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Birthdays on the Tube: 24-30 January

This week's Birthdays include Tom Jobim, Robert Wyatt, Tricky and Mozart

by Peter CulshawSaturday, 23 January 2010

Tom Jobim: The Man from Ipanema

This week, the great Brazilian songwriter Tom Jobim, in a duet with Elis Regina, as well as teaching jazzer Gerry Mulligan bossa nova and in a version by Ryuichi Sakamoto. It's also the birthday of songwriter Robert Wyatt, and trip-hop pioneer Tricky, who shares a birthday with Mozart.

25 January 1927: Antonio Carlos Jobim, better known as Tom Jobim. First: a minute in 1950s paradise on the beach with Jobim, Joao Gilberto and Luiz Bonfa.

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Although you only get to see his hands in this next clip, he plays his "Águas de Março" (Waters of March) with the great Brazilian singer Elis Regina. With useful English subtitles.

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Here you do get to see Jobim, teaching Gerry Mulligan his "One Note Samba" in Mulligan's New York apartment sometime in the Fifties, when bossa nova was fresh.

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Jobim's songs have been recorded in versions by many nationalities - some of the best versions are by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who recorded the album Casa with Jaques and Paula Morelenbaum in Jobim's old house on his piano.

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Here Sakamoto and the others discuss recording in Jobim's house and the enduring appeal of Jobim.

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28 January 1933: Robert Wyatt sings "Sea Song" with Annie Whitehead. The Unthanks also do a superb version of this song.

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27 January 1968: Tricky (born Adrian Nicholas M Thaws) is one of the inventors of the West Country trip-hop sound.

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27 January 1756: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart shares a birthday with Tricky and Martin Degville of Sigue Sigue Sputnik (I don't think we need to watch them again, however - do you?). One of the best Mozart discs of the last year was Gidon Kremer's recording of the violin concertos, with his young ensemble the Kremerata Baltica.

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