Estate is an Italian song with music by Bruno Martino and lyrics by Bruno Brighetti, who was a musician in Martino's ensemble. Martino, first a jazz pianist, became a singer by chance, and he wrote the tune for the programme Ritmi d'oggi. The song was originally titled Odio l'estate, meaning "I hate summer". It was released in 1960 as the A-side of a 45 rpm single on La voce del padrone, coupled with "Ed è subito sera". The original recording, dated 12 July 1960, features Martino with the orchestra of Ib Glindemann. On television, Lelio Luttazzi ironically renamed it Odio le statue, but later releases use the title Estate. It had modest success in Italy at first. João Gilberto's bossa nova version, heard on a 1961 tour in Italy, made it a worldwide hit and an international jazz standard. Documented later versions include Helen Merrill's (1960), Claude Nougaro's "Un été" (1981), and recordings by Shirley Horn, Chet Baker, Michel Petrucciani and Chris Botti.
