Luiza is a tender Brazilian tune written by Antonio Carlos Jobim in 1981 and first recorded with Edu Lobo for the LP Edu & Tom, released in 1982. The piece unfolds with a simple piano-bass-drums arrangement that creates an intimate mood and a sense of closeness to Luiza. The lyrics describe an idealized, distant love told by a “poor amateur” in love, and there is an anecdote that the muse may have been Vera Fischer’s hair. Luiza sits within Jobim’s bossa nova lineage rooted in intimate melodies and subtle jazz inflections, and it has been recorded again by Jobim on Brilhante (1981) and Passarim (1987), with later performance by Raphael Rabello and Jobim on Todos os Tons (1992).
