Hermeto Pascoal

Hermeto Pascoal (born June 22, 1936) is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil. Pascoal is best known in Brazilian music for his orchestration and improvisation, as well as for being a record producer and contributor to many Brazilian and international albums.

Early life and career
Pascoal comes from Northeastern Brazil, in an area that lacked electricity at the time he was born. He learned the accordion from his father and practiced for hours indoors, as, being albino, he was incapable of working in the countryside with the rest of his family.

His career began in 1964 with appearances on several Brazilian recordings alongside relatively unknown groups. These albums and the musicians involved (Edu Lobo, Elis Regina, Cesar Camargo Mariano) established widely influential new directions in post-bossa nova Brazilian jazz.

In 1966, he played in the Sambrasa Trio, with Airto Moreira and Humberto Clayber; they released only one album, Em Som Maior. Then he joined Trio Novo (Airto Moreira, Heraldo do Monte, Theo de Barros) and in 1967 the group, renamed Quarteto Novo, released an album that launched the careers of Pascoal and Moreira. Pascoal would then go on to join the multi-faceted group Brazilian Octopus.

International fame
Pascoal initially caught the international public's attention with an appearance on Miles Davis's 1971 album Live-Evil, which featured him on three pieces, which he also composed. Davis allegedly called Pascoal "the most impressive musician in the world". Later collaborations involved fellow Brazilian musicians Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. From the late 1970s onward, he has mostly led his own groups, playing at many prestigious venues, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1979. Other members of the group have included bassist Itibere Zwarg, pianist Jovino Santos-Neto and percussionists Nene, Pernambuco, and Zabelê.

Known as o Bruxo (the Sorcerer), Pascoal often makes music with unconventional objects such as teapots, children's toys, and animals, as well as keyboards, button accordions, melodica, saxophones, guitars, flutes, voices, various brass and folkloric instruments. He uses nature as a basis for his compositions, as in his Música da Lagoa, in which the musicians burble water and play flutes while immersed in a lagoon: a Brazilian television broadcast from 1999 showed him soloing at one point by singing into a cup with his mouth partially submerged in water. Folk music from rural Brazil is another important influence in his work.

Between 1996 and 1997, Pascoal worked on a book project called Calendário do Som, which contains a song for every day of the year, including February 29, so that everyone would have a song for their birthday.

He was married to Ilza da Silva, to whom he dedicated many compositions, from 1954 until her death in 2000. They had six children, Jorge, Fábio, Flávia, Fátima, Fabiula, and Flávio, and many grandchildren. Hermeto was later married to Aline Morena from 2003 until 2016, while living in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

He has since returned to the Jabour neighborhood in Bangu, Rio de Janeiro, where he spends much of his time composing, rehearsing and hosting musicians from all over the world.

In 2019, his album Hermeto Pascoal e Sua Visão Original do Forró won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Portuguese Language Roots Album.

As leader or member

 * 1964: Conjunto Som 4 (with Conjunto Som 4)
 * 1966: Em Som Maior (with Sambrasa Trio)
 * 1967: Quarteto Novo (with Quarteto Novo)
 * 1969: Brazilian Octopus (with Brazilian Octopus)
 * 1970: Hermeto Pascoal (solo debut, reissued on CD as Brazilian Adventure) (featuring Googie Coppola)
 * 1973: A música livre de Hermeto Pascoal
 * 1977: Slaves Mass
 * 1977: Trindade
 * 1979: Zabumbê-bum-á
 * 1979: Ao vivo Montreux Jazz Festival
 * 1979: Nova história da Música Popular Brasileira (compilation)
 * 1980: Cérebro magnético
 * 1981: Planetário da Gávea
 * 1982: Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo (reissued by Westwind Germany on CD as The Legendary Improviser. The reissue appears to be a copy from vinyl.)
 * 1984: Lagoa da Canoa, Município de Arapiraca
 * 1986: Brasil Universo
 * 1987: Só não toca quem não quer
 * 1988: Hermeto solo: por diferentes caminhos
 * 1992: Festa dos deuses
 * 1993: Instrumental no CCBB (with Renato Borghetti)
 * 1998: Música!: o melhor da música de Hermeto Pascoal (compilation)
 * 1999: Eu e eles
 * 2002: Mundo verde esperança
 * 2006: Chimarrão com rapadura (with Aline Morena)
 * 2010: Bodas de Latão (with Aline Morena)
 * 2013: Hermeto Pascoal: The Monash Sessions
 * 2017: No Mundo dos Sons
 * 2017: Viajando com o som (recorded in 1976)
 * 2017: Natureza Universal
 * 2018: Made of Music
 * 2018: E sua visão original do forró

As contributor

 * 1956: Ritmos Alucinantes, by Clovis Pereira
 * 1959: Batucando no Morro, by Pernambuco do Pandeiro e seu regional
 * 1970: Natural Feelings, by Airto Moreira
 * 1970: Electric Byrd, by Donald Byrd
 * 1970: Sergio Mendes Presents Lobo, by Edu Lobo
 * 1970: It Could Only Happen with You, by Duke Pearson
 * 1970: Live-Evil, by Miles Davis
 * 1971: Cantiga de Longe, by Edu Lobo
 * 1971: Seeds on the Ground, by Airto Moreira
 * 1975: Di Melo, by Di Melo
 * 1976: Imyra, Tayra, Ipy, by Taiguara
 * 1976: Open Your Eyes You Can Fly, by Flora Purim
 * 1976 Goldenwings, by Opa
 * 1977: Orós, by Raimundo Fagner
 * 1978: Robertinho no passo, by Robertinho de Recife
 * 1979: Sivuca, by Sivuca
 * 1979: Live in Montreux, by Elis Regina
 * 1980: Stone Alliance, by Márcio Montarroyos
 * 1983: Cordas vivas, by Heraldo do Monte
 * 1984: Ponto do músicos, by Nenê
 * 1986: Balãozinho, by Eduardo Gudin
 * 1986: Cordas mágicas, by Heraldo do Monte
 * 1986: Pindorama, by Pau Brasil
 * 1987: Flávio Pantoja, by Flavio Pantoja
 * 1987: Dharana, by Dharana
 * 1996: Brasil Musical - Série Música Viva - Pau Brasil E Hermeto Pascoal|Brasil Musical - Série Música Viva (with Pau Brasil)
 * 1998: Maritmo, by Adriana Calcanhotto (on track "Canção por Acaso")
 * 2000: Oferenda, by Aleuda
 * 2000: Nação Nordestina, by Zé Ramalho (on track "Violando com Hermeto")
 * 2003: Serenata: The Music of Hermeto Pascoal, by Mike Marshall and Jovino Santos Neto
 * 2006: Roda Carioca, by Jovino Santos Neto
 * 2023: Beams, by Dan Costa (composer)