"Pensativa" is a
bossa novajazz standard by American pianist/composer/arranger
Clare Fischer, first recorded in 1962 by a quintet under the joint leadership of Fischer and saxophonist
Bud Shank, and released that year as part of an album entitled Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, comprising music in this style, as per its title, all of it arranged by Fischer, and, with the exception of
Erroll Garner's
"Misty", composed by him as well. In retrospect, this would prove to be just the first of countless forays by Fischer into various areas of
Latin music (with "area" denoting both genre and geographic region). This particular song was one of the first, and almost certainly the most famous, of all the foreign-born - i.e. non-Brazilian -
bossa novas. Its form, though extended (64 mm.), is standard A-A-B-A, with each section consisting of 16 measures instead of eight.
Alternate versions
With the exception of his contrastingly
Cuban-styled composition,
"Morning", "Pensativa" is by far Fischer's most frequently recorded work; it has been performed by a wide variety of instrumental groupings, ranging from assorted unaccompanied instruments - including piano, guitar and flute - to string orchestras, big bands, and a large assortment of ensemble sizes in between.
In fact, of all the recordings made of this song (including those by the composer), by far the best known is the one arranged by Hubbard and recorded in 1964 by
Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, released in 1964 on the album
Free for All.[b] While not surprising, given the All-Star calibre of its participants (the iconic
Blakey himself, and his no less iconic Jazz Messengers, in this instance including three premiere soloists - pianist
Cedar Walton and Hubbard on trumpet, plus the influential saxophonist and composer
Wayne Shorter), this state of affairs would prove extremely frustrating to the composer. Speaking to students at an informal clinic hosted by his brother
Dirk in October 1998, Fischer explained:
That has been recorded by some jazz players - Freddie Hubbard is one of them. They don't understand two-beat samba, so they play it like a 4... [demonstrating], then they change the melody, then they change the chords, which are going into what we call bebop II-V. Mine go [plays mm. 9 through 13]. He recorded that with Art Blakey. Very famous. 85 percent of the people who know that song know it from that recording. Everyone who records it now plays it with the same cancer that I've had all my life with that song. I've been unable to disestablish that because I don't sell as many records as Freddie Hubbard. It gets to a point where you say, "Hey! It's my song. Yeah." Well, it doesn't make any difference.[15]
Lyrics
Fischer's belatedly added lyrics for "Pensativa" were unveiled in 1984 by vocalist Sandi Shoemake accompanied by the composer on Shoemake's album Slowly, recorded in 1982.[16] They were promptly reprised in 1985, again with Fischer accompanying, this time with a full rhythm section, on singer Lisa Rich's second album, Touch of the Rare. Subsequent vocal recordings have been made by Kaz Simmons (2004),[17] and Iain Mackenzie (2007),[18] the latter singing his own lyrics. Jazz singer Jan Wentz performed "Pensativa" with her own lyrics but never recorded them.[19]
As with each new dawn Sun is giving the breath of day, And warms the cold from night And hovers softly o'er the sea of day.
And now with the twilight You sit pensive and lost it seems What lived so near last night Is now converted into empty dreams.
For day starts once more anew And lifts you from the clutching bonds of night And leads you once more in search of happiness Ever seeking on and on, searching endlessly for what is gone.
Then night drops its curtain Making certain your loneliness And fills a longing cloud [also: "and drops a shroud of gloom" - better!] That leaves you in your lonely pensiveness.
Sandi Shoemake - Slowly, recorded 1982, released 1984; features Fischer on piano, accompanying Shoemake, who debuts the composer's belatedly added lyrics.
Lisa Rich (featuring the Clare Fischer Quartet) - Touch of the Rare, 1985, again featuring Fischer's lyrics, with the composer on piano and his son
Brent on bass.
^According to the original liner notes Free For All, written by
Nat Hentoff, Hubbard first heard the tune when he was on a gig in Long Island: "...and the pianist started playing it. The mood got me, this feeling of a pensive woman. And the melody was so beautiful that, after I'd gotten home, I couldn't get it out of my mind."[13] Thomas Cunniffe on Jazz History Online writes: "The piece is ostensibly a bossa nova, but
Blakey avoids the traditional samba beat and plays a deliciously loose and swinging Latin groove. Hubbard and
Fuller share Fischer’s glorious melody, and Hubbard’s solo is one of his all-time best, balancing abstract length phrases and unadulterated lyricism. Shorter is more melodic here than anywhere else on the album, and
Walton sparkles through his beautifully-crafted solo. Although Hubbard recorded an extended version of “Pensativa” on the 1965
Blue Note album, The Night of the Cookers, it is the rendition on “Free for All” that remains the undisputed classic."[14]
^"Wild flower [Sound recording]". WorldCat. Retrieved 2013-02-09. See also: Davis, Peter G.
"Concert: Philharmonic Plays a Sequel in Harlem". The New York Times. February 17, 1981.'Retrieved 2013-02-09. "On a lighter note, Hubert Laws, the flutist, was on hand to join the orchestra in performances of Amazing Grace and Pensativa by Clare Fischer, as well as a movement each from a Telemann Suite and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4."
Feather, Leonard.
"JAZZ REVIEW: Benny Green Shows His Versatility at Catalina's", The Los Angeles Times, January 13, 1994. Retrieved 2013-01-29. "When he is not amazing the crowd with his more obvious virtues, Green shows himself capable of graceful messages, as in Clare Fischer's 'Pensativa' and the almost Basie-like simplicity of 'You're a Sweetheart.'"
Reich, Howard,
"Benny Green's Pianism Electrifies", The Chicago Tribune, May 2, 2009. Retrieved 2013-01-29. "Similarly, in Clare Fischer's 'Pensativa,' Green exhibited a degree of tonal control one sooner expects to hear from classical pianists."
Heckman, Don,
"JAZZ REVIEWS: Foster Brings Sax, Romance to Newporter". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-01-29. "The repertoire was unusually diverse, ranging from familiar be-bop items such as 'Relaxin' at Camarillo' to Lennie Tristano's set of variations on 'All the Things You Are' entitled 'Ablution,' and Clare Fischer's lovely bossa nova, 'Pensativa.'"
^Aebersold, Jamey (1993). Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long - Volume 60 - Freddie Hubbard. Jamey Aebersold Jazz Inc. pp. i.
^Original 1964 liner notes by Nat Hentoff for Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers′ Free For All.
^Feather, Leonard. "Vision of Dream Tunes in His Head; Jazz Briefs: 'Slowly' - Sandi Shoemake", The Los Angeles Times. March 18, 1984. "Clare Fischer plays on the first vocal version of his 'Pensativa.'"