Pensativa is an instrumental bossa nova jazz standard by the American pianist, composer and arranger Clare Fischer. It was first recorded in November 1962 by a quintet led jointly by Fischer and the saxophonist Bud Shank, and released that year on the album Bossa Nova Jazz Samba (Pacific Jazz), with arrangements by Fischer throughout. It is regarded as one of the first, and very likely the most famous, of the non-Brazilian bossa novas. The tune is in extended AABA form, with each section 16 bars long, for 64 bars in all. Fischer describes the feel as two-beat samba, a detail players often miss when they play it in four with bebop II-V reharmonisation. Many musicians have recorded it, among them Bill Evans, Gene Harris, Rob McConnell, George Shearing, Hubert Laws, Marian McPartland and Benny Green. The best-known version is Freddie Hubbard's arrangement, recorded in 1964 by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers for the album Free For All (Blue Note), which uses a loose Latin groove. Lyrics by Fischer were added later, and Sandi Shoemake sang them in 1982 and 1984.
