Biography
Tom Zé launched his professional path in tandem with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Maria Bethânia. Through his compositions he shaped the direction of Caetano along with countless additional figures, while his personal catalog presented a substantial and vivid body of recorded material. An inquiring intellect drawn to contemporary classical explorations, he nevertheless remained overlooked by both record companies and listeners until David Byrne brought him to wider attention. His own formulation conveys the core approach most clearly: "I don't make art, I make spoken and sung journalism."
Born in the interior of Bahia, Zé absorbed the dominant sounds of his youth from Jackson do Pandeiro’s cocos, Luiz Gonzaga’s forros, regional folklore, Afro-Brazilian sambas de roda, and the cantigas of violeiros, together with the national stars transmitted by Rádio Nacional once electricity reached the area in 1949. By 1951 he had moved to Salvador. An indifferent pupil, he found lasting stimulus in Euclides da Cunha’s Os Sertões, whose account of the Canudos campaign offered a precise portrait of his Northeastern contemporaries. He later entered the CPC, an organization that sustained cultural opposition during the military dictatorship by investigating folk traditions and generating work grounded in those investigations. After collaborating with poet José Carlos Capinam on presentations of bumba-meu-boi and chegança, he drew criticism from CPC colleagues for repetition. Rejecting the charge that “folklore is always the same,” he nevertheless enrolled at the Music College of Bahia. Following an introductory program in music notation, he studied music history with H.J. Koellreuter, took lessons from Piero Bastianelli and Walter Smetak on violoncello, studied piano with Aida Zolinger, violão with Edy Cajueiro, composition with Ernst Widmer, counterpoint with Yulo Brandão, harmony with Jamari Oliveira, instrumentation with Lindembergue Cardoso, and orchestration with Sérgio Magnani.
In 1963, while actress Maria Muniz hosted weekly musical gatherings in Salvador also attended by Fernando Lona, Alcyvando Luz, Orlando Senna, Maria Lígia, and Álvaro Guimarães, Zé met Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. On September 7, 1964, he made his stage debut in the musical Nós por Exemplo No. 2, directed by Caetano Veloso and also featuring Caetano, Gil, Gal Costa, Maria Bethânia, Alcyvando Luz, Perna Fróes (then credited as Antônio Renato), and percussionist Djalma Corrèa. He soon joined the same Baianos in the Nova Bossa Velha -- Velha Bossa Nova production and, in 1965, in the musical Arena Conta Bahia, which presented his composition with Chico de Assis, “O Cachorro do Inglês.” The success of that show led RCA to offer singles to Caetano, Gil, Bethânia, and Zé. That same year Zé entered the recording industry with the single “Maria do Colégio da Bahia.” His “Parque Industrial” appeared on the album/manifesto Tropicália, and he issued his debut LP, Tom Zé, on Rozemblit. “São Paulo, Meu Amor” took first prize at TV Record’s IV FMPB in São Paulo, while “2001,” written with Rita Lee, placed fourth and received the Best Lyrics award at the same event.
In 1969 Zé shared the stage with Gal Costa in Rio and São Paulo for the show O Som Livre de Tom Zé e Gal Costa. He recorded the album Tom Zé for RGE in 1970. The following year he inaugurated the São Paulo course Sofist Balacobaco -- Muito Som e Pouco Papo. In 1972 he released another Tom Zé on Continental, followed by Todos os Olhos in 1973, Estudando o Samba in 1976, and Correio da Estação do Brás in 1977, all on the same label. He performed with the band Capote in São Paulo in 1974 and appeared as an actor in the Brazilian production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975. In 1976 he toured universities with Vicente Barreto. He moved to RGE in 1984 for Nave Maria, while Continental reissued the 1972 album as Se o Caso é Chorar. Throughout these years he continued occasional performances yet stayed largely invisible to mainstream audiences because of an unconventional style marked by irony, references to erudite music, and self-constructed instruments. Discouraged, he considered returning to his hometown to work at his nephew’s gas station.
During a 1989 visit to Brazil, David Byrne acquired a used copy of Estudando o Samba, initially regarding it as an instructional recording. Upon hearing the album he was immediately captivated and contacted Arto Lindsay for any available details on Zé. When a Brazilian journalist from a major newspaper interviewed Byrne, he noticed a note on the desk reading “When in Brazil, look for Tom Zé.” The journalist relayed the information, prompting an elated Zé to telephone Caetano, only to learn that Byrne had actually been inquiring about Tuzé de Abreu, a friend of the American musician—an episode that later introduced a measure of caution into Zé’s interviews. Byrne nevertheless signed Zé as the first artist on his Luaka Bop label. Subsequent releases received positive notices in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Le Monde and earned a Creativity Award in Telluride, Colorado. In 1991 The Best of Tom Zé was ranked third by critics and fourth by readers in Down Beat. Zé recorded The Hips of Tradition for Luaka Bop in 1992 and appeared at the Zurich Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He then embarked on well-received tours across Europe and the United States. He became the first Brazilian musician presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1993 and the first Latin American composer presented at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also opened a concert at the London International Festival of Theatre at Queen Elizabeth Hall and performed at festivals and concerts in Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and New York, receiving 20th Century Artist honors and appearing at Summerstage in Central Park.
In 1994 Zé contributed to the film Sábado directed by Ugo Giorgetti and toured the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and France. He performed in Brazil’s major cities in 1995 and 1996. That same period he composed the Parabelo soundtrack with José Miguel Wisnik for the modern ballet company Grupo Corpo, earning the APCA award. Luaka Bop issued Com Defeito de Fabricação (Fabrication Defect) in 1998 and Postmodern Platos Remixes in 1999. Warner Music Brazil followed with the compilation Enciclopédia Musical Brasileira to open the new decade, then Jogos de Armar in 2000. The collaboration with Gilberto Assis, Grupo Corpo: Sanaugustin, appeared in 2002, and the pair reunited for Santagustin in 2006. Zé released Estudando o Pagode in 2005 and Danc-Êh-Sá: Dança dos Herdeiros do Sacrifício in 2006. Imprensa Cantada 2003 reached the market in 2007. In 2010 Luaka Bop presented Estudando a Bossa along with a limited-edition 180-gram LP box set containing Massive Hits (Estudando o Samba), Estudando o Pagode, and Estudando a Bossa, plus a 7-inch single recorded with Tortoise and a CD of a conversation between Zé and David Byrne.
Born in the interior of Bahia, Zé absorbed the dominant sounds of his youth from Jackson do Pandeiro’s cocos, Luiz Gonzaga’s forros, regional folklore, Afro-Brazilian sambas de roda, and the cantigas of violeiros, together with the national stars transmitted by Rádio Nacional once electricity reached the area in 1949. By 1951 he had moved to Salvador. An indifferent pupil, he found lasting stimulus in Euclides da Cunha’s Os Sertões, whose account of the Canudos campaign offered a precise portrait of his Northeastern contemporaries. He later entered the CPC, an organization that sustained cultural opposition during the military dictatorship by investigating folk traditions and generating work grounded in those investigations. After collaborating with poet José Carlos Capinam on presentations of bumba-meu-boi and chegança, he drew criticism from CPC colleagues for repetition. Rejecting the charge that “folklore is always the same,” he nevertheless enrolled at the Music College of Bahia. Following an introductory program in music notation, he studied music history with H.J. Koellreuter, took lessons from Piero Bastianelli and Walter Smetak on violoncello, studied piano with Aida Zolinger, violão with Edy Cajueiro, composition with Ernst Widmer, counterpoint with Yulo Brandão, harmony with Jamari Oliveira, instrumentation with Lindembergue Cardoso, and orchestration with Sérgio Magnani.
In 1963, while actress Maria Muniz hosted weekly musical gatherings in Salvador also attended by Fernando Lona, Alcyvando Luz, Orlando Senna, Maria Lígia, and Álvaro Guimarães, Zé met Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. On September 7, 1964, he made his stage debut in the musical Nós por Exemplo No. 2, directed by Caetano Veloso and also featuring Caetano, Gil, Gal Costa, Maria Bethânia, Alcyvando Luz, Perna Fróes (then credited as Antônio Renato), and percussionist Djalma Corrèa. He soon joined the same Baianos in the Nova Bossa Velha -- Velha Bossa Nova production and, in 1965, in the musical Arena Conta Bahia, which presented his composition with Chico de Assis, “O Cachorro do Inglês.” The success of that show led RCA to offer singles to Caetano, Gil, Bethânia, and Zé. That same year Zé entered the recording industry with the single “Maria do Colégio da Bahia.” His “Parque Industrial” appeared on the album/manifesto Tropicália, and he issued his debut LP, Tom Zé, on Rozemblit. “São Paulo, Meu Amor” took first prize at TV Record’s IV FMPB in São Paulo, while “2001,” written with Rita Lee, placed fourth and received the Best Lyrics award at the same event.
In 1969 Zé shared the stage with Gal Costa in Rio and São Paulo for the show O Som Livre de Tom Zé e Gal Costa. He recorded the album Tom Zé for RGE in 1970. The following year he inaugurated the São Paulo course Sofist Balacobaco -- Muito Som e Pouco Papo. In 1972 he released another Tom Zé on Continental, followed by Todos os Olhos in 1973, Estudando o Samba in 1976, and Correio da Estação do Brás in 1977, all on the same label. He performed with the band Capote in São Paulo in 1974 and appeared as an actor in the Brazilian production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975. In 1976 he toured universities with Vicente Barreto. He moved to RGE in 1984 for Nave Maria, while Continental reissued the 1972 album as Se o Caso é Chorar. Throughout these years he continued occasional performances yet stayed largely invisible to mainstream audiences because of an unconventional style marked by irony, references to erudite music, and self-constructed instruments. Discouraged, he considered returning to his hometown to work at his nephew’s gas station.
During a 1989 visit to Brazil, David Byrne acquired a used copy of Estudando o Samba, initially regarding it as an instructional recording. Upon hearing the album he was immediately captivated and contacted Arto Lindsay for any available details on Zé. When a Brazilian journalist from a major newspaper interviewed Byrne, he noticed a note on the desk reading “When in Brazil, look for Tom Zé.” The journalist relayed the information, prompting an elated Zé to telephone Caetano, only to learn that Byrne had actually been inquiring about Tuzé de Abreu, a friend of the American musician—an episode that later introduced a measure of caution into Zé’s interviews. Byrne nevertheless signed Zé as the first artist on his Luaka Bop label. Subsequent releases received positive notices in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Le Monde and earned a Creativity Award in Telluride, Colorado. In 1991 The Best of Tom Zé was ranked third by critics and fourth by readers in Down Beat. Zé recorded The Hips of Tradition for Luaka Bop in 1992 and appeared at the Zurich Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He then embarked on well-received tours across Europe and the United States. He became the first Brazilian musician presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1993 and the first Latin American composer presented at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also opened a concert at the London International Festival of Theatre at Queen Elizabeth Hall and performed at festivals and concerts in Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and New York, receiving 20th Century Artist honors and appearing at Summerstage in Central Park.
In 1994 Zé contributed to the film Sábado directed by Ugo Giorgetti and toured the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and France. He performed in Brazil’s major cities in 1995 and 1996. That same period he composed the Parabelo soundtrack with José Miguel Wisnik for the modern ballet company Grupo Corpo, earning the APCA award. Luaka Bop issued Com Defeito de Fabricação (Fabrication Defect) in 1998 and Postmodern Platos Remixes in 1999. Warner Music Brazil followed with the compilation Enciclopédia Musical Brasileira to open the new decade, then Jogos de Armar in 2000. The collaboration with Gilberto Assis, Grupo Corpo: Sanaugustin, appeared in 2002, and the pair reunited for Santagustin in 2006. Zé released Estudando o Pagode in 2005 and Danc-Êh-Sá: Dança dos Herdeiros do Sacrifício in 2006. Imprensa Cantada 2003 reached the market in 2007. In 2010 Luaka Bop presented Estudando a Bossa along with a limited-edition 180-gram LP box set containing Massive Hits (Estudando o Samba), Estudando o Pagode, and Estudando a Bossa, plus a 7-inch single recorded with Tortoise and a CD of a conversation between Zé and David Byrne.
Albums
