Antonio Carlos Jobim, music and lyrics, in Portuguese and English · First recorded by Jobim on Wave, 1967
Triste
Triste is a that Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote in 1966, and its title means sad. Jobim wrote both the music and the words, in Portuguese and in English. Frank Sinatra, Elis Regina, Stanley Turrentine and Joe Henderson all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Jobim's own 1967 recording, then follows the song through three singers: Frank Sinatra, Elis Regina and Sarah Vaughan. It then moves to a guitar trio, two tenor saxophonists and a piano trio, so you hear the same song in several settings.
Jobim wrote the song in late 1966 and recorded it first as an instrumental. He cut it for Wave in New Jersey in 1967, with arrangements by Claus Ogerman.
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Listen for
Claus Ogerman's arrangement surrounds Jobim, and the track has no words. The whole track lasts about two minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first six of the in : for two bars, for two, then Amaj7 for two. If Fmaj7♯11 is new, play plain for those two bars.
Frank Sinatra and Jobim recorded this in Hollywood in 1969 for a planned second album. The album was pulled, and the song came out on Sinatra & Company in 1971.
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Eumir Deodato arranged the orchestra, and Morris Stoloff conducted it. Sinatra sings, and the track runs about two and a half minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Sing or hum the melody over the last four of the (bars 13 to 16): , , C♯maj7 , . Take it slowly and play the as plain triads if the extra notes are new.
Elis Regina had long wanted to record a whole album of Jobim songs with him. They made Elis & Tom in Los Angeles in early 1974, and Triste is its fifth track.
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Listen for
Elis Regina's voice leads, with piano, guitars, bass and drums behind her. Two flutes are also credited on the track.
Try it on your instrument
Play 7 to 12 of the slowly: , , , , , . If the extra notes are new, play simple triads instead: , F♯, , C♯, , G♯.
Sarah Vaughan recorded this in Rio de Janeiro in late 1977 for I Love Brazil!, her first album of Brazilian songs and her first for Pablo. Milton Nascimento, Dori Caymmi and Jobim appear on the album.
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Listen for
Vaughan's voice carries the song, and the track runs just under three minutes. Compare her phrasing with Elis Regina's on the step before.
Try it on your instrument
Play only the roots of the first eight of the as a slow low line: A, A, A, D, A, A, E, A. Hum the melody over it. The full are , Amaj7, , , Amaj7, Amaj7, , .
Tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine cut this in New York in February 1992 with pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Higgins. It is the fifth track on More Than a Mood.
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Listen for
Follow the tenor saxophone first, then listen to Cedar Walton's piano and Ron Carter's bass underneath. At almost six minutes, the track gives the quartet more room than the singers had.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the closing of the , , four times, and keep a steady beat on bass or left hand. Holding the loop is the smaller version. Playing a few notes of over it is the bigger one.
Joe Henderson recorded a whole album of Jobim songs, Double Rainbow, in sessions on September 19 and November 6, 1994. Oscar Castro-Neves produced it with Richard Seidel, and Verve released it in 1995.
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Listen for
Henderson's tenor saxophone leads, and the track runs close to five and a half minutes. Compare how he and Stanley Turrentine, on the step before, shape the same song.
Try it on your instrument
Play 9 to 12 of the : , , , . The smaller version is the roots alone, D, G, C♯ F♯, B, played as a slow low line.
Cedar Walton cut this trio version at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey on June 21, 2002, for the HighNote album Latin Tinge. Walton had already played piano on Stanley Turrentine's 1992 version.
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Listen for
Walton's piano leads, with bass and percussion. Compare his part here with his role beside Stanley Turrentine ten years earlier.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole once at a slow pace with the melody on top, the way Walton leads it here. The bigger version is the full 34 bars, A and then B.
Jobim writes the song in late 1966 and records it first, as an instrumental with Claus Ogerman's orchestra, for Wave in 1967. Howard Roberts and Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 record it that year, and Frank Sinatra records it with Jobim in 1969.
1970s
Sinatra's recording comes out on Sinatra & Company in 1971. Elis Regina and Jobim make Elis & Tom in Los Angeles in 1974, and Sarah Vaughan records the song in Rio de Janeiro in 1977.
1980s
Guitarist Earl Klugh plays it in about two minutes on Late Night Guitar, a 1980 Capitol album.
1990s
Charlie Byrd's trio records it in 1991, and Stanley Turrentine's quartet, with Cedar Walton on piano, in 1992. Joe Henderson plays it on Double Rainbow, his album of Jobim songs, in 1994.
2000s
Cedar Walton records a piano-trio version at Van Gelder Studio in 2002 for the album Latin Tinge.
2020s
Luísa Sonza and Roberto Menescal record it for Bossa Sempre Nova, released in January 2026 on Sony Brazil.
More great versions
5 more, from 1967 to 2026. Tap a cover to play it here.
1960sHoward Roberts1967 · Bossa nova
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '661967 · Bossa nova
1970sJoão Gilberto1977 · Bossa nova
1980sEarl Klugh1980 · Smooth jazz
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020sLuísa Sonza & Roberto Menescal2026 · Bossa nova
João Gilberto sings and plays guitar on Triste, on Amoroso (Warner Bros., 1977). Claus Ogerman, who arranged Jobim's Wave, arranged and conducted the orchestra.
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 majorusual key
34 barsA · B form
A major · F♯ minor · C♯ major · D major · B major · G majorkeys it moves between
A16 bars
B18 bars
A
F♯ m
C♯
A
A
D
B
A
G
Both sections start in . In the , 1 to 6 are , Amaj7, , Fmaj7♯11, Amaj7, Amaj7. Bars 7 to 12 head toward : , , , , , . Bars 13 to 15 reach : , , C♯maj7 . Bar 16, Bm7 , returns to A. The opens with six bars in A: Amaj7, Amaj7, , , Amaj7, Amaj7. , and visit . Then C♯m7 F♯7 and touch , Bm7 E7 comes back to A, and four bars of Am7 D7 close the section. These areas follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some differently.