Dirk.

Very interesting progression but I prefer the kind of prog. with Jobim's flavor as:
Em7,A7b9,Dm7,G7b9,Cm7,F7b9,Bbm7......

Chico

ChicoBrazil,

The key was Db, not F, and the live version was in D.
The original and best-known version is that performed on the 1963 album Getz/Gilberto. On the album João Gilberto performs the song in Db. Astrud Gilberto, Tom Jobim and Stan Getz are also on the album.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000047CX/002-6986519-6757627?v=glance



[This message has been edited by alfredo (edited 10-31-2004).]

Hi Chico,
About the original song "the girl..." I'ts possible that he make it in F, but the first recording of stan getz,joao gilberto and astrud gilberto (also jobim)was made in
Db I have also a live version in D. From the same artists on cd. (source from the Getz/gilberto album)

Notlos

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Yesterday was in G, not F.

Hi scott,

I have read your topic complete now and i see you recomend one of my favourite teachers in Theory-books "Andy laverne".
He has wrote also 2 great books for re-arranging songs and piano chords.
Also john megahan is a good sollution if you want go deep in to chord progressions.

Notlos www.notlos.com


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Excerpt frpm "The True Bossa Nova"
http://www.megatar.com/documents/newsletters/archive/MTN-200110.html#Article1

Interview with Marcos Silva, a Brazilian Keyboard Master:

"What is the authentic Bossa rhythm? A: Aha! I grew up in Brazil, and spent half my life there, and I never heard a Brazilian drummer play bossa nova the way Americans usually hear it played.

Let me write it down. Here's two measures of 'WRONG', and then there is a correct example. ['RIGHT.'](see link)

Why is this one wrong and that one right? A: First, the Bossa Nova is not really a rhythm. The Bossa Nova is a period of time. The true Bossa Nova is music from that period. It's not just the rhythm.

In my opinion, the American guys went to Brazil, and they brought it here -- Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd -- To play that true rhythm on the drums is very hard. So these musicians went out and they played some 'Latin stuff.' And the combination wasn't a happy one, you know what I'm saying? (laughs)

They were playing root-root five-five, like in 'Ricky don't lose that number'. And I don't know anybody in Brazil who plays the bossa nova with the clave rhythm.

In other words, this whole simplification that says you take the samba clave rhythm and you move the last beat one click later, and now you got your bossa nova, it's just not true.

The clave - we don't have that instrument in Brazil. So the thing about the clave and Brazilian music, I don't know where it comes from. These claves, bongos, and so on, if you hear them in Brazilian music they are just enhancement. They are not part of the music. In Brazilian music, the harmony and melody dictate where the music is going. "

Dirk

I have in my hands the original parts of Garota de Ipanema ,wroted in F key .
Arrangements for Stan Getz , João Gilberto, Astrud,was wrote more than one year latter.
The original first progression is :
Fmaj7,G7b5,Gm7,Gb7(#11)
I like this for piano but not for arrangers.
Chico

The point is that the key that "Garota de Ipanema" is most often heard in is Db because that's the key of the original hit recording heard millions of times. Listen for yourself, it's Db. You can keep thinking it's F, but the proof is in the original classic recording.
Listen: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000047CX/002-6986519-6757627?v=glance



[This message has been edited by alfredo (edited 11-02-2004).]

Just to add more confusion, I play this song in Eb, because it's my favorite key.

What's really important, of course, is not the key, but the relationship between the different chords in the progression. From this point of view, I would like to comment that I don't really like to play the second chord of the song as a "13th", because I think that this chord has a "strong" character and to me is more suited as a final chord before resolving to the dominant (but not in the case of "Girl from Ipanema", anyway...); as a passing chord between Fmaj7 and Fm7, I would play a "9th" instead.

Another interesting observation refers to the Gm7-C7-Fmaj7 progression: the C7 can be altered as a C7b9 or can be substituted with a Gb7 (I am not sure, but I think that this would be called a tritone substitution; maybe Scott can confirm this).

I just had an idea: what if we all post our personal rendition of this song? After all, like Confucius used to say, an example is worth a BILLION words!

Hello Alfredo.

You are 100% right.
I do not have the Jobim original song book.
I do not know A. C. Jobim musical creation
I do not have more of 20 different brasilian records of Garota de Ipanema.
I do not play Bossa Nova.
I am not musician.

Chico