Antonio Carlos Jobim, music · Vinícius de Moraes, lyrics · Written for the film Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), 1959
A Felicidade
Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes wrote A Felicidade (Happiness) for the film Black Orpheus, which opens with it. Its sections keep changing, and versions run from under three minutes to more than ten. Hear it from Vince Guaraldi and Ramsey Lewis to Joe Henderson and Ella Fitzgerald.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the singer from the film, then follows the song through American jazz trios and a saxophone quartet, a guitar version, the lyricist's own live performance in Buenos Aires, a Danish-recorded trio and a 1990s saxophone tribute to Jobim.
1970sVinícius de Moraes, Maria Creuza & Toquinho1970 · Bossa nova
Kenny Drew Trio1974 · Hard bop
1980s
1990sJoe Henderson1994
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Hear the song where it began
Agostinho dos Santos · 1959
Orfeu Negro
Jobim and Vinícius wrote the song for the 1959 film Black Orpheus, mostly over the telephone because Vinícius was working in Montevideo. Agostinho dos Santos, who dubbed the songs sung by the film's lead character, sings it over the opening credits.
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Listen for
Agostinho dos Santos sings at the front in a bright, light voice, with Roberto Menescal's guitar credited alongside him. It runs 2:45, the shortest path version, so keep this sound in mind for the longer ones.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first section from the chart: for four , then , , Em7 and . Play it once with the melody and once with only the .
“A Felicidade (Happiness)”, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus
The film's soundtrack inspired Guaraldi's 1962 album, which his trio finished in February 1962 at the KQED television studio in San Francisco. The original issue printed this track's title as Generique.
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Listen for
Only piano, bass and drums play, and the piano carries the tune. At almost five minutes it is far longer than the film version.
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Play the last eight of the chart (section D): , , , , Am7, , Am7, Am7. The bass notes step down G, F♯, F. Smaller version: play only the first four .
Alto saxophonist Leo Wright recorded it for Atlantic on April 23, 1962, with Kenny Burrell on guitar, Ron Carter on bass and Rudy Collins on drums. YouTube lists the track as a single.
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Listen for
An alto saxophone leads a quartet with guitar, bass and drums, and the whole track lasts 2:40. Compare how short it is with the Guaraldi trio before it.
Try it on your instrument
Play 29 to 32 of the chart a few times: , , Am7, . Smaller version: play only Bm7♭5 to E7♭9 to Am7.
Guitarist Charlie Byrd recorded it in 1964 for Riverside on Byrd Song, an album billed as Byrd with voices. He recorded it again on More Brazilian Byrd in 1967.
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Listen for
The guitar leads, and the track is 2:39. The album is billed as Byrd with voices, so listen for whether singers join him here.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first half of section C from the chart: , , Cmaj7, Cmaj7, then , , , Fmaj7. Strum slowly and evenly. Smaller version: play the first four only.
Ramsey Lewis's trio played it live at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C. during a three-night stand in May 1965 that became the album The In Crowd.
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Listen for
This is a live recording, so listen for the room around the trio. Piano, bass and drums take it in 3:29, more than a minute shorter than Guaraldi's.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight of section B from the chart: , Cmaj7, , , , Am7, , . Smaller version: play Cmaj7 for two bars, then Am7 for two.
Vinícius de Moraes, Maria Creuza & Toquinho · 1970 · Bossa nova
“A Felicidade (Live)”, En La Fusa con Maria Creuza y Toquinho
Vinícius de Moraes, who wrote the words, sings it live at the La Fusa club in Buenos Aires with Maria Creuza and Toquinho on a 1970 live album.
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Listen for
This is a live performance, so listen for the room and for how the voices share the song. At 4:44 it runs about two minutes longer than the film version.
Try it on your instrument
Play the second half of section C from the chart ( 41 to 48): , , , Cmaj7, , , , Dm7 G7. Smaller version: play Dm7, G7, Cmaj7 and stop.
Kenny Drew recorded it in Copenhagen on May 21, 1974, in a trio with bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, for the album Dark Beauty on SteepleChase.
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Listen for
Piano, bass and drums play for six minutes, the longest trio version here. Follow one section as it comes round again and notice what the piano changes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole form once through at a slow, steady beat. If that is too much, play only sections A and B (bars 1 to 32).
“Felicidade”, Double Rainbow: The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim
Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson recorded it in 1994 for Double Rainbow, a Jobim tribute that began as a planned project with Jobim and changed after his death.
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Listen for
A tenor saxophone leads over piano, guitar, bass and drums. The piano player is Eliane Elias, who made her own version of the song in 1998.
Try it on your instrument
Play 5 to 8 of the chart: , , Em7 , . Play them slowly, then try humming the melody over them.
Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes write the song for the film Black Orpheus, and Agostinho dos Santos sings it over the opening credits. Sylvia Telles sings it on an album of Jobim songs the same year.
1960s
Vince Guaraldi's trio and saxophonist Leo Wright record it in 1962, and Ramsey Lewis's trio plays it live in Washington, D.C. in 1965.
1970s
Vinícius de Moraes, who wrote the words, sings it live in Buenos Aires. Kenny Drew's trio plays it in Copenhagen for the SteepleChase label.
1980s
Ella Fitzgerald devotes a whole album to Jobim's songs, recorded across 1980 and 1981, and sings it there.
1990s
Joe Henderson makes a Jobim tribute album in 1994 with the tenor saxophone out front. Eliane Elias, who plays piano on his track, sings the song on her own Jobim album in 1998.
More great versions
5 more, from 1959 to 1998. Tap a cover to play it here.
Astrud Gilberto sings it on Look to the Rainbow, an album recorded at Van Gelder Studio between November 1965 and February 1966 with arrangements by Gil Evans.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
A minorusual key
56 barsA · A · B · C · D form
C major · A minor · F majorkeys it moves between
A8 bars
A8 bars
B16 bars
C16 bars
D8 bars
C
A m
F
A m
C
F
C
A m
The runs 56 in five sections: A twice (8 bars each), B (16), C (16) and a short D (8). Each A holds for four bars, then plays , , Em7 and . B opens with Cmaj7, Cmaj7, and and settles on , then and lead to and Dm7. It closes on Am7, , Am7, Bm7♭5 E7♭9, Am7 and G7. C starts on Cmaj7 and , moves through Gm7, C7 and two bars of Fmaj7, and ends with , B7♭9, Em7 A7 and Dm7 G7. D stays on Am7 while the bass steps down through , and , then ends with Bm7♭5 E7♭9 and Am7.