Ivan Lins

Songwriter, vocalist, and pianist Ivan Lins stands as a towering figure in Brazilian music. His reedy baritone delivers phrasing rich in subtlety while rejecting conventional limits, and he has supplied material to an array of singers across decades. Attention first arrived in 1970 when Elis Regina turned his “Madalena” into a hit. Across an extensive discography he placed key recordings with RCA (Modo Livre), EMI (A Noite, Novo Tempo), Philips (Amar Assim), and Reprise (Love Dance). Audiences in the United States and Europe soon embraced his work; during the 1980s he joined urban-contemporary figures George Benson and Quincy Jones on projects before establishing an independent presence in the American market. GRP Live in Session, issued in 1985, placed him with Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, and additional jazz players. In 1996 he joined jazz pianist Chucho Valdés and Irakere for Live in Cuba. Cantando Histórias from 2005 earned Latin Grammys for Best MPB Album and Album of the Year. Acariocando, released in 2006, entered the charts and received worldwide praise. Regência: Vince Mendoza from 2009 secured Best MPB Album honors, a distinction matched by América, Brasil in 2014. My Heart Speaks, issued in 2023, employed a 91-piece orchestra together with soloists Dianne Reeves and Randy Brecker among others.

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1945, Lins moved at age two to Boston after his father, a naval engineer, enrolled at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Early exposure to American music, especially songs from Disney films, left a lasting mark that still shapes the narrative design of his compositions, whose melodies often anchor both opening and closing sections. When he turned six his parents returned to Brazil, where he began formal piano instruction and developed a taste for big-band recordings, particularly the arrangements Billy May created for Frank Sinatra.

In his late teens Lins completed a degree in industrial chemical engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and briefly contemplated a career in professional volleyball. Meanwhile Brazilian music surged with the rise of bossa nova, whose beach-oriented songs and intricate romantic stories gave way first to national fascination with samba and then to the emergence of Música Popular Brasileira, or MPB. He began appearing at clubs and festivals, and in 1970 the era’s foremost Brazilian vocalist, iconic Elis Regina, recorded his “Madalena,” which became a domestic and European success. Ella Fitzgerald released her own version in 1971; the song has since appeared dozens of times and entered the Brazilian canon.

Lins signed with Roberto Quartin’s Forma label, issuing his debut long-player Agora and the follow-up Deixa O Trem Seguir in 1971. Quem Sou Eu appeared on Philips the next year. For more than five decades his principal lyricist and business partner remained Vítor Martins. After moving to RCA he delivered two of his most enduring works, 1974’s Mondo Livre and 1975’s Chama Acesa. Restless from constant touring, he joined EMI in 1976 and recorded five albums for the company, among them the 1979 and 1980 classics A Noite and Novo Tempo.

Although already celebrated at home and throughout Europe, especially in France and Germany, Lins remained virtually unknown in North America. In 1979 session percussionist Paulinho Da Costa, himself Brazilian, introduced his music to producer Quincy Jones, who licensed “Dinorah Dinorah” for George Benson’s chart-topping Give Me the Night, thereby introducing Lins to U.S. listeners. Jones included “Velas” on 1981’s The Dude, which earned a Grammy for Best Instrumental Performance. Sarah Vaughan recorded Lins’ best-known piece, “Love Dance,” in 1982, the same year he released Daquilo Que Eu Sei. Visibility grew further when he appeared with Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, Dianne Schuur, and Dave Valentin in the 1985 documentary and concert film GRP Live in Session during the peak of the smooth-jazz period. He contributed “Arlequim Desconhecido” (Metropolis) and “Antes Que Seja Tarde” (Notes from the Underground) to Manhattan Transfer’s successful Brasil album and supplied and performed the title track and “Some People Just Never Learn” on the Crusaders’ 1988 release Life in the Modern World; Da Costa also participated in those sessions.

Despite respect among producers and fellow musicians, Lins stayed largely unfamiliar to American record buyers until his first English-language album, 1989’s Love Dance on Reprise, which featured the pop/R&B single “You Moved Me to This,” a duet with Brenda Russell. He later co-wrote and sang on “The Universe Is Calling You” from her 1993 album Soul Talkin’. His next project, Awa Yiô, was tracked in New York for Velas—the imprint he and Vítor Martins established in 1991—and issued domestically by Reprise, with King Crimson’s Tony Levin on stick and bass, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, and Hugh Masekela on trumpet.

Commercial momentum proved insufficient to sustain the American contract, so for the rest of the century Lins issued several Velas titles, including Anjo De Mim (later issued in the U.S. as I’m Not Alone with English lyrics) and the three-volume VivaNoel, devoted to the songs of legendary early-20th-century Brazilian songwriter and guitarist Noel Rosa (1910–1937). He also collaborated with Chucho Valdés and Irakere on En Vivo, released jointly by Havana’s Egrem and Velas. Live at MCG, recorded at Manchester’s Craftsmans’ Guild, appeared in 1999 on Heads Up International with an all-Brazilian ensemble.

In 2000 keyboardist, composer, and producer Jason Miles paid tribute with the compilation Love Affair: The Music of Ivan Lins, drawing contributions from Brenda Russell, Dianne Reeves, Chaka Khan, Vanessa Williams, Grover Washington, Jr., Sting, and others. Lins had by then become a consistent draw in jazz clubs across the United States and United Kingdom.

That same year he returned with A Cor Do Pôr-Do-Sol, his first studio album in five years, writing eight of its fifteen tracks—two each with Vítor Martins, Aldir Blanc, and Caetano Veloso—launching a distinguished sequence of releases. Jobiniando, a Latin Grammy-nominated orchestral homage to Antonio Carlos Jobim, followed in 2001. EMI’s 2002 collection Love Songs: A Quem Me Faz Feliz included guest vocals from Jane Monheit and Wanda Sa. Cantando Histórias, issued in 2004, received a Latin Grammy nomination for Album of the Year and won MPB Record of the Year in 2005. Acariocando earned a 2005 Latin Grammy nomination for Best Singer-Songwriter Album.

Lins joined Brazilian-fusion legends Azymuth on Arthur Verocai’s Far Out release Encore and issued Saudades De Casa for Warner Brazil with his regular band. Biscoito Fino’s 2009 Ivan Lins & Metropole Orchestra—issued in Brazil as Regência: Vince Mendoza—featured direction by Vince Mendoza plus guitarist Leonardo Amuedo and vocalists Trijntje Oosterhuis and Paulo De Carvalho, after which an international tour ensued. The first of two Som Livre albums, 2010’s Intimo, assembled collaborations with Oosterhuis, Monheit, Take 6, Alejandro Sanz, and others. Amorágio, released in 2012, presented a refined selection of pop songs performed by an all-Brazilian group. In 2013 Lins accepted an invitation from Italian samba ensemble Inventario, traveled to Italy, and recorded Incantra, which was nominated for Best MPB Album at the Latin Grammys; Cornucopia, a project with the SWR Big Band, also appeared that year.

América, Brasil emerged in 2014 as a one-off Sony Music release recorded by a trio of Lins (handling keyboards, guitars, percussion, and loops), multi-instrumentalist and co-producer Marco Brito, and drummer/percussionist Teo Lima; it was named MPB Album of the Year at the 2015 Latin Grammys. Muito Bom Tocar Junto, a 2010 collaboration with composer and pianist Geraldo Flach (who died in 2011), surfaced on Discobertas in 2017, while Cumplicidade, recorded with arranger/composer Gilson Peranzzetta, appeared the same year on Fina Flor.

Lins has toured extensively with his own ensemble, served as featured guest at festivals, and contributed to numerous recordings. He also formed and traveled with the quintet Supergenerous alongside Brazilian percussion master Cyro Baptista and Canadian guitarist Kevin Breit.

No further album arrived until 2023’s My Heart Speaks, commissioned by Resonance label head George Klabin, who had earlier released Eddie Daniels’ 2020 star-studded tribute Night Kisses. For the new project Lins assembled a career-spanning program of familiar and lesser-known songs. Klabin engaged the 91-member Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra and a jazz quartet, with German composer/arranger Kuno Schmid supplying the charts. Additional support came from trumpeter Randy Brecker and vocalists Dianne Reeves, Tawanda, and Jane Monheit (the latter also supplying English lyrics for two tracks). Issued in September 2023, the recording drew worldwide acclaim as the most vividly realized survey of Lins’ catalog to date.