Antônio Carlos Jobim, music · Vinícius de Moraes, Portuguese lyrics · On record from 1960, carried abroad on Getz/Gilberto in 1964
O Grande Amor
O Grande Amor, or The Great Love, is a Jobim with Portuguese words by Vinícius de Moraes. It runs 32 in four sections: the opening part returns once, and the last part is new. Stan Getz returned to it in 1967 and 1983, and pianists have played it too.
Listen in this order
The path follows the song out of Brazil, from Mário Reis in 1960 to the New York session with João Gilberto and Stan Getz. Later steps hear it in Getz's quartets, in a Brazilian singer's voice and on piano.
Stan Getz and João Gilberto, with Antônio Carlos Jobim1963
Stan Getz Quartet1967
1970sNara Leão1971
1980sGeorge Shearing and Marian McPartland1981
Stan Getz Quartet1983
1990s
2000sRosa Passos & Ron Carter2003
Fred Hersch2009
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Step 1 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard
Hear where it started
Mário Reis · 1960
Mário Reis canta suas criações em Hi-Fi
Mário Reis recorded the song in 1960 for an Odeon LP, with an arrangement by Lindolpho Gaya. The Jobim Institute's catalog lists this record ahead of the 1963 Getz/Gilberto session.
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Listen for
The track lasts under two minutes, so the whole song goes by quickly. Mário Reis sings it in Portuguese, to an arrangement by Lindolpho Gaya. Keep the tune in your head for the next step.
Try it on your instrument
Sing or play the melody along with this track, then try it again with the next track and notice what stays the same.
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Learn the song
Stan Getz and João Gilberto, with Antônio Carlos Jobim · 1963
Getz/Gilberto
Recorded in New York on March 18 and 19, 1963, the album was held back for nearly a year and came out in March 1964. João Gilberto plays guitar and sings, with Stan Getz on tenor saxophone and Jobim on piano.
bossa nova · Tenor sax with singers
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Listen for
João Gilberto's quiet voice and guitar lead the song, and Stan Getz plays tenor saxophone around him. Jobim's piano stays in the background.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight slowly, one to a bar: , , , , , , Am, . Add the melody on top if you know it.
Getz returned to the song on March 21, 1967 with a new quartet: Chick Corea, then 25, on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Grady Tate on drums. It came out on the album Sweet Rain in the last week of July 1967.
Tenor sax quartet
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Listen for
Getz's tenor saxophone carries the tune while the piano, bass and drums play around him. Compare it with the 1963 track, where he played alongside a voice.
Try it on your instrument
Play the eight of the , one to a bar: , , , , , B♭maj7, , . Then play the again and hear how the B section leads back to it.
Pianists George Shearing and Marian McPartland recorded the song in New York in March 1981. It opens their Concord album Alone Together.
Two pianos
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Listen for
Two pianists play the whole track. Notice how the two pianos share the tune and the accompaniment.
Try it on your instrument
Compare the two . The first ends , and the second ends , A7♭9. Play both endings, or play them with a friend, one of you on the melody and the other on the .
“O Grande Amor (Live at Södra Teatern, Stockholm)”, Stan Getz & Chet Baker: The Stockholm Concerts
Recorded live in Stockholm on February 18, 1983, at a concert Getz shared with Chet Baker. Baker is credited only on the first seven tracks, and this track belongs to the Getz quartet.
Tenor sax quartet
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Listen for
It runs 7:09, longer than the studio versions on the path, so the quartet has more time with the tune. The only horn here is Getz's tenor saxophone.
Try it on your instrument
Play through the whole tune once without stopping: (8 ), B (8), A (8) and C (8). Then count the sections as you follow this track and see how many times the band goes around.
Fred Hersch plays the song alone at the piano on Fred Hersch Plays Jobim, released by Sunnyside in July 2009. The album's only other player, percussionist Jamey Haddad, is on a different track.
Solo piano
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Listen for
No band at all: Hersch plays the tune and the himself. After the quartets and duets, hear how one pair of hands carries the whole song.
Try it on your instrument
If you play piano, try the same: melody in the right hand and one to a in the left, first. A smaller version is the last four bars of the : , and sharing a bar, , E7♭9.
Mário Reis records the song in 1960 for an Odeon LP, and in 1963 João Gilberto and Stan Getz record it in New York with Jobim on piano. Bobby Timmons plays it with a piano trio in 1964.
1970s
Nara Leão sings the song in under two minutes on Nara Dez Anos Depois, a 1971 double album produced by Roberto Menescal.
1980s
George Shearing and Marian McPartland open their 1981 album Alone Together with the song as a two-piano duo. In 1983 Stan Getz plays it live in Stockholm with his quartet.
1990s
Joe Henderson plays the song on tenor saxophone at a 1993 concert in São Paulo, released on Antonio Carlos Jobim And Friends. His performance runs 9:27.
2000s
Rosa Passos and Ron Carter end their 2003 album Entre Amigos with the song. Fred Hersch plays it alone at the piano on his 2009 album of Jobim tunes.
2010s
Airelle Besson and Nelson Veras include the song on their 2014 album Prélude, and Carminho sings it on Carminho Canta Tom Jobim in 2016.
More great versions
1 more, from 2004 to 2004. Tap a cover to play it here.
2000sThe Mulgrew Miller Trio2004
The Mulgrew Miller Trio
2004
“O Grande Amor (Live)”, Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 1
A live piano-trio recording from the album Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 1. At 8:29 it is one of the longer versions of the song.
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
32 barsA · B · A · C form
A m · C · B♭ · Fkeys it moves between
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
C8 bars
A m
C
B♭
A m
A m
F
B♭
A m
The runs 32 in four sections of eight: A, B, A and C. Each sits in and opens , , , , then and lead back to Am. The first A ends Am, , and the second ends , A7♭9. B brightens into with , , and , drops to for two bars, then Bm7♭5 and E7♭9 turn it back toward A minor. C opens in F with Dm7, , C/E and Fmaj7, then B♭maj7, Bm7♭5 and E7♭9 (sharing one bar) lead to Am and E7♭9, ready for the next chorus.