Hermeto Pascoal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hermeto Pascoal | |
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 Photo by Tom Beetz
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| Background information | |
| Born | June 22, 1936, Arapiraca, Alagoas, Brazil |
| Genre(s) | Jazz |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboards, button accordion, melodica, saxophone, others |
Hermeto Pascoal (b. June 22, 1936) is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist born in Arapiraca, area of Alagoas, Brazil.[1]
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[edit] Instruments
Known as o bruxo (the sorcerer), Hermeto often makes music with unconventional objects such as teapots, children's toys, and animals, as well as keyboards, button accordion, melodica, saxophone, guitar, flute, voice, various brass and folkloric instruments. Perhaps due to his growing up in the countryside, he uses nature as a basis for his compositions, as in his Música da Lagoa, where the musicians burble water and play flutes while immersed in a lagoon: a Brazilian television broadcast from 1999 showed him soloing at one point by singing into a cup with his mouth partially submerged in water. The folk musics of rural Brazil are another important influence on his work.
[edit] Life and career
Pascoal comes from a remote corner of northeast Brazil, an area that when he was born had no electricity. He learnt the accordion from his father and practised for hours in the shade as, being an albino, he was incapable of working in the fields with the rest of his family.
Hermeto's career began in 1964 with appearances on several Brazilian recordings with relatively small groups. These now-classic albums and the musicians involved (Edu Lobo, Airto Moreira, Elis Regina, Cesar Camargo Mariano and others) established widely influential new directions in post-bossa Brazilian Jazz. After joining Moreira in his Sambrasa Trio in 1966, the two went on to form Quarteto Novo and release an album which would do much to launch the careers of Pascoal and Moreira. [2] Pascoal would then go on to join the multi-faceted Brazilian Octopus [3], to play on Airto's recordings and then to recording in his own right.
He initially came to the international public's attention through an appearance on Miles Davis' 1971 album Live/Evil, which featured Pascoal on several pieces (which he also composed). Davis has said that Pascoal was "the most impressive musician in the world". Later collaborations involved fellow Brazilian musicians Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. From the late 1970s on he has mostly led his own groups, playing at many prestigious venues, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1979. Other members of the group have included bassist Itibere Zwarg, pianist Jovino Santos-Neto and percussionists Nene (his colleague from Quarteto Novo in the 1960s), Pernambuco and Zabele.
Hermeto is a prolific composer, famous for his project Calendário do Som, in which he composed a song every day for a year so that everyone would have a song for his or her birthday.
[edit] Family and personal life
Pascoal is albinistic. He is widely respected and well-known in his country. He and his wife Aline Morena live in her hometown, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
[edit] Discography
[edit] As leader
- (As Conjunto Som 4) Conjunto Som 4 (1964)
- (As Sambrasa Trio with Airto Moreira and Humberto Clayber) Sambrasa Trio Em Som Maior (1966)
- (As Quarteto Novo with Airto Moreira, Theo de Barros, and Heraldo do Monte) Quarteto Novo (1967)
- "Hermeto Pascoal" (1970, reissued on CD as "Brazilian Adventure")
- A Música Livre De Hermeto Pascoal (1973)
- Porco Na Festa // Rainha do Mar (single) (1975)
- Slaves Mass (1976)
- Zabumbê-Bum-Á (1979)
- Ao Vivo Montreux Jazz Festival (1979)
- Cérebro Magnético (1980)
- Stone Alliance - Hermeto e Márcio Montarroyos (1980)
- Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo (1982, reissued on CD as The Legendary Improviser)
- Lagoa Da Canoa, Município De Arapiraca (1984)
- Brasil Universo (1986)
- Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer (1987)
- Hermeto Solo - Por Diferentes Caminhos (1988)
- Festa Dos Deuses (1992)
- Instrumental No Ccbb - Renato Borghetti E Hermeto Pascoal (1993)
- Eu E Eles (1999)
- Mundo Verde Esperança (2004)
- (With Aline Morena) Chimarrão com Rapadura (2006)
[edit] As contributor
- Pernambuco Do Pandeiro E Seu Regional, Batucando no Morro (ca. 1959)
- Brazilian Octopus (1969)
- Airto Moreira, Natural Feelings (1970) Buddah Records
- Donald Byrd, Electric Byrd (1970)
- Duke Pearson, It Could Only Happen With You (1970)
- Miles Davis, Live-Evil (1970)
- Airto Moreira, Seeds On The Ground (1971)
- Di Melo (1975)
- Flora Purim, Open Your Eyes You Can Fly (1976)
- Raimundo Fagner, Orós (1977)
- Robertinho de Recife, Robertinho no Passo (1978)
- Sivuca, Sivuca (1979)
- Elis Regina, Live in Montreux (1979)
- Heraldo do Monte, Cordas Vivas (1983)
- Nenê (Realcino Lima Filho), Ponto do Músicos (1984)
- Eduardo Gudin, Balãozinho (1986)
- Heraldo do Monte, Cordas Mágicas (1986)
- Pau Brasil, Pindorama (1986)
- Flavio Pantoja, Flávio Pantoja (1987)
- Dharana, Dharana (1987)
- Brasil Musical - Série Música Viva - Pau Brasil E Hermeto Pascoal (1996)
- Aleuda, Oferenda (2000)
- Mike Marshall and Jovino Santos Neto, The Music of Hermeto Pascoal (2003)
- Jovino Santos Neto, Roda Carioca (2006)
[edit] Compilations
- Nova História da Música Popular Brasileira (1979)
- Música! - O Melhor da Música de Hermeto Pascoal (1998)
