Danilo Caymmi served as accompanist to Dorival Caymmi and to Tom Jobim within the latter’s Banda Nova while also composing scores for multiple TV Globo productions, among them the series Mulheres de Areia, Corpo e Alma, and Riacho Doce. In his own right he has released seven albums devoted to his own songs. A member of one of Brazil’s most celebrated musical dynasties, he is the son of Dorival Caymmi, widely regarded as one of the nation’s foremost popular composers, and of the onetime singer Stella Maris, née Adelaide Tostes Caymmi, who retired from performing after her marriage yet made a rare appearance on the 1963 album Caymmi Visita Tom—Danilo’s own debut, cut when he was fifteen. He is likewise the brother of Nana Caymmi and Dori Caymmi. Around 1962 he began studying flute and violão, taking flute lessons from Lenir Siqueira and Odette Ernst Dias, violão instruction from his brother Dori, and separate classes in music theory. His earliest composition to reach disc was “De Brincadeira,” recorded by Mário Castro-Neves in 1967. The following year he placed third at TV Globo’s III Festival Internacional da Canção with “Andança,” co-written with Edmundo Souto and Paulinho Tapajós; the song quickly became a standard and has since been covered by numerous artists. In 1969 he scored another success with “Casaco Marrom (Bye Bye, Ceci),” created with Guarabira and Renato Correia—the latter a member of the Golden Boys—winning the festival in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, and enjoying further recordings by other performers. His first solo album appeared in 1973, a period when his principal work still involved supporting his father, brother, and sister onstage. Joining Tom Jobim’s Banda Nova in 1983, Caymmi acquired valuable arranging experience; at Jobim’s urging he then began to emphasize his own work as a vocalist. Capitalizing on his appearance, he deliberately crafts and performs material aimed at a female audience, favoring a light romantic tone that contrasts with the deeper emotional explorations favored by his sister Nana. Following this approach, he issued five solo albums throughout the 1990s.
