Biography
Naná Vasconcelos belonged to a group of highly innovative Brazilian percussionists whose work reshaped Brazilian jazz after the bossa nova era during the 1970s. He stood out as a particularly resourceful master of the berimbau, an instrument with an archer’s-bow form that yields highly expressive tones, and he handled the asymmetric rhythms such as 5/4 and 7/4 that were common in northern Brazil yet rare farther south.
Born to a guitarist, he began performing in his father’s ensemble at twelve, initially concentrating on bongos and maracas. Adding a full drum set to his collection, he relocated to Rio de Janeiro in the middle of the 1960s, where he connected with the emerging Milton Nascimento and gradually incorporated additional Brazilian percussion instruments. Gato Barbieri discovered him and brought him along on tours across Argentina, Europe, and a 1971 visit to the United States; Vasconcelos appears on several of Barbieri’s Flying Dutchman recordings. After those travels he settled in Paris for two years, making occasional appearances with Don Cherry in Sweden. In 1976 he issued the notable duo recording Dança Das Cabeças alongside Brazilian guitarist and wood-flute player Egberto Gismonti, the first of multiple projects he led or supported on the ECM label. He rejoined Cherry in 1978 and, together with Collin Walcott, established the trio Codona, which blended musical traditions from four continents until Walcott died in 1984.
During the same period Vasconcelos served as a “special guest” with the Pat Metheny Group from 1980 through 1983, steering Metheny’s sound toward Brazilian influences. Thereafter he collaborated intermittently with Cherry, toured and recorded with Jan Garbarek, contributed to numerous sessions, and in 1995 formed a distinctive duo with Scottish classical percussionist Evelyn Glennie for a concert at the Bath International Music Festival. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s he created and performed film scores that earned widespread praise along with Grammy nominations, while maintaining an intensive touring calendar.
Vasconcelos remained an active and sought-after sideman. In 2015 he received a lung-cancer diagnosis and began treatment. He completed the album Café no Bule with Zeca Baleiro and Paulo Lepetit, yet his condition worsened. He died of respiratory failure on March 9, 2016, at his home in Recife.
Born to a guitarist, he began performing in his father’s ensemble at twelve, initially concentrating on bongos and maracas. Adding a full drum set to his collection, he relocated to Rio de Janeiro in the middle of the 1960s, where he connected with the emerging Milton Nascimento and gradually incorporated additional Brazilian percussion instruments. Gato Barbieri discovered him and brought him along on tours across Argentina, Europe, and a 1971 visit to the United States; Vasconcelos appears on several of Barbieri’s Flying Dutchman recordings. After those travels he settled in Paris for two years, making occasional appearances with Don Cherry in Sweden. In 1976 he issued the notable duo recording Dança Das Cabeças alongside Brazilian guitarist and wood-flute player Egberto Gismonti, the first of multiple projects he led or supported on the ECM label. He rejoined Cherry in 1978 and, together with Collin Walcott, established the trio Codona, which blended musical traditions from four continents until Walcott died in 1984.
During the same period Vasconcelos served as a “special guest” with the Pat Metheny Group from 1980 through 1983, steering Metheny’s sound toward Brazilian influences. Thereafter he collaborated intermittently with Cherry, toured and recorded with Jan Garbarek, contributed to numerous sessions, and in 1995 formed a distinctive duo with Scottish classical percussionist Evelyn Glennie for a concert at the Bath International Music Festival. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s he created and performed film scores that earned widespread praise along with Grammy nominations, while maintaining an intensive touring calendar.
Vasconcelos remained an active and sought-after sideman. In 2015 he received a lung-cancer diagnosis and began treatment. He completed the album Café no Bule with Zeca Baleiro and Paulo Lepetit, yet his condition worsened. He died of respiratory failure on March 9, 2016, at his home in Recife.
Albums
