians.
Consequently, one cannot say
that this music was big in Brazil first.
It first became a hit abroad.
You mean the rhythm section?
[Mulligan] Hm.
[upbeat piano and clarinet music]
[music ends]
-Yes. -Yes.
I do that except, I do that phase backwards,
because, uh, it's very difficult phrasing that last thing.
Yes, I know.
[upbeat piano and clarinet music]
-[vocalizing] -[music continues]
[Ron] I saw xxx, Masason Tom, as I like to call him,
were kinda interesting.
When I met him, he spoke almost no English,
and I spoke exactly no Portuguese, so...
But he's able to tell me that he trusted my judgment,
and, uh, he hoped I'd find the notes and rhythms
to make his music have a life.
I explained to Mr Jobim, He said, "No, call me Tom.
Call me Tom."
Uh, "I'm sure I give you what I have,
and I think we'll find some nice notes
available to both of us."
We recorded three albums,
Wave,
uh, Stone Flower, and Tide,
with some wonderful arrangements.
And as it turns out,
those arrangements are kinda
how people see and hear the songs.
Great writer.
Interesting piano play.
He played some nice changes and right rhythms for the music.
As a guitar player, he plays pretty good, too, so,
he's just a casual genius.
I love him.
[laid back music continues]
[Jon] I would just say Tom Jobim
is one of the great musicians in the history of the world.
Not just Brazil, but everywhere.
He's got an incredibly sophisticated sense of harmony.
He's got
melodies that ride that harmony
and make it sound completely natural.
Uh, you go back, and you look at his song,
and you look how it's constructed
and you think, this is amazing.
And then you hear somebody singing,
and it's just like, completely natural.
So I just think he's a world-class musician,
up there with anybody in Brazil,
up there with anybody on this planet earth.
[music ends]
Tom was never well received in Brazil.
He did have some hits in Brazil.
But it wasn't like...
He wasn't deeply appreciated by the people.
I think people were shocked
with Tom Jobim's modern style at the time.
RIO DE JANEIRO BOTANICAL GARDEN
[Beth] My dad had
a lot of very important encounters throughout his life.
From meeting Koellreuter at such a young age
to having a partnership with Newton Mendona.
He also met Ary Barroso, who had a big influence on him.
Radams Gnattali.
He met Claus Ogerman.
He met Frank Sinatra
and it transformed his music's reach.
[Jon] I think Frank Sinatra chose to work with Jobim
because he recognized
the incredible level of craftsmanship,
he admired it.
Sinatra was a total perfectionist.
He connects Jobim's elegance and sophistication
to Irving Berlin,
where, in my generation,
I connect Jobim's elegance and sophistication
to the Beatles and Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder, too.
Sinatra chose to work with Jobim out of respect,
because they're beautiful songs,
because they're probably really fun to sing,
and [chuckling]
he just admired the craftsmanship,
and he thought he could add something to it.
He thought he could make an American
and Brazilian bridge.
[laid-back guitar music]
The instrument, guitar.
The beat, bossa nova.
The artist,
one of the inventors of this exciting all-new sound,
Antonio Carlos Jobim.
[applause]
-[vocalizing] -[gentle guitar music]
[vocalizing continues]
[laid-back music]
Must you dance every dance
Sinatra, for the first time in his career,
decided to record with a songwriter.
Who was that song writer? Mr. Tom Jobim.
Tall and tan And young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema Goes walking
And when she passes
Each one she passes goes, ah
[singing in Portuguese]
Yes, the only way.
[singing in Portuguese]
[music continues]
Oh, but I watch her so sadly
[singing in Portuguese]
[music fades]
Outside of Brazil,
Tom became the greatest songwriter
for a decade or two.
That includes all of the songwriters
that were active at the time.
He became "le nec plus ultra",
in other words,
the most important and the most talented.
ELIS BEFORE
[reflective violin music]
When I came back to Brazil in late 1967 or early 1968,
Elis started traveling right after that.
[humming]
This is just a little samba Built upon a single note
Other notes Are bound to follow
But the root Is still that note
Now this new one Is the consequence
Of the one We've just been through
As I'm bound to be
The unavoidable consequence Of you
-[laid-back music] -[harmonizing]
To be broken again
But let someone
With a deep love to give
Deep love to give
Give that deep love to you
And what magic you'll see
And on the moon I am
Another sponsor astronaut
I'm late, I lose my love
Another Sensational announcement
Peace I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace Get out of me
Leave me in peace
Peace I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace Get out of me
Leave me in peace
Get off my foot That I can't take it anymore
Leave me in peace Get out of me
Leave me in peace
Leave me in peace
[music fades out]
[Jon] I think she's one of the great singers.
And she could do so much with her voice.
She could be a kitten, she could be a tiger.
She could be light, she could be tragic.
She was amazing.
Because he's too right When he complains
So we leave it Leave it, leave it
No one lives more than once
Leave it Say yes not to say maybe
But let it go Passion also exists
Let me, don't let me be sad
1969 SWEDEN
When I saw you first
The time was half-past three
When your eyes met mine
It was eternity
But now we know
The wave is on its way to me
Just catch the wave
Don't be afraid of loving me
[upbeat harmonica music]
Fundamental loneliness goes
Whenever two Can dream a dream together
[music fades]
Elis was...
destined
to be an international singer of the utmost importance.
The expectation for her to have
an international career was huge,
it was almost demanded of her.
Everyone knew she could be
one of the top five singers in the world if she tried.
She was perfect across the board.
She had swing, she was in tune, she knew how to use her voice,
she did everything right.
But I think she didn't want it.
She had a tumultuous past early in her career.
She had been markedly harassed. It was really difficult for her.
She had to fight hard for her accomplishments
and she didn't want to go down that road again.
She stopped...
this project.
She refused to do it.
And...
She had a lot of preconceived notions,
a lot of warped ideas,
and she couldn't see
the potential
of her career.
[Nelson] She wasn't fearful, she had no fear.
I think she really wanted it, badly.
Why would Elis want to stay in her own backyard?
In Brazil, as we know,
there's always been a discomfort
with regard to Brazilian artists who went abroad
and had any relationship with the Americans.
Tom Jobim sold his song to the famous soft drink
and he was almost crucified in his own country.
Of course, back in the 1970s,
having an international career was problematic.
There was no communication between countries,
things took months to get here.
You had to take very long flights to do a tour.
Everything was complicated.
It's very hard for an artist to leave
their comfort zone and start from scratch.
And at that point and time, as we have said before...
everything had to be Brazilian.
In 1981,
she finally decided to try for an international career.
She went to the US and stayed with Wayne Shorter,
an American jazz musician
who was supposed to record an album with her.
-[reflective music] -[Wayne] I knew,
when I heard her,
and I knew that
her voice needed to be
heard around the world.
I had not seen
in America,
or heard, in America,
or Europe, different places,
any a voice
that holds
that...
has the adventure,
excitement, and the depth,
the deep feeling,
such as Elis.
And when she went back to Brazil,
she said, "You must stay in my house."
So I went to Brazil,
and stayed in her house
for ten days,
in Barra da Tijuca,
and we decided
to do an album together.
And we went to a recording studio
one day.
Elis
and her ex,
they went upstairs,
in the studio upstairs,
and I stayed downstairs,
and then they had a disagreement.
They were disagreeing about something.
And the disagreement became
pretty intense.
And so we canceled
the recording session for that day.
We didn't record anything.
And the next day,
I was gonna go back to California.
[melancholic piano music continues]
I feel that
Elis is not finished.
It is not finished, what we have to do, together.
We will meet, Elis,
down the road,
down the strada,
and I will meet Elis, yes,
along the strada of life,
and we will complete, and continue,
what we were supposed to do.
[Elis] All of a sudden, you...
realize there's nothing left to be done.
It's too late.
I already know the steps Of this road
I know it won't do anything
Your secrets I know by heart
I already know The stones of the way
JANUARY 19, 1982
And I also know That there alone
I will be so much worse
What can I do Against the enchantment
Of this love That I deny so much
I avoid so much
And meanwhile Always returns to enchant
With the same sad old facts
That in a photo album
I persist to collect
I don't think it's too late
because I don't think it ends here.
We're here in passing,
we came here to improve ourselves.
That's why we're here, to spend some time
and do things.
[birds chirping]
To make a big contribution
for us and other people so that we can move on.
And have a better life because if this is all there is
it doesn't make sense, you know?
If that's all there is, it's pointless.
I don't believe that's all there is.
Anyway, it's sad to think
people only know we like them after they're gone.
I will collect One more sonnet
Another black And white portrait
Mistreating my heart
[Jon] Whether she would have been
a bigger international star, I don't know.
I do think she gave us so much,
you know, coming to a tragic end.
Before that she left,
she left behind a lot of great music,
including the incredible album with Jobim.
-[indistinct chatter] -[guitar playing]
Listen
It's raining On the rose bush
When I'm ready?
That only gives rose But doesn't smell
THE ENCOUNTER
[Andr] There was this one day at Phonogram.
We had a habit
of giving a gift
or doing something special for the artists
when they celebrated ten years in their career.
[Elis] I was very undecided
and I didn't really know what to do.
I received many offers.
And I didn't know what to do, nothing seemed just right.
That's when Roberto de Oliveira
suggested I should make an album with Tom.
And I thought it was a fabulous idea right away.
I remember sitting down with Roberto Menescal
and I said "What should we do?"
Neither of us had any idea.
Then I said "Let's call Roberto de Oliveira."
[Elis] Yeah Nobody knows but me
[R. de Oliveira] As soon as Andr invited me,
I thought about a duet.
I went back to So Paulo
and I remember flying on an Electra,
a plane that used to shake a lot.
But it had this neat little backroom,
where everyone used to smoke and drink and laugh.
It was me, Cesar and Elis. And I threw in Tom's name.
I felt he would be an ideal partner for that project.
In the early 1970s I produced the university circuit,
which was a Brazilian artists tour
in colleges, especially in the countryside.
Elis came to me to participate in the university circuit.
We did it, she got excited, and asked me to be her manager.
I said yes.
We had a challenge out of the gate,
which was enhancing her prestige,
especially because she sang in the Army Olympics.
[fanfare marching]
Elis didn't support the military dictatorship,
quite the contrary.
But she was on tour
doing three shows a day
and her manager was not on point.
She ended up doing a show that didn't serve her right.
The press, academics
and leftists were paying attention to it
because doing anything
to support the dictatorship was like a sin.
An artist couldn't support a government
that oppressed culture and persecuted people.
And she knew it.
We made it a point to tackle this problem
and re-brand her career
by partnering up with someone
that could lend some credibility.
He was very upset.
He was in Los Angeles.
He was complaining that Bossa Nova was over,
nobody played his songs on the radio anymore.
He was very bitter.
After a few days, he came over
and said "I have a great idea."
"Let's put Elis and Tom together."
He said "Is that all?"
I almost fainted because it was a great idea.
But to make it happen...
Elis didn't like Tom.
She kind of liked his music.
I'm sure Elis was not one of Tom's favorite singers.
I'm positive.
It was like Apollo and Dionysus. They were polar opposites.
She liked very exuberant performances.
And Tom Jobim was
Bossa Nova personified.
His piano playing sounds like he is just clicking beads.
He's very economical with it.
Just a couple notes.
He had a quote which I love.
He said he used more eraser than pencil.
She didn't feel it made sense to be minimalistic in music.
She didn't want to cut down on her strengths.
Bossa Nova, in her opinion,
she never really said it,
but it was for people who couldn't sing.
Simple melodies in harmony.
His complexity was in the harmony.
Tom's Bossa Nova background was the opposite to Elis'.
And Elis after the Fino da Bossa show.
It was Jair, samba, political songs
and everything was very flashy and out there.
Nobody sat down with a guitar.
You've heard it
Look at the trawler Entering the endless sea
Hey, my brother Bring Iemanj to me
Look at the trawler Entering the endless sea
Hey, my brother Bring Iemanj to me
is really an incredible person.
Even if I didn't like him
I would have to admit he is a wonderful person.
But that's not the case.
I introduced Elis to Tom
on a network television show.
I was talking to Tom and Elis walked by.
I said, "come here, let me introduce you to the maestro."
She goes, "Hey, how's it going? Anyway, Menescal..."
She dismissed him, just like that.
I thought, "How are we going to make an album?"
[Elis] I had met Tom roughly 18 months ago.
I mean on a personal level, like, saying "Hello"
and having a conversation.
He went to my place to play "guas de Maro".
Menescal came in first and said
Tom was coming with a new song for me to sing.
And then it turned into this whole thing.
A new song for me to sing
and Antonio Carlos Jobim was coming.
I said, "You open the door because I don't have the guts."
"I don't know what to do."
He goes, "Nonsense".
I said, "I can't do it" and sat there
on pins and needles. I didn't know what to do.
On Chega de Saudade, author Ruy Castro
says you didn't want Elis Regina
on the Pobre Menina Rica album
which you were supposed to direct
but it was Radames, correct?
You supposedly turned her down and even said,
"This gacha still smells like barbecue".
[all laughing]
A decade later you both recorded the most beautiful album,
which will celebrate 20 years next year.
And we know her perspective on the recording of this album.
She said a lot of things about it, as did Cesar Mariano.
What was your experience?
And is it true that you rejected her?
What was the experience of making that record?
That sounds so prejudiced.
[man] You do like barbecue, don't you? [chuckles]
I love barbecue. But you know what happens?
The creative press makes a lot of stuff up.
[all laughing]
They make up stuff we didn't say.
And he's a very coy person.
He joked to break the ice
and the initial awkwardness of that encounter.
He played the song like 70 times.
He used his glasses to read the lyrics which he didn't know.
He would put me up to sing the song and say,
"That's a great one! Not even Sinatra deserves it."
"Call me 'llis'."
It's not going to work just because you call me llis.
She didn't like Tom
because she was afraid that he would reject her.
The record company talked to Aloysio de Oliveira,
a Brazilian producer who lived in LA who was quite good.
He founded the Elenco record company.
He decided the record should be made in LA
because Tom lived there at the time.
[airplane engine revs]
[Elis] Yeah, it just Had to be with you
It had to be for you
If not then It was one more ache
Otherwise It wouldn't be love
The one we don't see
The love that came to give
What no one gave you
The love that came to give
What no one gave
Yeah You who are made of blue
Let me live in this blue
Let me find my peace
You, who are so beautiful
If only you could know
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
[laid-back music continues]
Yeah You who are made of blue
Let me live in this blue
Let me find my peace
You, who are too beautiful
If only you could know
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
[laid-back music continues]
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
[laid-back music continues]
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
-[laid-back music continues] -[inaudible]
That I've always been Only yours
And you've always been Only mine
[Joo] It's a lot of lightning striking at the same place.
From the sound engineer, Humberto Gatica,
that was his first job as a sound engineer.
Then he became
one of the most renowned sound engineers in the world.
He recorded everyone you can imagine.
Quincy Jones and so on.
That was his first gig.
[Elis] And you've always been Only mine
[Humberto] This record of the year is
you know, there's another way, [unintelligible] for Haiti,
you know, we did several times before.
That's Lionel Richie's xxx thank you.
And Quincy Jones write the most beautiful words
for me on the inside the number,
see, where it says 25?
-Uhuh. -That's Quincy.
I only have four, five Grammys.
This is, this is one of those, where I can't see-
That's Chi- that's my first Grammy I ever won.
That's Chicago.
Right.
Uh, and then...
we have another one from Michael Jackson.
But,
I have 17 Grammy.
I don't have it all here, it would look kinda si-
it would look ridiculous.
[laid-back music]
[R. de Oliveira] LA was buzzing in 1974
when we first landed to record the album.
One could see the buzz
which made California what it is today,
one of the most important hubs for technology,
culture, and democratic values.
That had a lot of influence in our work,
we came from a military dictatorship,
and arrived in a city
where everything was so free, modern, and open.
That impacted the record.
We could see the city's influence on the studio.
The chords and all the songs with Elis' voice.
Los Angeles had an underlying influence.
[Humberto] MGM Recording Studio was a very, sort of a,
unique place.
The music that was done
at the time,
at MGM Recording Studio,
it was kinda like big band,
jazz.
And we have Ella Fitzgerald,
Dizzy Gillespie,
Oscar Peterson,
Ray Brown,
Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
those were the genius street jazz, as they call them.
The MGM studio was closed for vacation.
[chuckles] We got in thanks to the receptionist
who was there and did us a solid.
And Humberto Gatica was available,
he was the studio assistant.
[jazz music]
[Humberto] When the producer of this project
uh, approached the studio manager,
that will be interested in using the facilities,
and they realized that he had an accent
and he speak perfect English and also perfect Portuguese,
they knew I speak Spanish,
so somehow they figured out I would be the closest,
and it will be a positive thing.
Is this the part of the rose garden?
[Elis] This recording session turned into a party, huh?
-It's a Brazilian mess. -[indistinct chatter]
[Tom] It's a good recording session.
-Where's the assistant? -[indistinct chatter]
It's like a bar
with smelly snacks which stink up your clothes.
You buy one and you're done.
[Elis in Spanish] Roberto!
[in Spanish] What's up?
[in Spanish] "Raining on the rosebush."
[in Spanish] How do you say it?
[Elis in Spanish] Raining on the rosebush.
[Tom] It's raining on the rosebush. Bush. Bush.
[indistinct chatter and laughing]
[Tom] The rosebush. Bush.
[indistinct chatter]
It's raining on the rosebush.
[laid-back guitar music starts]
[Humberto] I played for Celine Dion one time.
She was very touched.
And the first thing that she said to me,
the first thing that Celine says to me,
that she was touched by the emotions.
[Cesar] That had a huge impact all over the globe.
Japan, Africa,
Yugoslavia, Russia,
United States, Canada.
Everyone talks about this record and has a copy.
[Ron] She's got a really delicate voice,
kinda like the person of a Blossom Dearie,
if you know her name.
Great singer, great pianist.
I don't know she plays piano,
but she's got a nice comfortable voice.
[Joo] Artists like Madonna, for example.
Bob Dylan gave an interview about it once,
which fascinated me.
Also, Dianne Reeves,
Diana Krall.
Even Bjrk,
who wanted to meet me when she came to Brazil.
She said, "My God,
how could your mother go to the places she went?"
"I don't have the emotional courage to go there
because I don't think I would make it back."
[Elis] It's a footstep It's a bridge
[Tom] It's a toad It's a frog
Artists like Celine, artists like...
Elis, artists like Edith Piaf,
artists like Barbra Streisand,
they can really feel.
-[Elis] A stick -[Tom] A stone
It was my first solo project as an engineer, and mixer.
And I would say
that I was blessed
to be part of this incredible
and historical recording.
I had no idea that this music,
this record was gonna be such a historical legendary...
-[music keeps playing] -[Elis and Tom vocalizing]
-[music ends] -[Elis laughing]
The fact Pedro Almodvar chose "Por Toda Minha Vida"
as the soundtrack
to one of the most beautiful movie scenes ever made
propelled the song around the world.
[Elis] Oh! My beloved
TALK TO HER (2002) FROM PEDRO ALMODVAR
Pure risen star
I love you
And I proclaim you
My love
My love
Bigger than all there is
[violins playing]
[Cesar] I think, at this point, it's worthwhile
to tell a story that has never been told.
Elis and Tom's album has very powerful stories
that apparently went unnoticed and unseen.
They weren't supposed to see it.
But they're very powerful, at least for me.
I was really young at the time, I was sixteen.
I don't remember too much.
I just heard the comments around the house
and I knew there was some tension.
I asked my mom about this Elis and Tom thing
and how come...
the initial mood was so tense.
[Cesar] We came out of the plane and went to his apartment
on Sunset Boulevard.
At 8 a.m. he was up and waiting for us.
I thought there was good energy in the air.
And she told me Elis came by.
But nobody told my dad
that Elis would come with the pianist and the arranger.
He sat down and asked Aloysio, "Who will do the arrangements?"
He sat down on that day,
"Good morning, glad that you're here.
Aloysio, who'll do the arrangements?"
He looked uncomfortable and said "He will, Cesar."
He turned to me and said, "You?"
His idea of him being on a record
was about getting involved in the whole musical production,
not just sing a few tracks.
He wanted it to be his record and, for this much,
he wanted to play the piano and do the arrangements.
But it was her record, you know?
Tom Jobim was a special guest.
We were paying tribute to him as a composer and songwriter
with the tracks we wanted to record with him.
Since his early career at EMI,
at Odeon,
he was the arranger.
He decided everything from the musical composition
all the way to the arrangement.
He was the guy that was in control of the situation.
"You and your puny Brazilian notes
compared to this pencil and paper
and US musicians and studios?"
"No, you're not. Call Claus Ogerman."
Those were his first words to me.
-[loud chatter] -Do you know what he told Cesar?
"You don't know American nomenclature,
you have no experience to compose."
"You're a 27 year-old kid. We need a grown man."
"We better call Claus Ogerman because he knows better."
"Or Dave."
And Cesar was intimidated.
That's ridiculous.
[man] You can't say that.
[Helio] Ridiculous!
-[music playing] -[loud indistinct chatter]
Peace
I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace
Get out of me
Leave me in peace
I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace
Get out of me
Leave me in peace
I cannot take it anymore
Leave me in peace
Get out of me
Leave me in peace
Leave me in peace
I was unsure during the recording process.
I called her every morning
and said, "Hey, Elis." She said, "Hey, what?"
[laughs]
"How did the session go?"
"Terrible. I don't know what he thinks."
"Calm down, Elis. Let's talk about the rest of the trip."
She was accepting it up to a certain point.
But at one point she had enough and wanted to get out of there.
[Cesar] Elis would come to the hotel
and she was desperate.
"That's not going to work!"
"That guy is crazy! I can't talk to him."
"I can't get anything out of him
and I can't contribute to anything!
It's too hard!"
-[reflective music] -[distorted voice]
[R. de Oliveira] Elis called me on a Sunday night
saying she was coming back.
She said she was leaving, the mood was terrible,
and she didn't agree with the arrangements.
I took the next flight and arrived in LA the next day.
And her bags were packed, she was really ready to leave.
[reflective music]
[distant indistinct chatter]
Imagine you were there.
I was feeling so anxious. It was a good idea,
but it didn't mean it would come through.
And I was able to talk with her and she listened to me,
we had worked together on many projects.
The relationship became very strained
because of the arrangements,
it took 18 days to compose them.
Cesar and Tom were at odds with each other
and Elis became very tense.
She was biting all her nails.
She got very tense and a little cross-eyed.
-[coughing] -[indistinct chatter]
[Tom] Because of those words?
[Elis] I'll lay the vocals again,
if you'll allow me.
It's looking good now.
Why do you want to change it? Is it the lyrics?
-It is. -Never mind the lyrics.
They're great.
But I would rather do my own.
Things would come in. "What's this?"
I said, "It's the bass amplifier."
He said, "The bass amplifier?"
"A guitar amplifier?"
"Don't you have an acoustic bass?"
"Not here." I didn't know what to tell him.
"What's this?" "It's the electric piano."
"How are you going to use that?"
I said, "I'll use both
the electric and the wooden one."
"Aloysio!
He said that's a wooden piano.
That wonderful musical instrument."
[chuckling]
It was hilarious.
It's funny now that I'm telling it,
but at the time it was like a knife through my chest.
[Elis] I want to hear it calmly.
[Tom] What does Cesar's organ sound like?
-I'll put it now. -[inaudible whispering]
-What's Cesar's organ like? -[all laughing]
I gave him an answer but I guess he didn't hear it.
I know, I know.
What does Cesar's electric piano sound like?
[all laughing]
Got to include an errata.
Listen.
[all laughing]
-What do you want to know now? -The RMI Electra-piano.
-What's it like? -What's the RMI like?
What does it sound like?
It sounds bad, we'll do it again.
It does sound "sharp".
It sounds what? "Sharp?"
Let's do this thing.
Shall we?
"Mariano, what's your compass?
Have you done that introduction?"
"Careful with the flutes."
The phone was ringing off the hook.
Spring...
She doesn't do that. Play this.
[playing piano]
Look...
He stopped what I was doing and said,
"How many fingers do you have on each hand?
You have ten."
I thought he was about to pay me a compliment.
I was like, "That's cool". He goes, "That's not cool.
Don't you believe in three-note chords?"
"Guitar chords have three or four notes max."
"Don't you believe in that?"
This one day, Cesar was playing a song,
and he came in from the back and did this.
Looking at Cesar.
As alcohol goes in, the tempo goes on faster.
Then she goes "You, me, us both".
"Here in this bar with dimming lights."
We can get to B.
Elis?
[indistinct chatter]
Elis!
[Cesar] That's okay.
That's okay.
He must be just as concerned as we are.
Okay.
Let's turn that into something.
Again, that's okay.
But it wasn't okay because it endured.
So it was really terrible and difficult for me.
At the same time, I would turn the camera that way
and find this god in front of me.
That wonderful and fantastic artist.
His mind was incredible
and he would say incredible things.
I loved him.
Then I turned the camera this way
and there was an enormous problem.
He would do the chords and say, "Mariano knows his stuff."
"Look at this chord."
But he was commenting on the guy's song.
Nobody can do the harmonies to his own song better than him.
Either he would adapt, which he did,
or he would go back to Brazil.
He wasn't indispensable.
Tom and Elis were indispensable.
So you're dominating, right, Cesar?
-Everything is under control. -It's "C", so it's easy.
-[Elis] What a dick. -Come on.
[Paulo] What did Tom want?
Cesar couldn't deviate too much from his song.
It's his song,
if you want to replace the chords,
it better be fucking great.
And I think he gave Cesar a lot of leeway.
[Helio] He would watch it and be quiet,
just like the electric guitar thing.
After he heard "Triste", he came around.
He didn't have to, but he did.
"When I heard there was an electric guitar,
I wanted to stop that plane." He was a piece of work.
[chuckles]
"But now I've heard it, I like it." It was all good.
[R. de Oliveira] Tom had never been a conservative musician.
Quite the contrary, he'd always been modern.
He looked ahead.
He preferred a more acoustic sound at that moment,
due to the repertoire they chose.
SEPARATION SONNEAs a matter of fact, in the legendary Stone Flower,
recorded in the US,
he played the Fender Rhodes electric piano,
it wasn't new for him.
He was very thorough
and didn't accept anything less than what he expected
or what he had planned out for that particular project.
I didn't bump heads with him.
I would stick with him,
talk about Capybaras and Minas Gerais.
There's a very funny story.
We were doing the fade out for a song.
I said, "Tom, how should we end?"
He goes, "Paulo, imagine you're in a car
driving into a sugarcane field.
You get out of the car while it's still on
and disappear into the sugarcane field."
I said I got it, I understood the expression.
The initial idea was to make an Elis record featuring Tom.
But it's impossible to record with Tom
and not have him completely take over.
Cesar and Elis quickly realized
Tom was getting more involved in the project.
And they were very accepting of it.
Then everything turned out well.
[Elis] Because You came to me
Without telling me You were coming
And your hands Were mine calmly
[Tom] Calmly
Because you were in my soul
Like a dawn
Cause you were What you had to be
-[music ends] -[shouting]
I want to die during carnival!
[shouting]
I want to die.
Elis Regina, the Portuguese language is still on.
"The Portuguese language,
filled with S's and R's that make me husk",
as Caetano Veloso said.
I'm going and I'm not coming back.
That's right, my dear.
-Let's do it. -Let's go.
[Tom] Listen, I want to grab that guy
who's cutting wood on the other side of the river.
Joo, aren't you coming to have lunch?
Then, you introduce it.
[Elis and Tom harmonizing]
My life is a...
-My life was taken... -No.
My life is a small island
And...
"It's a very distant island."
"Surrounded by joy."
"My life is a distant island floating in the ocean."
"Our life adventure."
"Our ocean of life,
our life adventure", something like that.
Sky and sea Stars in the sand
I don't know that scale.
Green sea, mirror of the sky
My life, I'm passing by
My love, I'm going to love
And my boat will take you To sky and sea
Generally What we want in life
You have to wait for it To happen
[Tom vocalizing]
Fortunately We find happiness
In the affection And devotion of a loved one
[humming]
Sky and sea
Stars in the sand
Green sea, mirror of the sky
My life, I'm passing by
My love, I'm going to love
And my boat will take you To sky and sea
Tom.
Generally What we want in life
You have to wait for it To happen
[clears throat]
Fortunately We find happiness
In the affection And devotion of a loved one
Sky and sea
[laughing]
Stars in the sand
[laughing]
Green sea, mirror of the sky
Mirror of the sky
My life, I'm passing by
My love, I'm going to love
And my boat will take you To sky and sea
Did it all start with this guy?
[Tom] This guy is great, Johnny Alf is beautiful.
[Elis] I didn't know. I mean, I heard the rumors.
Word on the street.
[Cesar] I saw him walk on the beach
near Atlntica Avenue.
[Tom] Donato, Joo Gilberto,
Johnny Alf and me.
-[Elis laughing] What a gang. -What a gang.
Suddenly From laughter tears came
Silent and white as the mist
And from the joined mouths Foam was made
And from The outstretched hands
There was amazement
Suddenly from calm came wind
That from the eyes undid
The last flame
And from passion Came presentiment
And from the still moment
The drama was made
Suddenly
Nothing more than suddenly
What made him sad
Made him a lover
And loneliness Left him content
He became the close friend From being distant
His life became A wandering adventure
Suddenly
Nothing more than suddenly
[piano music ends]
When he felt Cesar Camargo Mariano knew his stuff
and Luiz Maia was the best bass player we could have
and Paulo Braga, according to Jobim,
elevated drums as a musical instrument...
And there was another genius called Helio Delmiro.
He heard all of that and he was from the business.
He said, "Wait, something is working out here."
[upbeat jazz music]
1979 MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL
[imitating bass]
That was my right hand.
[imitating bass]
Since you're here Half of you, but you're here
You better watch out
Don't drop the ball
Helio is a genius with the guitar.
[imitating bass]
[Helio] Paulo would play the drums in such a unique way.
He had a way of playing the bass drum.
He played it harder in the first tempo
of each measure.
[imitating bass]
It was opposite.
He played it low.
Then Luiz and I started playing
like a second or a third bass drum.
[imitating drums]
[Elis harmonizing]
And that comes from the samba-school.
[imitating drums]
That's the response.
Meanwhile, the samba is going on.
Luiz was about that.
[imitating drums]
[imitating instruments]
[imitating bass]
Since you're here
[imitating instruments]
You better watch out Don't drop the ball
Don't let it slip
[Elis] Luiz is first and foremost a good person.
Besides being a good guy, he plays fat in such a good way,
just like he is.
And I love it.
In my opinion, and who am I to say,
I think he is the best in the country.
[Paulo] It was like a machine.
Elis used to say,
"After we play, everyone seems old-fashioned."
Besides being young, everyone was 27 or less,
they thought we were great. And maybe we were.
I think now it is
It became an eternal milestone in Brazilian music.
I think now it is
It was fantastic and everyone was fantastic.
It was fantastic to have Cesar Camargo.
He wasn't that friendly during the recording session.
[chuckles]
But it's essential to recognize his importance as a musician.
[R. de Oliveira] Cesar pulled it off.
He knew to respect
some of Tom's well-known and traditional arrangements.
He maintained their original sound and style.
He also was able to successfully introduce
the electric guitar and the Fender piano
into a Brazilian piece of music.
He also had an important personal contribution,
which is a modern samba beat
that he did so well and it was his hallmark.
He didn't like the fact Elis kind of wanted to date Tom.
But that's part of the creative process.
[laid-back jazz music]
[Paulo] Tom would hug her and it was love all around.
But it's a different love that's hard to understand.
It's another kind of love.
It's that musical love
which transcends, it might be the purest love in the world.
[Helioo] Music is about surrender,
it's just like love.
That's how music is supposed to be.
It's what creates the groove and sync.
That from the eyes undid
The last flame
[Elis laughing]
Go, Cesar!
Wonderful.
So beautiful!
And from the frozen moment
The drama was created
Suddenly
Nothing more than suddenly
What made him sad
Made him a lover
And loneliness Left him content
-Left him content. -Yes.
He became distant From being a close friend
Life became A wandering adventure
[indistinct chatter]
Suddenly Nothing more than suddenly
[music intensifies]
[piano music ends]
[all cheering]
From then on, they were on their way to producing
a masterpiece.
Listen
The rain is falling On the rosebush
That only blooms But has no perfume
The freshness of wet drops
Which is from Lusa Which is from Paulinho
Which is from Joo
Which is from nobody
Rose petals carried By the wind
What a scale, huh?
A love so pure carried...
That's why I didn't record this song.
You've outsourced it.
-Listen... -It's for pros only.
A sparrow lives next door
And raining and it's wet
-"Walking in the wetness." -I know!
He's come to tell us It is spring
Look at the double rainbow
That comes To water my rosebush
Good rain, fecund
That soaks the earth That swells the streams
That cleans the sky
And brings the blue
[Tom] Cesar.
What a beautiful fucking song.
This song is beautiful, isn't it?
-You think so? -Yes.
The world used to be nice when there were trees and birds.
[Elis laughing]
That is ecology.
Pure ecology.
[Elis laughing]
Elis.
Listen
See how the jasmine tree Is all in flower
The little sweet brook
Joins with a river Of calm waters
And the cattle make Their watering hole
The cattle do this?
If you want to. But it's crazy, they might censor it.
No they won't. What's wrong with cattle?
Tom used to sit down with her all the time in the studio.
She started saying a lot of stuff
and he would come in and sit.
He loved her.
He said, "Nobody sings like Elis."
He would sit down nonchalantly at his piano.
But he had a smooth style.
He could sit down at any piano and make that sound.
And when she sang with him it sounded like she was calmer.
[Elis laughing]
-[Cesar] Blah, blah, blah. -[Elis] Blah, blah, blah.
Let's sing, I don't like talking.
What do you want to sing?
What is your full name? What are you going to sing?
[both laughing]
-What's your full name? -Do you work or go to school?
[giggling]
-I work a lot. -I'll tell you a little joke.
Ary Barroso hosted an amateur singing show.
He used to make it a point to name composers.
In Brazil we usually say,
"That's Angela Maria, that's Nelson Gonalves."
[Elis laughing]
Ary Barroso was trying to get people
to say the composers' names.
So this woman came to sing.
"I'll sing 'If Everyone Were Just Like You'."
Ary goes,
"If..."
"Who are the composers?"
She goes, "Vinicius de Moraes."
Barroso goes, "What about Tom?" She goes, "A-major."
[all laughing]
True story.
I didn't make this up.
She thought he had said "What's the tone?"
"Vinicius de Moraes. What about Tom?"
"A-major."
A meeting of two artists on that level of talent
and being that she was so sensitive,
this absolutely transformed her.
I imagine she felt really challenged
in the most positive sense of the word.
She probably fine tuned her singing.
She was like a hurricane
with her style opposite to Bossa Nova.
Then, she matured.
I used to talk a lot to Luiz
and I said, "She's singing differently, she's expanding."
Sometimes she sang two or more harmonies.
Tom used to do that a lot.
It's like being on the other side of a river.
She sang two additional harmonies.
From then on we recorded different stuff with her.
And many things
in her repertoire
had harmonies that were more Jobim-like.
On the day...
-Speaking of which. -Wait a second.
Sing it on your tone, I don't know this song.
On the day
I appeared in the world
There gathered a group
Of vagabonds from a party
At night, there was Moon and drumming
That ended in the wee hours
With a crescendo of rhythm
After my baptism of fire
I drank a liter and a half Of cachaa
I was worn out
And slept like a stone
Lying on the mat
At the foundlings' door
I grew up looking at life Without malice
Until a police corporal
Awakened my heart
And I was very good to him
But he left me On the street with nothing
Despised like a dog
And today I'm the same As life goes on
And I would do anything
For a plate of food
I will get More and more twisted
I will always Be singing sambas
In the rhythm of life
[Tom vocalizing]
[Elis laughing]
[Elis] Sounds like that's rehearsed.
Take four, piano Modinha.
[dramatic violin music starts]
No
My heart can no longer
Live like this, torn apart
Enslaved to an illusion
which is just disappointment
Life isn't always like this
Like desperate moonlight
Filling me with melancholy
With inconsolable poetry
Go, sad song, leave my chest
And sow the feeling
That cries inside my heart
Heart
[music ends]
After she finished the album,
I think she became more concise, precise,
and more efficient as a singer.
Like Pel in the soccer field.
He was so good you couldn't even comprehend it.
He would dribble an opponent two meters in advance.
Unfortunately the music today,
it doesn't allow to really do much of an art, it's just...
everything in your face, and compression, and bang!
[soft reflective jazz music]
But...
it doesn't last.
You know?
It deteriorates, it disintegrates.
It will have any future, is today, you know?
Artistic creation today is much more
focused on new technologies
than new lines of thought.
This record?
Forty-five years, some later.
Forty-five years some later.
Some of the musicians
they went to heaven already, they're not around.
They're gone.
But look what they left.
They left
something beautiful, for generations to come.
Everything about her, her tone, her performing,
her musicality and rhythm.
She was so musically gifted.
The other day I was reading an Elis Regina interview.
And she said
the thing she liked the most in life was
"Singing and singing."
Oh well It is said and redacted
To be unsaid
It's hard to say That it is still beautiful
To sing what is left of you
So, our better than perfect
Is undone
And what felt so right
Fell just like that Without forgiveness
So, I cannot hide My pain anymore
And say That we are good friends
It's too much Of a lie for me
So anyway
Today in solitude I still find hard
To understand how love
Was so unfair
To whom only gave to him Dedication
Yeah... So...
[music ends]
[Cesar] "For All My Life", just the instruments.
[Tom] Can we play it?
[beep]
She told me she was terrified of physically decaying.
Yes.
She didn't want to grow older in front of her audience.
-Did that play a role? -Of course.
[soft reflective violin music]
I personally think that Elis was a total slave
to her talent
and professional and artistic power.
You're right in the sense
that Elis sort of froze when she was on top.
Elis never had time to get into a process
I saw many of my idols go into,
which is the process of artistic decaying.
[soft dramatic violin music continues]
She killed herself, she cut her career short.
And...
And she did so
in a conscious and determined manner.
An artist's strength is their complexity.
If an artist is not complex, they're not a real artist.
[R. Menescal] Which bromeliad reminds you of Elis?
That's her right there.
It's an Ananas, actually. Pineapple is a bromeliad.
And it has many spikes,
just like Elis had. [laughing]
At the same time, it's astonishing.
I mean, you see the spikes all of the sudden
turning into color and beauty.
It's a red pineapple,
not like the ones you see at the farmers' markets.
I think it looks just like Elis.
Tom would be a different one.
I'll show you his bromeliad, it's right there.
I've done the research on this plant.
It's one of a kind.
It's unique,
I'm terrified that an animal or a pest will ruin it.
But it's one of a kind.
It'll bloom this year for the first time.
This one popped up
and nobody understood it, everyone has the green one.
I think Tom Jobim is one of a kind as well.
So this plant is unique.
And I'll call it Tom Jobim.
Maybe that was him just now, who knows?
[birds chirping]
[soft reflective violin music]
Oh, my beloved
I want to make you An oath, a song
I promise...
[R. de Oliveira] The experience
she had with Tom recording this album
and diving into Tom's minimalism rose Elis to perfection.
It was the peak of her career.
And love you Like never before
No one ever loved
No one
Oh, my beloved
Pure risen star
From then on, she had no more battles to wage.
She could shed the angst which had weighed so heavily on her,
which she carried for a such long time
and that brought so much suffering.
My love
She could finally rest.
My love
Bigger than everything That exist
Oh, my beloved
[audience cheering and applauding]
[cheering fades out]
ELIS & TOM
FROM IPANEMA/RIO TO L.A. WITH THE BOSSA NOVA'S MASTER
A stick, a stone It's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump It's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass It is life, it's the Sun
It is night, it is death It's a trap, it's a gun
-It is Peroba of the field -It is the knot of the wood
-Caing, candeia -Is the Matita Pereira
-The wood of the wind -Tumbling of the ribanceira
-It is the deep mystery -It is the want or not want
It's the wind blowing free
It's the end of the slope
It's the beam, it's the vain Party of the ridge
It's the rain raining
And the river bank Talks of the waters of March
It's the end of the strain
The foot, the ground
It's the treadmill
Bird in hand
A slingshot's stone
It's a bird in the sky
It's a bird on the ground
It's a stream It's a fountain
It's a piece of bread
It's the bottom of the pit The end of the line
On the face the disgust It is a little alone
-It's a strepe -It's a nail
-It's a tip -It's a point
-It's a dripping drizzle -It's an account
-It's a tale -It's a tale
-It's a fish, it's a gesture -It's a shining silver
-It's the morning light -It's the brick coming
It's the firewood It's the day
It's the end of the trail
It's the cane bottle The shrapnel on the road
The plan of the house The body in bed
And the car that got stuck It's the mud, it's the mud
-It's a footstep -It's a bridge
-It's a fountain -It's a frog
-It's the rest -Of the woods
-In the morning -Glow
And the river bank Talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
[laid-back music continues]
A snake, a stick
-[Tom] It is John -[Elis] It is Joe
-[Tom] It's a thorn -[Elis] In your hand
-[Tom] And a cut -[Elis] In your toe
And the riverbank talks Of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
-[Tom] A stick -[Elis] A stone
-[Tom] It's the end -[Elis] Of the road
-[Tom] It's the rest -[Elis] Of a stump
-[Tom] It's a little -[Elis] Alone
[Elis] It's a footstep It's a bridge
[Tom] It's a fountain It's a frog
[Elis] It's A beautiful horizon
[Tom] Intermittent fever
[both] And the riverbank Talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
-[Elis] ...tick -[Tom] ...tone
-[Elis] ...nd -[Tom] ...oad
-[Elis] ...tump ...est -[Tom] ...ittle ...lone
-[Elis] ...ard ...lass -[Tom] ...ife ...un
-[Elis] ...ight ...eath -[Tom] ...ie ...ook
[both] And the riverbank Talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life In your heart
[both vocalizing]