phote: Claudia Franks

Meeting Antonio Carlos Jobim and spending time with him in New York and Rio was one of the peak experiences of my musical life. Among other things in this episode, Veronica and I discuss how he invited me down to Rio to record some of the songs on “Sleeping Gypsy,” and what an inspiration it was for me just to get to know him. Whenever I was around Jobim I always felt like I was reclined at the feet of a Master. His songwriting genius and the lasting beauty of his canon of compositions is, in my view, kind of unparalleled.

I started to write “Antonio’s Song” a few days after I met him in New York in the Fall of 1975. He godfathered our visit to Rio the following year and suggested a recording studio and musicians we might use. I was also a fan of Joao Donato, another great songwriter, and he joined us in the studio too.

I want to dedicate this episode to lifelong friends I met as a sophomore at UCLA (shortly after the Invention of the Wheel), Jackie and Richard Derwingson. Richard taught me how to play “The Girl from Ipanema.”

In this episode, Veronica and I discuss how I eventually signed with Warner Bros. Records and began my long (24 year) career with the label. The Art of Tea was the first record I made for them and our conversation includes a lot of the project’s backstory. It was the first time I worked with the rhythm section that consisted mostly of the Crusaders with the addition of drummer John Guerin. And this combination of players would become the usual suspects for a few later records too. Hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.

My career as a songwriter enjoyed a great leap forward when I was lucky enough to work on the “Sonny and Brownie” album. In addition to “White Boy Lost in the Blues,” I wrote two other songs for the project and played on several cuts. Needless to say, working in the studio with them was quite a thrill, especially for an absolute greenhorn like myself. The entire experience made me feel hopeful that I might be able to have a future in music. And to this day when I think about Sonny and Brownie and replay those memories, I still feel so grateful that they liked my tunes and recorded them. And I’d also like to express my thanks to Lyle Lovett who recorded the song more recently and whose terrific version breathed new life into it. These photos, taken by the great Norman Seef, are from the album artwork.

Sonny Terry - photographer Norman Seeff