Close to its 50th anniversary the album "Elis & Tom" got a fascinating and delightful documentary made about its making, a classic
Bossa Nova/MPB encounter of legendary singers Elis Regina and Tom Jobim where Elis had the opportunity of performing Jobim's compositions along with him, and it's
an album that almost didn't exist. The film reveals the behind the scenes of the 1974 album recorded in Los Angeles and the tensions and the quarrels between
both artists and others which almost destroyed the whole project yet somehow they figured out how to work with each other and complete it with great effect
and success, not just in Brazil but all around the world.
Director Roberto de Oliveira was part of the team that witnessed this titanic encounter where both artists at the time were in a flutating state with their
careers after a long series of hits in the 1960's, and he had plenty of material of those sessions recordings, which includes many jokes among the musicians,
some discussions and the lovely rehearsals of "Águas de Março", the opening track of the album and one that had a music video released at the time. To fill in the
blanks with more meaty and curious stories about the artists and the album we have César Camargo Mariano, responsible for the album's arrangements and then husband
of Elis (Tom didn't want him as an arranger and most of the tensions started with that, and they had plenty of disagreements until reaching a common ground);
musicians, producers, sound engineer Humberto Gatica who started his successful career with this album; Elis's son and music critic João Marcello Bôscoli, the
always charming music critic/composer Nelson Motta and others share countless stories of those sessions and some particularities of Tom and Elis.
And to think that the world of arts and music would be deprived of having such a masterful album as this. What can one say: their partnership was epic,
memorable and very inspiring. If the original solo versions of Jobim songs are all great on their own, with the presence of Elis and her crystal clear voice
it made things even better. As the film subtitle says "It Only Had to Be With You" (it comes from a song that appears on the album). Take "Águas de Março" for
instance. Jobim's early performance with backing vocal singers is okay, but with Elis and the way they marked each sentence, each entrance and then the fusion ]
of their voices plus Mariano's arrangements made the song a true perfect work and that version is the one most people know about it rather than Jobim as a solo
artist.
I was really moved by this special documentary, and those who enjoy watching the makings of classic albums or are fans of Tom & Elis should check it out.
Sure, it's not totally perfect - it doesn't cover exactly all the tracks from the album, and I find it strange that the film mentions about Elis' passing but
nothing about Jobim's, so a clueless viewer who never heard of him might think he's alive - but from all the exclusive and unheard informations and images
shown here we have a fantastic material, one that shouldn't be ignored. 10/10.
