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"Pensativa" | |
---|---|
Composition by Clare Fischer | |
from the album Bossa Nova Jazz Samba | |
Released | September 1, 1962 |
Genre | Bossa nova, jazz |
Length | 3:28 |
Label | Pacific Jazz |
Composer(s) | Clare Fischer |
Producer(s) | Albert Marx |
"Pensativa" is a bossa nova jazz standard by American pianist/composer/arranger Clare Fischer, first recorded in 1962 by a quintet under the joint leadership of Fischer and saxophonist Bud Shank, and released that year as part of an album entitled Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, comprising music in this style, as per its title, all of it arranged by Fischer, and, with the exception of Erroll Garner's "Misty", composed by him as well. In retrospect, this would prove to be just the first of countless forays by Fischer into various areas of Latin music (with "area" denoting both genre and geographic region). This particular song was one of the first, and almost certainly the most famous, of all the foreign-born - i.e. non-Brazilian - bossa novas. Its form, though extended (64 mm.), is standard A-A-B-A, with each section consisting of 16 measures instead of eight.
With the exception of his contrastingly Cuban-styled composition, "Morning", "Pensativa" is by far Fischer's most frequently recorded work; it has been performed by a wide variety of instrumental groupings, ranging from assorted unaccompanied instruments - including piano, guitar and flute - to string orchestras, big bands, and a large assortment of ensemble sizes in between.
In addition to numerous recordings by the composer himself (including at least five released under his own name, [1] plus many more featuring the composer as either co-leader, sideman, or arranger, all of them employing Fischer's arrangements), [lower-alpha 1] it has been covered by a multitude of artists, including Bill Evans, Dave Valentin, Gene Harris, Jack Wilson, Bill Perkins, Brian Bromberg, Bob Florence, and Rob McConnell. Many more, including George Shearing, [3] Gene Bertoncini, [4] Hubert Laws, [5] Billy Taylor, [6] Bill Mays, [7] Marian McPartland, [8] Benny Green, [9] Sam Most, [10] Gary Foster, [11] and Freddie Hubbard, [12] have made "Pensativa" part of their regular repertoires.
In fact, of all the recordings made of this song (including those by the composer), by far the best known is the one arranged by Hubbard and recorded in 1964 by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, released in 1964 on the album Free for All. [lower-alpha 2] While not surprising, given the All-Star calibre of its participants (the iconic Blakey himself, and his no less iconic Jazz Messengers, in this instance including three premiere soloists - pianist Cedar Walton and Hubbard on trumpet, plus the influential saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter), this state of affairs would prove extremely frustrating to the composer. Speaking to students at an informal clinic hosted by his brother Dirk in October 1998, Fischer explained:
That has been recorded by some jazz players - Freddie Hubbard is one of them. They don't understand two-beat samba, so they play it like a 4... [demonstrating], then they change the melody, then they change the chords, which are going into what we call bebop II-V. Mine go [plays mm. 9 through 13]. He recorded that with Art Blakey. Very famous. 85 percent of the people who know that song know it from that recording. Everyone who records it now plays it with the same cancer that I've had all my life with that song. I've been unable to disestablish that because I don't sell as many records as Freddie Hubbard. It gets to a point where you say, "Hey! It's my song. Yeah." Well, it doesn't make any difference. [15]
Fischer's belatedly added lyrics for "Pensativa" were unveiled in 1984 by vocalist Sandi Shoemake accompanied by the composer on Shoemake's album Slowly, recorded in 1982. [16] They were promptly reprised in 1985, again with Fischer accompanying, this time with a full rhythm section, on singer Lisa Rich's second album, Touch of the Rare. Subsequent vocal recordings have been made by Kaz Simmons (2004), [17] and Iain Mackenzie (2007), [18] the latter singing his own lyrics. Jazz singer Jan Wentz performed "Pensativa" with her own lyrics but never recorded them. [19]
As with each new dawn
Sun is giving the breath of day,
And warms the cold from night
And hovers softly o'er the sea of day.
And now with the twilight
You sit pensive and lost it seems
What lived so near last night
Is now converted into empty dreams.
For day starts once more anew
And lifts you from the clutching bonds of night
And leads you once more in search of happiness
Ever seeking on and on, searching endlessly for what is gone.
Then night drops its curtain
Making certain your loneliness
And fills a longing cloud [also: "and drops a shroud of gloom" - better!]
That leaves you in your lonely pensiveness.
Douglas Clare Fischer was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University, he became the pianist and arranger for the vocal group the Hi-Lo's in the late 1950s. Fischer went on to work with Donald Byrd and Dizzy Gillespie, and became known for his Latin and bossa nova recordings in the 1960s. He composed the Latin jazz standard "Morning", and the jazz standard "Pensativa". Consistently cited by jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock as a major influence, he was nominated for eleven Grammy Awards during his lifetime, winning for his landmark album, 2+2 (1981), the first of Fischer's records to incorporate the vocal ensemble writing developed during his Hi-Lo's days into his already sizable Latin jazz discography; it was also the first recorded installment in Fischer's three-decade-long collaboration with his son Brent. Fischer was also a posthumous Grammy winner for ¡Ritmo! (2012) and for Music for Strings, Percussion and the Rest (2013).
Free for All is a jazz album by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers released on Blue Note. Recorded in February 1964, it was released the following year. It was originally titled "Free Fall".
"Samba de uma Nota Só" is a bossa nova and jazz standard song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim with Portuguese lyrics by Newton Mendonça. The English lyrics were written by Jon Hendricks. It was first recorded by João Gilberto in 1960 for his album O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor.
Stewart Roussin Fischer known professionally as Dirk Fischer or Dirty Dirk Fischer was an American composer, arranger, educator, trumpeter, and valve trombonist. Before moving to California in 1959, he spent his young adulthood in the Northern Plains, performing with and writing for territory bands booked out of Omaha, Nebraska. He was the brother of Clare Fischer.
The Night of the Cookers is a live album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard recorded at Club La Marchal in April 1965 and released on the Blue Note label, originally as two volumes on LP. It features performances by Hubbard, Lee Morgan, James Spaulding, Harold Mabern, Jr., Larry Ridley, Pete LaRoca and Big Black. It has been called "one of the most compelling documents of a live band in full flight".
Ugo Marotta is a Brazilian musician, conductor, arranger, composer, keyboards and vibraphonist. He took part at the Brazilian music movements Bossa Nova and Musicanossa.
Bossa Nova Bacchanal is an album by American saxophonist Charlie Rouse recorded in 1962 and released in 1963 on the Blue Note label. It was the only album Rouse recorded as a leader for Blue Note. The CD reissue includes a bonus track recorded in 1965.
In the late 1960s, Latin jazz, combining rhythms from African and Latin American countries, often played on instruments such as conga, timbale, güiro, and claves, with jazz and classical harmonies played on typical jazz instruments broke through. There are two main varieties: Afro-Cuban jazz was played in the US right after the bebop period, while Brazilian jazz became more popular in the 1960s. Afro-Cuban jazz began as a movement in the mid-1950s as bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Taylor started Afro-Cuban bands influenced by such Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians as Xavier Cugat, Tito Puente, and Arturo Sandoval. Brazilian jazz such as bossa nova is derived from samba, with influences from jazz and other 20th-century classical and popular music styles. Bossa is generally moderately paced, with melodies sung in Portuguese or English. The style was pioneered by Brazilians João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim. The related term jazz-samba describes an adaptation of bossa nova compositions to the jazz idiom by American performers such as Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd.
Maestro is an album by Brazilian composer Moacir Santos recorded in 1972 and released on the Blue Note label.
"Morning" is a Latin Jazz standard written by American pianist/composer/arranger Clare Fischer, first heard on his 1965 LP, Manteca!, Fischer's first recording conceived entirely in the Afro-Cuban idiom, which, along with the Brazilian music he had explored at length over the previous three years, would provide fertile ground for Fischer's musical explorations over the next half-century.
Thesaurus is an album by American composer/arranger/pianist Clare Fischer, recorded and released in 1969 by Atlantic Records. Reissued in 1979 as 'Twas Only Yesterday by Discovery Records, and on CD, again by Discovery, in 1988 as part of a CD entitled Waltz, encompassing both Thesaurus and the 1980 LP, Duality. In 2000, Thesaurus received a dedicated CD reissue under its original title from Koch Records.
First Time Out is the debut album by American composer/arranger/keyboardist Clare Fischer, recorded and released in 1962 by Pacific Jazz Records.
So Danço Samba is the fourth album by keyboardist/composer-arranger Clare Fischer, and his first in the bossa nova vein, recorded and released in 1964 on the World Pacific label. Devoted primarily to the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, it also features three of Fischer's own compositions.
Manteca! is an album by composer/arranger/keyboardist Clare Fischer, released in November 1965 on the Pacific Jazz label. Following his previous album, So Danço Samba, devoted primarily to the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and to the bossa nova in general, with this, his first devoted to Afro-Cuban jazz. Fischer also used the occasion to unveil what would become his second bona fide jazz standard, Morning.
Big Band Bossa Nova is a 1962 album by saxophonist Stan Getz with the Gary McFarland Orchestra. The album was arranged and conducted by Gary McFarland and produced by Creed Taylor for Verve Records. This was Getz's second bossa nova album for Verve following Jazz Samba, his very successful collaboration with guitarist Charlie Byrd.
Shearing Bossa Nova is a 1963 album by George Shearing accompanied by "woodwinds and a Brazilian rhythm", and arranged by Clare Fischer.
This is the discography for American jazz musician Clare Fischer.
Trombone Jazz Samba is an album by jazz trombonist and arranger Bob Brookmeyer featuring bossa nova compositions recorded in 1962 for the Verve label.
Bossa Nova Jazz Samba is an album by saxophonist Bud Shank and pianist Clare Fischer released on the Pacific Jazz label.
Bossa Nova is an album by American jazz trumpeter, composer and arranger Shorty Rogers, released on the Reprise label in 1962.