Always looking out for Pat Martino albums, I was fortunate to find a rare vinyl copy of Footsteps, his tribute to Wes Montgomery and was just floored by his cover of Jobim’s “How Insensitive”. Covering ballads are always troublesome as the tempos leave you exposed. It’s akin to slowing time down in the film domain exposing every frame. It’s even harder to do justice to probably one of the most loved Bosa Nova songs but I naively took it on.
“How Insensitive” was one of the first songs I started working on. The brief to myself was simple. Write the most “insensitive” arrangement while retaining its beauty. A contradiction which led to many, many days and weeks where I wished I had choosen another song. Sometimes perseverance pays off but I am still not sure if it has. We shall see.