Dom Salvador

Long celebrated as a Brazilian jazz virtuoso whose career has spanned continents, Dom Salvador earned wide recognition through his work supporting prominent MPB performers such as Elis Regina, Quarteto em Cy, Jorge Ben, Edu Lobo, Rosinha de Valença, Sílvia Telles, and Elza Soares. The Rio 65 Trio he assembled featured Edison Machado, widely regarded as perhaps the finest Brazilian drummer ever, and the group committed several albums to tape, among them one captured in Germany. His investigations into both musical forms and political questions positioned him as an early architect of the Black Rio movement, assembling the players who would later establish the band that shared its name. Already performing with an orchestra in his hometown by age twelve, he had achieved local renown by twenty-three and chose to relocate to São Paulo. There he took the piano chair at the Lancaster nightclub, a hub for the city’s jazz community. When he joined the Copa Trio he shifted to Rio, where he performed in the storied Beco Das Garrafas district—known as Rio’s 52nd Street—and backed emerging talents including Elis Regina, Quarteto em Cy, and Jorge Ben. He assembled the Rio 65 Trio in 1965 with bassist Sérgio Barroso and drummer Edison Machado; the ensemble toured regionally and issued the album Rio 65 Trio that same year. The following year the trio embarked on a nine-country European tour supporting Edu Lobo, Rosinha de Valença, Silvia Telles, and Rubens Bassini, and while in Germany they recorded an album that featured Salvador’s composition “Meu Fraco é Café Forte.” That year he also appeared in the United States, returning later as accompanist to Elza Soares. Eventually stepping away from the spotlight, he devoted himself to travel and musical study, forming the black-only ensemble Abolição that served as the nucleus of the movement and gave rise to Band Black Rio. The group released Som, Sangue E Raça - Dom Salvador e Abolição in 1971. In 1986 he documented further work with a fresh lineup under the name Dom Salvador Trio, after which he made his home in the United States.