Girl From Ipanema Anyone?...

Never, ever, ever saw it, or heard it in C.
The sax solo would sound weird in that key. I like F. Sometimes G. Never C.
Just sayin...

Sax isn't always involved ...
All depends on who is singing it

Astrud Gilberto with Stan Gets did it in Db.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJkxFhFRFDA

And here's our humble attempt in C, featuring vocals, percussion, alto sax, guitar, and keyboards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDHyWgVMGqk

Excellent arrangement my friend.

Gary

I don't think I played this with more than a couple dozen bands in New Orleans, but I have to say, alto players, 2 very, very good trombone players, a valve trombone player, many guitar, piano and organ players and they all did it in F.

If you wanted me top play that sucker in Db that's fine but you wanted me to play all the improv licks that I played in F including the bridge, you'd have to give me a 5 minute break in the back room to practice it. The melody is relatively easy in most popular keys However on a sax the bridge gets tricky. Especially in Db. LOL

Paul ... I loved your rendition, especially the use of Latin percussion instead of a full 'trap' set ... my only regret is that the sax player didn't have a longer solo ...
Thank you for sharing that ...

boo ... we've discussed something like this before, regarding the fact that the sax player I played with in NY all those years did not like to play in Db - EXCEPT for jazz standards that were written in Db ...

BTW ... if I'm not mistaken, a few years ago ChicoBrazil posted a photo of Tom Jobim's original manuscript of 'Ipanema' and it was written in 'F' ...

Right Tony, two tunes come to mind in Db. I cover the waterfront and body and soul. Of course there could be others.

Paul--top performance all the way. Everything perfect!

Don, Gary, Tony, Donny, thanks for your kind words. I was just trying to show that Ipanema is not always in F. You have to acomodate the singer...

I totally agree, Paul. I rarely play this song, but I did last night, and the dancers loved it.

Gary