Naná Vasconcelos
Encyclopedia
Naná Vasconcelos is a Brazilian Latin jazz
percussionist
, vocalist
and berimbau
player, most notable for his works with Pat Metheny
, Don Cherry
, Egberto Gismonti
, and Gato Barbieri
.
Beginning from 1967 he joined many artists' works as a percussionist. Among his many collaborations, he contributed to four Jon Hassell
albums from 1976 to 1980 (including Possible Musics by B. Eno
and Hassell), and later to several Pat Metheny Group
works and Jan Garbarek
concerts from early 1980s to early 1990s. In 1984 he appeared on the Pierre Favre
album Singing Drums along with Paul Motian
. He also appears on Arild Andersen
's album "If You Look Far Enough" with Ralph Towner
.
He formed a group named Codona
with Don Cherry
and Collin Walcott
, which released three albums in 1978, 1980 and 1982.
In 1998, Vasconcelos contributed "Luz De Candeeiro" to the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
produced by the Red Hot Organization
.
Vasconcelos was awarded the Best Percussionist Of The Year by the Downbeat
Critics Poll
for seven consecutive years, from 1984 to 1990.
With Codona
With Pierre Favre
With Jan Garbarek
With Egberto Gismonti
With Pat Metheney
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
percussionist
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, vocalist
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
and berimbau
Berimbau
The berimbau is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, from Brazil. The berimbau's origins are not entirely clear, but there is not much doubt about its African origin, as no Indigenous Brazilian or European people use musical bows, and very similar instruments are played in the...
player, most notable for his works with Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
, Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)
Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
, Egberto Gismonti
Egberto Gismonti
Egberto Gismonti Amin is a Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist.Gismonti began his formal music studies at the age of six on piano. After studying classical music for 15 years, he went to Paris to study orchestration and analysis with Nadia Boulanger and the composer Jean Barraqué, a disciple...
, and Gato Barbieri
Gato Barbieri
Leandro Barbieri , better known as Gato Barbieri , is an Argentinean jazz tenor saxophonist and composer who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and from his latin jazz recordings in the 1970s.-Biography:Born to a family of musicians, Barbieri began playing music...
.
Beginning from 1967 he joined many artists' works as a percussionist. Among his many collaborations, he contributed to four Jon Hassell
Jon Hassell
Jon Hassell is an American trumpet player and composer. He is known for his influence in the world music scene and his unusual electronic manipulation of the trumpet sound.-Life and career:...
albums from 1976 to 1980 (including Possible Musics by B. Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and Hassell), and later to several Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny Group
The Pat Metheny Group is a jazz group founded in 1977. The core members of the group are guitarist and bandleader Pat Metheny, composer, keyboardist and pianist Lyle Mays , and bassist and producer Steve Rodby...
works and Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
concerts from early 1980s to early 1990s. In 1984 he appeared on the Pierre Favre
Pierre Favre (musician)
Pierre Favre is a Swiss jazz drummer and percussionist born in Le Locle, Switzerland, perhaps most noteworthy for his work with Irene Schweizer....
album Singing Drums along with Paul Motian
Paul Motian
Stephen Paul Motian was an American jazz drummer, percussionist and composer of Armenian extraction.He first came to prominence in the late 1950s in the piano trio of Bill Evans, and later led several groups...
. He also appears on Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen is a Norwegian bass player.Born in Lillestrøm, Norway, he started out as a member of the Jan Garbarek Quartet , with Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen...
's album "If You Look Far Enough" with Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet.-Biography:...
.
He formed a group named Codona
Codona
Codona was a free jazz and world fusion group which released three self-titled albums on the ECM label in 1978, 1980 and 1982. The trio consisted of Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, and Nana Vasconcelos....
with Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)
Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
and Collin Walcott
Collin Walcott
Collin Walcott was a North American musician. He was a student of Ravi Shankar and Vasant Rai. Collin expanded the role of the sitar in western music. Walcott studied music and ethnomusicology at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and at The University of California at Los Angeles...
, which released three albums in 1978, 1980 and 1982.
In 1998, Vasconcelos contributed "Luz De Candeeiro" to the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon is the eleventh entry in the Red Hot Benefit Series of compilation albums. The album and related television special were both created by the Red Hot Organization , an international organization whose objective in this project is to raise AIDS awareness in the...
produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
.
Vasconcelos was awarded the Best Percussionist Of The Year by the Downbeat
Downbeat
Downbeat, down beat or Down Beat may refer to:*Downbeat, the first beat of a measure in music. This terms originated from orchestral conducting, where the lowest point on the baton signals the first downbeat in a given measure...
Critics Poll
Poll
Poll, polled or polling may refer to:- Figurative head counts :* Polling, voting* Show of hands, voting* Opinion poll* The polls, polling places* Poll, an election* Polling , sequential interrogation of devices- Other :...
for seven consecutive years, from 1984 to 1990.
As leader
- Africadeus, 1973
- Amazonas, 1973
- Kundalini, 1978, with Perry RobinsonPerry RobinsonPerry Morris Robinson is an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He is the son of the noted composer Earl Robinson. -Biography:...
and Badal RoyBadal RoyBadal Roy is a tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist known for his work in jazz, world music, and experimental music.-Biography:... - SaudadesSaudades (Nana Vasconcelos album)Saudades is an album by Brazilian jazz percussionist Naná Vasconcelos recorded in 1979 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by John Storm Roberts awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This 1979 recording is probably Afro-experimentalist Vasconcelos' finest...
(ECM, 1979) - Zumbi, 1983
- Nanatronics, 1985
- Bush Dance, 1986, with Erasmo Vasconcelos, Clive Stevens, Peter Scherer, Arto LindsayArto LindsayArthur Morgan Lindsay is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He is a 1974 graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida....
and Mário Toledo - Legend Of The Seven DreamsLegend of the Seven DreamsLegend of the Seven Dreams is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, featuring Rainer Brüninghaus, Eberhard Weber and Naná Vasconcelos, released on the ECM label in 1988.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Mark W. B...
, 1988, with Jan GarbarekJan GarbarekJan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter... - Asian Journal, 1988, with Steve GornSteve GornSteve Gorn is a master bamboo flautist and saxophone player.Gorn has performed Indian classical music, jazz and new American music on the bansuri bamboo flute and soprano saxophone in concerts and festivals throughout the world...
, Mike RichmondMike Richmond (musician)Mike Richmond is an American jazz bassist.Richmond played guitar as a youth but picked up bass during high school. He attended Temple University and taught and played locally in the late 1960s...
and Badal RoyBadal RoyBadal Roy is a tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist known for his work in jazz, world music, and experimental music.-Biography:... - Rain Dance - Naná Vasconcelos and The Bushdancers, 1989, avec Don Cherry, Cyro BaptistaCyro BaptistaCyro Baptista is a Brazilian musician, teacher, and recording artist specializing in percussion in the genres of jazz and world music....
, Peter Scherer et and Teese Gohl - Lester - Naná Vasconcelos & Antonello Salis, 1990
- MejnounMejnounMejnoun is an album by the Algerian musician and composer Safy Boutella, that was released in 1992 on the Indigo record label. -Track listing:# "Sud" — 4:09# "Orient" — 8:20# "Nomade" — 5:25# "Shiria" — 5:23...
, 1992, with Safy BoutellaSafy BoutellaSafy Boutella is an Algerian jazz musician, who plays both bass guitar and synthesizer.He is the father of famous dancer Sofia Boutella.- Discography :Studio albums*Kutché - with Khaled... - If You Look Far Enough, 1993, with Arild AndersenArild AndersenArild Andersen is a Norwegian bass player.Born in Lillestrøm, Norway, he started out as a member of the Jan Garbarek Quartet , with Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen...
and Ralph TownerRalph TownerRalph Towner is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet.-Biography:... - Contando Estórias, 1994
- Storytelling, 1995
- Contando Estorias, 1995
- Inclassificable, 1995, with Andy SheppardAndy SheppardAndy Sheppard is a British jazz saxophonist and composer. He has been awarded several prizes at the British Jazz Awards, and has worked with some notable figures in contemporary jazz, including Gil Evans, Carla Bley, George Russell and Steve Swallow.-Biography:Sheppard was born in Warminster,...
and Steve LodderSteve LodderSteve Lodder, born Stephen John Lodder, , is a British keyboardist, composer, and organist. He played piano as a child and took up organ at age 14... - Fragments: Modern Tradition, 1997
- Contaminação, 1999
- Saravah compilation, 1999
- Fragmentos, 2001, with Domínio PúblicoDomínio PúblicoDomínio Público is a Digital library created by the Brazilian government, under the Secretaria de Educação à Distância do Ministério da Educação , with the goal of harnessing the diffusion of cultural works under public domain...
- Minha Lôa, 2002, with João de Souza Leão, Pedro Amorim, Don Cherry, Kiko Klaus, Erasto Vasconcelos and Guga e Murilo
- Vasconcelos e Assumpção - isso vai dar repercussão, 2004, with Itamar AssumpçãoItamar AssumpçãoItamar Assumpção , born in Tietê, SP, Brazil. Itamar was a Brazilian songwriter and composer, who stood out in the independent/alternative music scene in the 80s a 90s, especially in São Paulo...
- Vasconcelos, Salis, Consolmagno - Vasconcelos, Salis, Consolmagno, 2005
- Chegada, 2005
- Trilhas, 2006
With Codona
Codona
Codona was a free jazz and world fusion group which released three self-titled albums on the ECM label in 1978, 1980 and 1982. The trio consisted of Don Cherry, Collin Walcott, and Nana Vasconcelos....
- CodonaCodona (album)Codona is the first album by the jazz trio Codona which featured sitarist and tabla player Collin Walcott, trumpeter Don Cherry and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos recorded in 1978 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G...
(ECM, 1979) - Codona 2Codona 2Codona 2 is the second album by the jazz trio Codona which featured sitarist and tabla player Collin Walcott, trumpeter Don Cherry and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos recorded in 1980 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:...
(ECM, 1981) - Codona 3Codona 3Codona 3 is the third and final album by the jazz trio Codona which featured sitarist and tabla player Collin Walcott, trumpeter Don Cherry and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos recorded in 1982 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:...
(ECM, 1983)
With Pierre Favre
Pierre Favre (musician)
Pierre Favre is a Swiss jazz drummer and percussionist born in Le Locle, Switzerland, perhaps most noteworthy for his work with Irene Schweizer....
- Singing DrumsSinging DrumsSinging Drums is an album by percussionist Pierre Favre recorded in 1984 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G...
(ECM, 1984)
With Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
- EventyrEventyrEventyr is an album by Norwegian jazz composer and saxophonist Jan Garbarek, guitarist John Abercrombie and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos recorded in 1980 and released on the ECM label in 1981.-Reception:The Allmusic review awarded the album 2½ stars....
(ECM, 1980) - I Took Up the RunesI Took Up the RunesI Took Up the Runes is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek released on the ECM label and performed by Garbarek, Rainer Brüninghaus, Eberhard Weber Nana Vasconcelos, Manu Katché, and Bugge Wesseltoft with Ingor Ánte Áilo Gaup contributing vocals....
(ECM, 1990)
With Egberto Gismonti
Egberto Gismonti
Egberto Gismonti Amin is a Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist.Gismonti began his formal music studies at the age of six on piano. After studying classical music for 15 years, he went to Paris to study orchestration and analysis with Nadia Boulanger and the composer Jean Barraqué, a disciple...
- Dança Das CabeçasDança Das CabeçasDança Das Cabeças is an album by Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti recorded in 1976 and released on the ECM label. The album was Gismonti's first for the European label which established the beginnings of a long and productive association.-Reception:The Allmusic review by...
(ECM, 1977) - Sol Do Meio DiaSol Do Meio DiaSol Do Meio Dia is an album by Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti recorded in 1977 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Cook awarded the album 4 stars calling it an "impressive combo outing.....
(ECM, 1978) - Duas VozesDuas VozesDuas Vozes is an album by Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos recorded in 1984 and released on the ECM label...
(ECM, 1984)
With Pat Metheney
- As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita FallsAs Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita FallsAs Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is a collaborative album by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays, released in 1981. The title makes reference to Wichita, Kansas and Wichita Falls, Texas...
(ECM, 1981) - OfframpOfframpOfframp is the Grammy Award winning third album by Pat Metheny Group, released in 1982. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance in 1983.Offramp is the first studio recording on which Metheny used the guitar synthesizer....
(ECM, 1982)