BOSSA NOVA A LA JOBIM IN L.A. AT LAST

Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, nicknamed Tom, was a founding father (some would say the founding father) of the bossa nova movement. He lived in Los Angeles for two years in the 1960s and again for two years in the ‘70s, yet his concert Monday at the Greek Theatre will be his first official public appearance here.

Although he recorded numerous albums, in the company of Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz and various fellow members of the Brazilian new-wave elite, Jobim’s image was primarily that of a songwriter rather than performer.

“I used to go to bed at 6 p.m.,” he said during a phone interview this week from Los Gatos, “then wake up at 1 and keep writing all night, to avoid the phone. Nowadays I have peace and quiet--I live in the Botanical Gardens area of Rio, with birds and monkeys and rattlers in the forest around me. I have a new life, with no drinking, no smoking.”

In his old life, Jobim, a former architecture student, played piano in bars and nightclubs.

His first song was recorded in 1953, but the breakthrough came through his association with Vinicius de Moraes, the legendary diplomat, poet and lyricist, with whom he collaborated on the stage and screen versions of “Black Orpheus” in 1956 and 1958. One of his early writing partners, Luis Bonfa, shared the composer credits for the film, which won the Gold Palm at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival.

That was the year Joao Gilberto recorded Jobim’s “Chega de Saudade” (“No More Blues”), a turning point in bossa nova. A second crucial event was the recording by the guitarist Charlie Byrd, along with Stan Getz, of the “Jazz Samba” album early in 1962. Later that year, after the record had enjoyed phenomenal success, a planeload of artists was dispatched from Rio to Carnegie Hall for a concert.

“The Foreign Service sent us,” Jobim recalls. “I was scared to death. I didn’t want to come, I spoke no English, New York was freezing cold. The concert was a shambles. But I decided to stay in America.”

Within a few years he had built up an incredible backlog of songs that have all become pop and jazz standards: “Desafinado,” “One-Note Samba,” “The Girl From Ipanema” (with de Moraes), “Quiet Nights,” “Waters of March,” “How Insensitive,” “Wave,” Triste” and dozens more.

There are at least a thousand recordings of the best-known Jobim standards. Though he claims that his naivete in dealing with music publishers cost him dearly, he has profited from the worldwide recognition of his unique gift.

Despite international stardom, after settling down in Rio he turned his hand to the seemingly mundane job of writing for soap operas. “But they are kind of serious there,” he added, “or at least they pretend to be. We call them novelas. They are on a powerful network and they’re exported to many countries, dubbed in Spanish and French.”

Jobim also enjoyed success writing scores for Brazilian movies, most recently “Gabriela” in 1982. Since then he’s been on the road more. “I played with the symphony in Vienna, worked in Italy, was in last year’s Montreux Jazz Festival and in 1984 I played Carnegie Hall again, for the first time since that original 1962 concert.”

For the Greek engagement he will present a 10-piece band. Traveling and working with him are his second wife, Ana Lontra, a singer; daughter Elizabeth, also a singer, and son Paulo, who, like his father, plays guitar, keyboards and flute.

Is there still room for the gentle, subtle music he came to symbolize?

“Well, it’s true there is a lot of heavy metal in Brazil, as there is here; it can’t be escaped, but I’m not discouraged. There is also a revival of the music I believe in--in Brazil, in England, all over Europe I see healthy signs.”

De Moraes, his close friend and inspiration, died in 1980. “He was a great man--a true poet, who added so much to my cultural life.”

As for his other early colleague, Luis Bonfa, Jobim says, “He bought a lot of land in the woods near Rio, and he just stays there listening to the birds. I said to him, ‘Are you crazy? You play the hell out of the guitar and you don’t want to work?’ But he keeps his green card and still goes to New York every year.”

With or without his old friends, Jobim is happy to be returning. “You know, at one time a lot of us Brazilians didn’t like America--they said it was racist and capitalistic and imperialist--but I must confess I’ve changed my views. I think America is the best country in the world, and I sure have missed L.A.”