Antonio Carlos Jobim, music and lyrics · Olha pro Céu in Portuguese · On the 1967 album Wave
Look to the Sky
Antonio Carlos Jobim's Look to the Sky, or Olha pro Céu, is a track on his 1967 album Wave. Trumpeters, guitarists, a vibraphonist, a clarinetist and a harmonica player have all taken it up. Jobim's own record runs 2:20, while every other version here lasts more than four minutes.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Jobim's own record, then hears the tune on vibraphone, two trumpets, guitar and voice. It ends with a live festival set, a clarinet with chamber orchestra and a harmonica trio.
Jobim recorded Look to the Sky in May or June 1967 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Claus Ogerman arranged and conducted the album Wave, which Creed Taylor produced for A&M.
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Listen for
A short track of about two minutes, with flutes and strings around Jobim's band. Every later version on this page starts from this tune.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight from the chart ( for two bars, , , E♭maj7 for two bars, , ) at a slow tempo while you hum the tune.
Vibraphonist Roy Ayers recorded it on March 11, 1969, in New York with Herbie Hancock on piano. Woodwinds were added on July 21, 1969, with William Fischer as arranger.
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The vibraphone leads, and flutes and reed instruments sit behind it. This is the first version on the path where a jazz quartet carries the tune.
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Play 9 to 12 on their own ( for two bars, , ), then add them after the first eight bars. If the are new, play only the roots (F, F, A♭, D♭).
Trumpeters John McNeil and Tom Harrell recorded the album Look to the Sky on April 20, 1979, with Kenny Barron on piano. According to a review of the reissue, it is the only record the two made together.
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Two horns share the , with piano, bass and drums behind them. The track runs over six minutes, long enough for each player to take a solo.
Try it on your instrument
Play the four that lead back to the top (bars 13 to 16: , , , ) a few times, then play bars 1 to 16 and repeat. A smaller version: play only the roots (G, G♭, F, B♭), one note per bar.
Guitarist Emily Remler recorded Look to the Sky in April 1981 at Coast Recorders in San Francisco, for her first album, Firefly. Hank Jones played piano.
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Remler plays the tune on electric guitar with Hank Jones on piano, and the track lasts over five minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first sixteen twice at a slow tempo, taking the first ending (bars 13 to 16: , , , ) before the repeat. A smaller version: play the melody alone over a slow steady beat.
Brazilian singer Ana Caram, a protégé of Jobim, recorded it as Olha Pro Céu in New York in January 1995 for her Chesky album Bossa Nova. Steve Sacks arranged it for a band with flutes and saxophone.
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A singer takes the tune for the first time on this path, with flutes and a saxophone around her. The title is the Portuguese one, Olha Pro Céu.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the tune while you play the root of each in 1 to 12, one note per bar (E♭, E♭, E♭, A♭, E♭, E♭, G, C, F, F, A♭, D♭).
The group Trio da Paz played it with vibraphonist Joe Locke at the Jazzbaltica festival at Gut Salzau on July 1, 2007. MAXJAZZ released the live set in 2008.
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A live festival set: vibraphone, guitar, bass and drums, over six minutes long. Notice how much room each player takes compared with Jobim's two-minute record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last ten from the chart (bars 33 to 42) at a slow tempo: , with , , , E♭maj7, with , , Emaj7♯11, then E♭maj7 for two bars. A smaller version: play only the roots.
Allan Vaché with the Central Florida Chamber Orchestra · 2009
Look to the Sky
Clarinetist Allan Vaché named his 2010 Arbors album after this tune. He recorded it in Orlando, Florida, with a quintet and the Central Florida Chamber Orchestra.
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Listen for
A clarinet leads over a small , with a chamber orchestra of woodwinds and strings added. This is the closing track of the album named after the tune.
Try it on your instrument
Play 17 to 32 (the repeat of the opening twelve bars and the second ending: , , , E♭maj7) once you know the first sixteen bars. A smaller version: play only the second ending.
Angelo Adamo, Guido Di Leone and Francesco Angiuli · 2014 · Swing
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
Harmonica player Angelo Adamo recorded it with guitarist Guido Di Leone and bassist Francesco Angiuli on February 7, 2014. It came out on their album The Night Has a Thousand Eyes in 2015.
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A harmonica carries the tune over guitar and double bass. With no drums, the beat comes from the guitar and the double bass.
Try it on your instrument
Keep the beat yourself: play the of 1 to 12 in a steady slow pattern while you hum the tune. A smaller version: play one chord per bar.
Jobim records it in 1967 for his album Wave, with Claus Ogerman arranging flutes and strings. In 1969 vibraphonist Roy Ayers takes it up, with woodwinds added to his quartet.
1970s
Trumpeters John McNeil and Tom Harrell record it in April 1979 for the SteepleChase label, with Kenny Barron on piano.
1980s
Guitarist Emily Remler plays it on her first album, Firefly, recorded in San Francisco in April 1981 with pianist Hank Jones.
1990s
Brazilian singer Ana Caram, a protégé of Jobim, records it as Olha Pro Céu on her 1995 Chesky album Bossa Nova, with flutes and saxophone in the band.
2000s
Trio da Paz and vibraphonist Joe Locke play it live at the 2007 Jazzbaltica festival. Clarinetist Allan Vaché records it in Orlando with a chamber orchestra.
2010s
Harmonica player Angelo Adamo records it in February 2014 with guitar and double bass, a trio with no drums.
2020s
Multi-instrumentalist Andreas Schulz includes it on The Jobim Sessions, an album of reworked Jobim songs released in 2021.
More great versions
2 more, from 2006 to 2021. Tap a cover to play it here.
2000sPhil Wilson's Panamerican All-Stars2006
2010s
2020sAndreas Schulz and Circle Blue2021
Phil Wilson's Panamerican All-Stars
2006
Phil Wilson's Panamerican All-Stars Celebrate the Music of Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim
Trombonist Phil Wilson led an all-star group on a 2006 Capri album of Jobim songs. Look to the Sky is one of its closing tracks.
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
E♭ majorusual key
42 barsA · A form
E♭ majorkey centers
A16 bars
A26 bars
E♭
The chart runs 42 in . Bars 1 to 12 play for two bars, and , E♭maj7 for two bars, and , for two bars, then and . Bars 13 to 16 are the first ending: Gm7, , Fm7 and , which leads back to the top. Bars 17 to 28 repeat bars 1 to 12, and bars 29 to 32 are the second ending: , and two bars of E♭maj7. The last ten bars (33 to 42) play E♭maj7, Gm7 with C7♭9, Fm7, Emaj7♯11, E♭maj7, A♭m7 with , G♭maj7, Emaj7♯11, and E♭maj7 for two bars. The G♭maj7 and Emaj7♯11 bars take the music briefly away from E♭ before it settles back.