Brazilian composer and pianist João Donato accepts the perfect Latin jazz album award on the eleventh Annual Latin Grammy Awards, on Nov. 11, 2010, in Las Vegas.
Julie Jacobson/AP
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Julie Jacobson/AP
Brazilian composer and pianist João Donato accepts the perfect Latin jazz album award on the eleventh Annual Latin Grammy Awards, on Nov. 11, 2010, in Las Vegas.
Julie Jacobson/AP
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian composer and pianist João Donato, who helped lay the groundwork for bossa nova however all through his profession defied confinement to any single style, died Monday. He was 88.
His dying was introduced on his verified Instagram account. Native media reported that he had been hospitalized and intubated with pneumonia.
Donato was prolific and ingenious, collaborating with prime artists at house and overseas, together with Chet Baker, João Gilberto, Sergio Mendes, Tito Puente, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa and numerous others.
“At this time we misplaced one in all our best and most inventive composers,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wrote on Twitter. “João Donato noticed music in all the things. He innovated, he handed by means of samba, bossa nova, jazz, forro and within the combination of rhythm constructed one thing distinctive. He stored creating and innovating till the top.”
Donato was born within the Amazonian state of Acre on Brazil’s western border, removed from the cultural hubs of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. He confirmed prodigious musical potential as a boy upon receiving an accordion as a Christmas reward and shortly after his household moved to Rio started taking part in professionally.
He floated between two rival jazz fan golf equipment, taking part in at each, making contacts and leaving an impression. He started recording with ensembles and his personal compositions.
Amongst his best-known songs have been “A ra” (The Frog), “Bananeira” (Banana Tree) and “Minha Saudade” (My Longing).
At occasions he confirmed reluctance to place lyrics to his music. A number of weeks in the past on his Instagram account, he recalled telling Gilberto Gil {that a} melody of his might don’t have any lyrics. “And also you, generously and kindly, stated, ‘It does, it does, it does/all the things does/it all the time does …’ “
On Monday, Gil recorded a video of himself with a guitar, sharing one other occasion of Donato coming to him with a catchy melody that he had created, however in want of lyrics.
Donato’s syncopation influenced the guitar beat developed by João Gilberto that blossomed into the bossa nova motion. By that point, Donato had set off to play within the U.S., first in Lake Tahoe after which Los Angeles. He spent 13 years residing there, generally returning to Brazil to report bossa nova tracks because the type turned a world craze.
However within the U.S. he additionally recorded the album “A Unhealthy Donato,” which fused jazz, funk and soul. Knowledgeable by the sounds he heard from James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, it was indicative of the eclecticism all through his profession.
Music critic Irineu Franco Perpetuo stated Donato’s music usually options “scorching” rhythms inviting one to bop, somewhat than bossa nova’s subdued and melancholy sway.
“He was bigger than life, flamboyant, extroverted, so he cannot be put within the bossa nova field. He had a temperament that went past the restrained vibe of bossa nova,” Perpetuo stated in a phone interview. “He introduced that exuberant rhythm. He’s essential in bossa nova, however he went past.”
Ultimately, Donato returned to Rio, and continued collaborating and recording for many years.
“A delicate and distinctive man, creator of his personal type with a piano that was totally different than all the things I had seen earlier than. Candy, exact and profound,” singer Marisa Monte, who partnered with Donato extra lately, wrote on Twitter.
Individuals passing in entrance of his bayside house in Rio’s Urca neighborhood, beneath Sugarloaf mountain, might listen in on him taking part in inside. He launched an album final 12 months, and was nonetheless taking part in reveals earlier this 12 months.
“I am not bossa nova, I am not samba, I am not jazz, I am not rumba, I am not forro. In fact, I am all of that on the identical time,” Donato advised the Rio newspaper O Globo in a 2014 interview.
Donato’s wake might be held at Rio’s municipal theater.