Miami's Jazz Roots series kicks off its 2026-27 season this Friday with a tribute built around one of Brazilian music's most towering figures: Antônio Carlos “Tom” Jobim. The concert, titled “Jobim and the Music of Brazil,” lands at the Knight Concert Hall inside the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m., bringing together pianist and singer Eliane Elias, clarinetist Anat Cohen, the Brazilian trio Trio da Paz and pianist Shelly Berg for an evening built around bossa nova, samba and choro, according to Miami Herald.
The timing is no accident. Jobim would have turned 100 on Jan. 25, 2027, and the concert anticipates that centennial, according to miamiandbeaches.com. As the opening night of Jazz Roots' new season, the show promises symphonic heft alongside its small-group intimacy: the performers will share the stage with the Frost School of Music's Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, which the event listing describes as providing the night's orchestral backbone.
As the Miami Herald reports, Jobim — born Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim and nicknamed Ton Ton by his sister Helena — died in 1994, but his catalog of songs including “Chega de Saudade,” “Insensatez” and “Águas de Março” remains central to the Brazilian jazz canon. His 1962 song “Desafinado” became his first U.S. hit, and “Garota de Ipanema,” known to English speakers as “The Girl From Ipanema,” won record of the year at the 1965 Grammy Awards after Astrud Gilberto recorded it with her then-husband João Gilberto and saxophonist Stan Getz. Vinicius de Moraes co-wrote the original Portuguese lyrics to that song, and per the Herald's account, Jobim collaborated on Portuguese lyrics with de Moraes and Newton Mendonça while working with Gene Lees and Norman Gimbel on English-language versions.
A Lifelong Interpreter Takes the Stage
Eliane Elias is billed in the Herald's report as a premier interpreter of Jobim's music, having released “Eliane Elias Plays Jobim” in 1990 and “Eliane Elias Sings Jobim” in 1998. The same report states she is set to release a third Jobim album in January 2027. Her connection to the composer runs deep: the Herald's account describes her meeting Jobim at age 17 while touring with Toquinho and Vinicius de Moraes, a tour on which she spent month-long stays in Rio de Janeiro and Argentina over roughly three years.
Joining her is Trio da Paz, formed in 1985 and featuring guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist Nilson Matta and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca, according to the Arsht Center event listing carried by miamiandbeaches.com. The group's long pedigree in Brazilian jazz circles makes it a natural fit for a program the venue describes as moving from bossa nova's understated rhythms to the pulse of samba and the intricate melodies of choro.
Why Shelly Berg and the Orchestra Matter
Shelly Berg, Jazz Roots' artistic advisor and former dean of the University of Miami's Frost School of Music for 19 years, told the Herald that Jobim's centennial made the tribute an especially fitting choice for multicultural Miami. Berg described Jobim's music as combining beautiful melodies, sophisticated harmonies, classical influence, jazz and Brazilian music, per the same report. The Frost School's Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, which the institute's own materials describe as the resident orchestra for the Jazz Roots series, is led by resident conductor Scott Flavin, according to hmi.frost.miami.edu.
The Herald's report also traces bossa nova's roots to small clubs and intimate spaces in Rio de Janeiro, noting the genre emerged as vocal music rather than dance music — a distinction that helps explain why Friday's program leans on singers and small ensembles as much as full orchestral arrangements. Astrud Gilberto, whose recording helped introduce bossa nova to American audiences, is quoted in the Herald's account as saying a song should be as simple as human speech, a notion that threads through the night's broader theme of deceptive simplicity in Jobim's songwriting.
Tickets, Timing and the Centennial Year Ahead
Tickets for Friday's concert range from $52.65 to $152.10 including fees, according to palmbeachartspaper.com. Concert information is available through arshtcenter.org or by phone at (305) 949-6722, per the Herald's reporting.
Miami's tribute arrives amid a wider wave of centennial programming. SFJAZZ has scheduled its own Eliane Elias-led Antônio Carlos Jobim Centennial Celebration for Jan. 22-23, 2027, followed by a separate Bossa Nova-themed concert on Jan. 24, according to sfjazz.org. Jazz at Lincoln Center has likewise advertised an Elias concert honoring Jobim's 100th birthday that will feature songs from her new album, per ticketing.jazz.org.
In Brazil, centennial commemorations are already underway ahead of the January anniversary. A project in Piraí, in Rio de Janeiro state, is offering municipal-school students books and talks about Jobim, while a traveling exhibition called “Jobim-açu” began circulating in September to highlight the composer's connection to the Atlantic Forest, according to oglobo.globo.com. Rio's Jardim Botânico is expected to serve as the central site of the celebrations, with the garden's leadership reportedly restoring a plaque honoring Jobim's affection for one of its sumaúma trees, and a documentary titled “Tom Jobim — esse seu olhar,” directed by Miguel Faria Jr., is also among the centennial projects in development.
