Biography
Among the planet's most celebrated percussionists ranks Brazilian composer Cyro Baptista, whose hundreds of recording credits stretch across jazz, pop, rock, avant-garde, and conventional classical terrain. He simultaneously directs his own groups while constructing many of the percussion devices he employs. Global praise met his first outing, the 1997 set Vira Loucos: Cyro Baptista Plays the Music of Villa-Lobos. The initial full-length from his Beat the Donkey ensemble arrived as 2005's Love the Donkey. 2008's Banquet of the Spirits, named after yet another of his collectives, earns frequent recognition as a masterwork. In 2011 Beat the Donkey delivered Caym: Book of Angels, Vol. 17 drawn from Zorn's second Masada book of compositions. Bluefly, a quartet session, appeared under his name in 2016, while he joined New Zion Trio as co-billed guest on Sunshine Seas. Ropeadope released the Brazilian-inflected Chama from him in 2023.
Sao Paulo native Baptista absorbed bossa nova rhythms intensely in childhood and first replicated those patterns on a coconut shell. After classical studies in drumming and composition he also mastered instrument construction, the sole route to the exact timbres he required.
Baptista relocated from Brazil to Woodstock, New York, in 1980 upon earning a scholarship to the Creative Music Studio and has maintained residence in New York ever since. Following his 1981 move to New York City he launched a career of live and studio work. Introduction to English guitarist, improviser, and writer Derek Bailey led to an October 1982 duo recording session; the resulting album Cyro surfaced on the guitarist's Ictus imprint in 1987. Baptista entered trumpeter and trombonist Claudio Roditi's Latin jazz outfit Guanabara alongside drummer Duduka Fonseca and others for their second album, 1984's On the Move, issued by Japan's Baystate label.
Session and touring duties occupied the balance of the decade with Randy Brecker and Eliane Elias, Manfredo Fest, Paquito D'Rivera, and Rubén Blades. His participation on Zorn's landmark tribute to Ennio Morricone, The Big Gundown, stands out most prominently, and that intermittent collaboration persists into the present century. During 1989 alone Baptista appeared on Rain Dance by countryman Nana Vasconcelos, Before We Were Born by Bill Frisell, Strange Angels by Laurie Anderson, and Rei Momo by David Byrne.
Intense activity on the New York jazz and pop circuits defined the nineties. Recording credits accumulated with Herbie Mann, Herbie Hancock (including Gershwin's World), Brian Eno, Robert Palmer, Grover Washington, Jr., Kathleen Battle, and Wynton Marsalis among many others. He contributed to Zorn's FilmWorks: 1986-1990 in 1990 and continued on numerous additional volumes with the Bar Kokhba Sextet on The Circle Maker as well as the vanguard classical experiments collected on Music Romance, Vols. 1 and 2 and further releases.
Contemporary Brazilian artists also feature in his work. Appearances throughout the nineties occurred on albums by Marisa Monte, Tom Zé, Milton Nascimento, Arto Lindsay, Badi Assad, and Caetano Veloso. Among his most visible pop and rock associations stands the 1990 Rhythm of the Saints Tour and Concert in the Park with Paul Simon. As his music developed he incorporated traditions originating in South and Central America, southern Africa, India, and Indonesia.
Avant, Zorn's Japanese imprint, issued Vira Loucos: Cyro Baptista Plays the Music of Villa-Lobos in 1997 (later reappearing on the American Tzadik label). That same year Baptista maintained near-constant studio presence, adding twenty-four additional recordings that included Gato Barbieri's Que Pasa, Jeb Loy Nichols' Lover's Knot, and Good People by Javon Jackson. The decade's closing three years found him working on projects by Phoebe Snow, Hancock, Arto Lindsay, and Zorn.
Between 2000 and 2001 he recorded with classical conductor Daniel Barenboim, saxophonist James Carter, and Brazilian singer-songwriter Susana Baca. He formed the percussion and dance ensemble Beat the Donkey in 2002; Tzadik released its self-titled debut to widespread critical notice, including selection by the New York Times as one of the ten best alternative albums of 2002. Readers of Jazziz and Drum magazine voted it "Best Brazilian CD of the Year" and named Baptista "Best Percussionist of 2002," while Down Beat's annual critics' poll designated him a "Rising Star" in percussion.
A working association with guitarist Trey Anastasio (Phish) began on 2002's Alive Again and continues through studio and touring bands. Additional credits that period included dates with Wilson, Barenboim, Bobby McFerrin, and Joseph Arthur. Subsequent years brought ongoing involvement with Bar Kokhba Sextet and Electric Masada plus guest appearances alongside Spyro Gyra, Gipsy Kings, and Yo-Yo Ma.
Love the Donkey, the second Beat the Donkey album on Tzadik, emerged in 2005 followed by U.S. touring. He joined Billy Martin's band for Socket in 2006 and resumed work with Zorn on revived soundtrack projects. Following contributions to FilmWorks XXI: Belle De Nature/New Rijksmuseum and FilmWorks XXII: The Last Supper, Baptista released Banquet of the Spirits in 2008, the debut recording by a new ensemble featuring bassist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, cellist Erik Friedlander, keyboardist Brian Marsella, a three-voice chorus, and assorted guests. That year he also joined the Dreamers for their self-titled debut, a septet with Frisell, Zorn, Joey Barron, Kenny Wollesen, Marc Ribot, and Trevor Dunn that extended the stylistic synthesis of surf, exotica, jazz, and rock first explored on Zorn's 2001 album The Gift.
Baptista appeared on Zorn's O´o in 2009, another lounge-inflected surf and easy-listening excursion featuring the Dreamers as a sextet with Jamie Saft on keyboards and Zorn credited solely as producer. Banquet of the Spirits followed with the widely praised sophomore release Infinito. Remaining 2009 sessions included albums by Sting, Luciana Souza, and Cassandra Wilson. The Dreamers issued Ipos: Book of Angels, Vol. 14 and the compilation The Gentle Side in 2010, while Baptista released the instructional DVD Solos: The Jazz Sessions on MVD. Banquet of the Spirits delivered its third album, Caym: Book of Angels, Vol. 17, in 2011, coinciding with the appearance of the Dreamers' A Dreamers Christmas.
Frequent Zorn collaborations continued over the next four years along with recordings by guitarist and composer Todd Clouser and singers Holly Cole, Sloan Wainwright, and Amy London. New Zion Trio enlisted him as co-billed guest on the 2016 album Sunshine Seas. That year also brought trombonist Steve Turre's Colors for the Masters and Shunzo Ohno's ReNew, yet the principal release remained his own expansive Bluefly. Its core originated in an impromptu session with cellist Vincent Segal, bassist Ira Coleman, and percussionist Tim Keiper that yielded unfinished pieces by the participants. Baptista later invited contributions from keyboardist Marsella, Brazilian guitarists Romero Lubambo and Cadu Costa, laptop performer Ikue Mori, and numerous bass drummers and samplers.
After the album's appearance Baptista immersed himself in session work for several years. He contributed to 2017's Azul by the Knights under conductor Erik Jacobsen, sharing soloist duties with Yo-Yo Ma on interpretations of works by Osvaldo Golijov, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sufjan Stevens, and Antonín Dvořák. Additional significant albums that year featured electronicist Gaudi (Magnetic), pianist Harold Mabern (To Love and Be Loved), guitarist Lionel Loueke (The Journey), Nels Cline Singers (Share the Wealth), Zorn (the eleven-disc The Book Beri’ah box), and Anastasio (Burn It Down). Damon Albarn's Honest Jon's label reissued the 1987 Cyro with Bailey in 2019.
Baptista returned with Chama on Ropeadope in 2023. The fourteen-track collection, recorded across seven studios in four countries over multiple years, contains only his own compositions. Geographic and temporal distances notwithstanding, the set features longtime associates Marsella, Clouser, and Saft together with Brazilian musicians and singers Carlos Eduardo Costa, Jorge Continentino, Lubambo, and Gil Oliveira.
Sao Paulo native Baptista absorbed bossa nova rhythms intensely in childhood and first replicated those patterns on a coconut shell. After classical studies in drumming and composition he also mastered instrument construction, the sole route to the exact timbres he required.
Baptista relocated from Brazil to Woodstock, New York, in 1980 upon earning a scholarship to the Creative Music Studio and has maintained residence in New York ever since. Following his 1981 move to New York City he launched a career of live and studio work. Introduction to English guitarist, improviser, and writer Derek Bailey led to an October 1982 duo recording session; the resulting album Cyro surfaced on the guitarist's Ictus imprint in 1987. Baptista entered trumpeter and trombonist Claudio Roditi's Latin jazz outfit Guanabara alongside drummer Duduka Fonseca and others for their second album, 1984's On the Move, issued by Japan's Baystate label.
Session and touring duties occupied the balance of the decade with Randy Brecker and Eliane Elias, Manfredo Fest, Paquito D'Rivera, and Rubén Blades. His participation on Zorn's landmark tribute to Ennio Morricone, The Big Gundown, stands out most prominently, and that intermittent collaboration persists into the present century. During 1989 alone Baptista appeared on Rain Dance by countryman Nana Vasconcelos, Before We Were Born by Bill Frisell, Strange Angels by Laurie Anderson, and Rei Momo by David Byrne.
Intense activity on the New York jazz and pop circuits defined the nineties. Recording credits accumulated with Herbie Mann, Herbie Hancock (including Gershwin's World), Brian Eno, Robert Palmer, Grover Washington, Jr., Kathleen Battle, and Wynton Marsalis among many others. He contributed to Zorn's FilmWorks: 1986-1990 in 1990 and continued on numerous additional volumes with the Bar Kokhba Sextet on The Circle Maker as well as the vanguard classical experiments collected on Music Romance, Vols. 1 and 2 and further releases.
Contemporary Brazilian artists also feature in his work. Appearances throughout the nineties occurred on albums by Marisa Monte, Tom Zé, Milton Nascimento, Arto Lindsay, Badi Assad, and Caetano Veloso. Among his most visible pop and rock associations stands the 1990 Rhythm of the Saints Tour and Concert in the Park with Paul Simon. As his music developed he incorporated traditions originating in South and Central America, southern Africa, India, and Indonesia.
Avant, Zorn's Japanese imprint, issued Vira Loucos: Cyro Baptista Plays the Music of Villa-Lobos in 1997 (later reappearing on the American Tzadik label). That same year Baptista maintained near-constant studio presence, adding twenty-four additional recordings that included Gato Barbieri's Que Pasa, Jeb Loy Nichols' Lover's Knot, and Good People by Javon Jackson. The decade's closing three years found him working on projects by Phoebe Snow, Hancock, Arto Lindsay, and Zorn.
Between 2000 and 2001 he recorded with classical conductor Daniel Barenboim, saxophonist James Carter, and Brazilian singer-songwriter Susana Baca. He formed the percussion and dance ensemble Beat the Donkey in 2002; Tzadik released its self-titled debut to widespread critical notice, including selection by the New York Times as one of the ten best alternative albums of 2002. Readers of Jazziz and Drum magazine voted it "Best Brazilian CD of the Year" and named Baptista "Best Percussionist of 2002," while Down Beat's annual critics' poll designated him a "Rising Star" in percussion.
A working association with guitarist Trey Anastasio (Phish) began on 2002's Alive Again and continues through studio and touring bands. Additional credits that period included dates with Wilson, Barenboim, Bobby McFerrin, and Joseph Arthur. Subsequent years brought ongoing involvement with Bar Kokhba Sextet and Electric Masada plus guest appearances alongside Spyro Gyra, Gipsy Kings, and Yo-Yo Ma.
Love the Donkey, the second Beat the Donkey album on Tzadik, emerged in 2005 followed by U.S. touring. He joined Billy Martin's band for Socket in 2006 and resumed work with Zorn on revived soundtrack projects. Following contributions to FilmWorks XXI: Belle De Nature/New Rijksmuseum and FilmWorks XXII: The Last Supper, Baptista released Banquet of the Spirits in 2008, the debut recording by a new ensemble featuring bassist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, cellist Erik Friedlander, keyboardist Brian Marsella, a three-voice chorus, and assorted guests. That year he also joined the Dreamers for their self-titled debut, a septet with Frisell, Zorn, Joey Barron, Kenny Wollesen, Marc Ribot, and Trevor Dunn that extended the stylistic synthesis of surf, exotica, jazz, and rock first explored on Zorn's 2001 album The Gift.
Baptista appeared on Zorn's O´o in 2009, another lounge-inflected surf and easy-listening excursion featuring the Dreamers as a sextet with Jamie Saft on keyboards and Zorn credited solely as producer. Banquet of the Spirits followed with the widely praised sophomore release Infinito. Remaining 2009 sessions included albums by Sting, Luciana Souza, and Cassandra Wilson. The Dreamers issued Ipos: Book of Angels, Vol. 14 and the compilation The Gentle Side in 2010, while Baptista released the instructional DVD Solos: The Jazz Sessions on MVD. Banquet of the Spirits delivered its third album, Caym: Book of Angels, Vol. 17, in 2011, coinciding with the appearance of the Dreamers' A Dreamers Christmas.
Frequent Zorn collaborations continued over the next four years along with recordings by guitarist and composer Todd Clouser and singers Holly Cole, Sloan Wainwright, and Amy London. New Zion Trio enlisted him as co-billed guest on the 2016 album Sunshine Seas. That year also brought trombonist Steve Turre's Colors for the Masters and Shunzo Ohno's ReNew, yet the principal release remained his own expansive Bluefly. Its core originated in an impromptu session with cellist Vincent Segal, bassist Ira Coleman, and percussionist Tim Keiper that yielded unfinished pieces by the participants. Baptista later invited contributions from keyboardist Marsella, Brazilian guitarists Romero Lubambo and Cadu Costa, laptop performer Ikue Mori, and numerous bass drummers and samplers.
After the album's appearance Baptista immersed himself in session work for several years. He contributed to 2017's Azul by the Knights under conductor Erik Jacobsen, sharing soloist duties with Yo-Yo Ma on interpretations of works by Osvaldo Golijov, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sufjan Stevens, and Antonín Dvořák. Additional significant albums that year featured electronicist Gaudi (Magnetic), pianist Harold Mabern (To Love and Be Loved), guitarist Lionel Loueke (The Journey), Nels Cline Singers (Share the Wealth), Zorn (the eleven-disc The Book Beri’ah box), and Anastasio (Burn It Down). Damon Albarn's Honest Jon's label reissued the 1987 Cyro with Bailey in 2019.
Baptista returned with Chama on Ropeadope in 2023. The fourteen-track collection, recorded across seven studios in four countries over multiple years, contains only his own compositions. Geographic and temporal distances notwithstanding, the set features longtime associates Marsella, Clouser, and Saft together with Brazilian musicians and singers Carlos Eduardo Costa, Jorge Continentino, Lubambo, and Gil Oliveira.
Albums
