This topic does not deserve to die like this.
We were finally talking music, instead of gear!

That quote is so wrong on so many levels. There is no such thing as a typical range within a specific key because you don;t know WHERE the melody falls.
The key of F is very comfortable for me ( a Baritone ) when performing Ipanima. C or D would be impossible without estrogin injections.

Dave It is amazing that people in music for many years would make such a comment. It's so obivious that the key one sings in is determined by the melody notes that would fit the individuals voice range as you stated here.

With all of the things in music that can be complicating, this fact should be obvious to anyone with a year or more music and vocal experience.

From a vocalist's point of view, selecting a key to best suit the singer's individual vocal range REMAINS paramount, but from a purely instrumental point of view, beyond the difficulty of playing in certain keys (different keys are more/less challenging to play on differing instruments), the sound of the same song will evoke a DIFFERENT mood. In general, sharp keys tend to sound brighter, and flat keys darker. Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart composed each of their works purposely in specific keys because of the specific mood it creates. People that are most sensitive to perceiving these key differences (all 12 keys) are those who born with perfect pitch.

Scott

Let me add to this that I am not singing it at all and I play it in F, because that's how I found it in The Real Book. Besides that I find it a pleasant key to play in - at least for this song.
How it was originally written is interesting to know, but Jobim changes keys too, probably to accommodate Astrud Gilberto or/and Stan Getz. I think if I would have to sing it, I also would find the best key for me to sing in. (and I am sure I would try to sing it in two languages, Brazilian and English.) Unfortunately I don't sing.

The chords I use are pretty much the same every one uses, with some changes. The only big difference is that during improv I play the bridge section:

F#M7/F#m6/F#m7/F#M7b5 So the notes go:
f#-a#-c#-f
f#-a-c#-d#
f#-a-c#-e
f#-a-c-e
then the same as during the melody:
BbM7/Gm7b5/Am7/Db79 (not b9)/Gm7/C7b9//


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drdalet