Carlos Barbosa-Lima (1944-2022)

Carlos Barbosa-Lima, a Brazilian child prodigy whose touch and counterpoint on the guitar were virtually unrivaled and who arranged Antonio Carlos Jobim's music for the guitar in the 1980s at Jobim's request, died on February 23. He was 77.

Barbosa-Lima began his professional career at age 12. A master of pop interpretation as well as classical guitar, Barbosa-Lima earned his living performing around the world and recording. His arrangements of songs by Brazilian composers, including Jobim and Luiz Bonfá, were nonpareil. Why were such arrangements such a big deal? From Matt Schudel's excellent obituary of Barbosa-Lima in The Washington Post...

“At that time, [in the 1980s], there were actually very few good charts” — arrangements — “of Jobin's music, and he was the first one to complain,” Mr. Barbosa-Lima told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1995. “He said, ‘Let’s get together and at least make sure that the harmonies are the way I composed them.’ ”

Here are 10 of my favorite Barbosa-Lima tracks:

Here's Desafinado...



Here's Jobim's One Note Samba with Barbosa-Lima and Jobim's Luiza with Irene Gómez and Barbosa-Lima...



Here's Sambolero...



Here's One Note Samba in a different setting with different chord voicings...



Here's La Bakina...



Here's Jobim's A Felicidade, by guitarists Barbosa-Lima and Larry Del Casale backed by percussionist Duduka da Fonseca...



Here's Aquarela do Brasil...



Here's Frenesi...



Here's Perfidia...



And here's Perez Prado's Mambo No. 5...