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INTERVIEWS: Discovering João Donato

 

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--Above and below:   An interview with Donato published in QUEM ACONTECE Magazine (translation: WHO HAPPENS), which is a kind of Brazilian version of PEOPLE magazine.  It is from the November 16, 2000 issue (Year 2, No. 62)
[Article scans courtesy of Arnaldo DeSouteiro]
 

Interview-pg1.jpg - QUEM ACONTECE Magazine article.

 

 


http://www.brunijazzart.com

Interview with Bruni Sablan, Portrait Artist

Interviewer:  B.J. Major

Date of Interview (received in email): 5/21/00.

Q. Bruni, I'd like to begin by asking how long you have known João Donato and describing for me how you initially met him.

A. I met João Donato in the very late '60's probably '69 after I had worked with Walter Wanderley, through a mutual friend, by the name of FaFa Lemos. FaFa took me to meet João because they needed a lead singer for a new group they were hoping to start in Los Angeles, it was a group that was supposed to be opening for Sergio Mendes. It didn't happen. The group that eventually did that was called "Bossa Rio", but I was no longer involved.

 

Q. I know you have said that you were formerly were a singer before you began your art gallery work on a full time basis. In those previous years, did you sing with Donato in concerts and on recordings? Any touring involved?

A. Yes, before I totally committed to painting, and owning my own Gallery, I was a singer and actress in the Los Angeles area. But I always painted since I was a kid. I worked with Donato but not in recordings or concerts, because, at that time, he was not involved in that anymore in L.A.  However, he was always composing, and all the musicians were always after him to get him to form a group. That's where I came in. FaFa took me to meet João hoping he would agree to be musical director, and pianist with the group that FaFa was hoping to start. As I mentioned to you before, I'm pretty sure that Claudio Slon was involved in this group also. We did a LOT of rehearsing, but no gigs.

 

Q. How did his compositions influence or affect you?

A. Very, very deeply. His music was very new to me at that time, and I was totally enchanted with it. It affected me in a way that was so intense,that I started to write lyrics to his melodies as a joke. One day he caught me at it, and told me he liked it because it wasn't "put on", so he gave me a bunch of music (on tape), and told me to go home and put lyrics to them. I felt very honored, so honored that I never asked if he intended to pay me for them...... which he never did. But I had fun with it, and I have no idea what he did with the lyrics. As I mentioned before, after that period, I never saw him again.

 

Q. Do you have a favorite Donato composition? If so, what makes it your favorite?

A. No I don't. I don't have a favorite. All his stuff is so great that it's pretty hard to single anything out. But I feel that what makes his music so great is his simplicity and his total ability to involve you completely. Also all of it is of a pure and light quality that just makes me feel good when I listen to it. And it doesn't matter when he wrote what. I have a CD called "Coisas Tao Simples" that is from the '90's and it is absolutely wonderful! I also love the way he mixes salsa in his music. And he was always going around his house blowing on his trombone. He loved his trombone!!!! But, of course, as a pianist he has a unique and divine touch.

His used to stuff a sheet on the front of the piano to make it "quiet".....He started all that stuff. Everyone else just borrowed or downright took from him.... I remember he used to go around playfully bitching that Tom (Jobim) had taken the first l6 bars from Amazonas and used it on one of his hits. I can't remember which one now. I wish I had met Tom, but all I got to do was talk with him on the phone when he would call to talk to João. João didn't like to come to the phone, so I ended up talking to so many great musicians, and at my young age I was in heaven!!!!

 

Q. Have you ever painted a portrait of João Donato?

A. No. But I will, I always wait for a sign and I guess this is IT!!! I wasn't painting musicians at the time I knew him. Then came my tribute to American Jazz, and amongst all those Gods, of course, I have included some of the Brazilian Gods.... I've done Jobim, Milton Nacimento, Maria Bethania, Maisa, Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Toninho Horta, Flora Purim, and probably more than I recall right now. But the reason I had not done João, was because I had so completely lost touch until I found that CD I mentioned recently. I had asked!!! I had asked everyone who came to my gallery from Brazil, including a newspaper reporter when the soccer thing happened here, and everyone always said they didn't know where he was!!! Or even if he was still playing. So I just waited 'til I heard something.

 

Q. How would you characterize João as a musician, in his playing?

A. A GOD.

 

Q. How would you describe your own relationship with João?

A. Nuts! Crazy, weird, inspiring... I learned a lot from him. Mainly do what you do best, and don't waist your time trying to be something you're not. I wish he could know how much that moved me in the right direction ! Thank you, João. !

 

Q. Is there anything else you would like the readers to know about João?

A. He's one of our BEST, and he's still here. Let's support anything and everything he does. They don't make them like that anymore.

 

Thank you, Bruni for the interview!

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DISCOVERING JOÃO DONATO

Interview with José Domingos Raffaelli
(Journalist, Jazz Reviewer & Jazz Historian)

Interviewer:  B.J. Major

Date of Interview (received in email) 5/30/00

Q. José, I would like to begin by asking you how long you have known João Donato personally?

A. I'd met him in a 1950 Saturday afternoon when he was [a] 16-year old, still using short pants, but already playing piano. Our first meeting was in the home of a dear friend of mine where some jazz aficionados used to meet every Saturday afternoon to hear records. Donato was living in the neighbourhood and he used to go to my friend's house to play piano. Immediately I noticed that young boy had talent and I was surprised hearing him play Stan Kenton's "Artistry in Rhythm". Later I knew that Kenton was Donato's idol. After that I followed his steps in music since the beginning. Some months ago I heard him playing piano and accordion in one of his college parties in a theatre and by far he was the better among 20 or 30 amateurish musicians who played in that party. In my friend's home lived pianist, composer and arranger Johnny Alf who was 20 and until then couldn't imagine he would be the one of the most influential Brazilian musicians and the spiritual father of bossa nova. Donato and Alf became fast friends and sometimes used to play a four hands piano session to our amusement. Donato developed his style very fast. At that time he was heavily influenced by jazz (Kenton, Shorty Rogers and some West Coast musicians) and Alf was influenced by Nat King Cole, George Shearing and Joe Mooney. In those Saturday afternoons Donato and Alf heard all records we played with great interest; the major part were totally new for them. Both were born into modest families and had almost no money to spend on records. Listening [to] records together was a great school to all of us, specially for Donato and Alf. We discovered things we never knew and exchanged ideas about all the music. Sometimes the discussions were endless but always with respect and friendship. I learned so much during that time and Johnny Alf had a great perception of the music, discussing details sometimes we didn't catch. Soon Donato's remarks surprised all of us for his musical maturity despite his early age. It was a beautiful time, full of discoveries and genuine friendship. I still have fond memories of those marvelous Saturday afternoons.

 

Q. How have you heard his playing change or evolve (if it has) over the past number of years?

A. His evolution was incredible. Soon Donato was singing in the vocal group Namorados da Lua and begin to play professionally accordion and piano with guitarist Ubirajara's combo in small night clubs in Copacabana, a well known Rio de Janeiro district. Due to his talent, Donato developed so fast and with less than one year as a professional he was called by several combo leaders to play and record. Each time I heard him I noticed he was advancing harmonically and melodically. He had a fast mind to absorb the best qualities of all musical styles and no longer he was putting his conception in everything he played. Even at that time he was very advanced musically and it makes difficult to some musicians to play with him. When he went to the United States in 1959, he developed much more his Latin side playing with Mongo Santamaria. Before he went to the USA he was known and admired by the Brazilian musicians although totally unknown to the public. He already composed "Minha Saudade", co-authored by João Gilberto, and soon the song was in the repertoire of all groups and some female singers. His talent opened many doors in the USA, playing and recording with Santamaria, Bud Shank, Chet Baker, Eumir Deodato, Mauricio Einhorn and many more. The musicians always admired his harmonic conception with his characteristic chords, that seems so simple at the first hearing but intricate when someone plays his compositions. Donato is original, Donato is Donato and he has the respect of every Brazilian musician.

 

Q. Some people have argued that João was at the front of the bossa nova movement. I know you do not feel that way, and I wonder if you could explain to those reading this site why you feel that way and where Donato's music actually belongs.

A. Donato never was in the front of the bossa nova movement, but many people say that because he played with João Gilberto in the early sixties, doing tours with him in Italy and France, besides they composed "Minha Saudade", considered one of the bossa nova hallmarks. Personally, considering Donato's harmonic advanced conception at the time I consider his position (as Johnny Alf's) as a pioneer of Brazilian modern music. Bossa nova represents to Brazil what bebop was for American jazz: a complete melodic, harmonic and rhythmic revolution, a big jump from the past to the modern sounds.

 

Q. Do you have a favorite Donato composition?

A. It is difficult to point out just one Donato composition. He has many, many beautiful songs, full of lyricism and well constructed melodic lines and harmonies. I could mention at least a dozen of them. Until some time ago perhaps my choice would be "Minha Saudade", but for some time now I would say "Brisa do Mar". First time I heard it in a Donato concert, I cried. Its impact was so big that I couldn't stop crying. It has melodic beauty, subtle chords, continuity in form and content. Apart of its beauty, the song is so perfect that if one bar was eliminated perhaps its mood would be destroyed. "Brisa do Mar" is one of these songs that sounds so simple but has many soft complex chords that shows the endless Donato talent. Few people can say so much in an apparently simple song.

 

Q. How would you characterize Donato's keyboard technique?

A. He is not a virtuoso in the keyboard, far from an Oscar Peterson or Phineas Newborn Jr. He uses the keyboard with his style - spare lines developed with taste and subtle harmonies. Each note has a special meaning and he emphasizes it without being rhetorical or repetitive. He always has new ideas to inject every time he plays a song, no matter how many times he played it. There is no room for meaningless notes in his solos. He never wanted to play a lot of notes in his solos. His time is perfect, always in connection with his thinking, always full of well developed ideas. Donato says the chords are complements of his solos, although some passages are full of them. His left hand accompanies the right with spare chords, sometimes just one or two notes adding substance to the solos. It is difficult to explain unless you hear his records or caught his concerts. In one sentence, there is just one João Donato. Period.

 

Q. I've been told by a musician who has played and recorded with João Donato that Donato is the one to watch as far as taking up the torch for Tom Jobim, both in his playing style and in his composing. What do you think of that statement?

A. Donato, as Johnny Alf, paved the way for Jobim, Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, Luiz Eça, Newton Mendonça and many Brazilian composers/musicians. As I said before, he was a pioneer and all the bossa nova people that came later got something from him. Despite Donato and Alf's influence, Jobim was also heavily influenced by classical music (Chopin, Scriabin, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, etc.).

 

Q. Which Donato album is your favorite, and why?

A. I have three favorites: "Muito À Vontade", "A Bossa Muito Moderna de Donato" and his latest "Amazonas". In my opinion, the three are on the same level. I don't believe the first two were released in CD form. If so, maybe in Japan. They were recorded in 1963, in Rio de Janeiro, when Donato came here on his honeymoon. Both have some of his classic compositions "Silk Stop", "Villa Grazia", "Muito À Vontade", "Minha Saudade", "Sambou, Sambou", "Tim Dom Dom" and some more.

 

Q. I know that João Donato spent some years living in the United States; was the work he did with his music during that time different than his Brazilian work?

A. I mentioned above his work with Mongo Santamaria. This association led to several recordings released by the Fantasy group (I believe on the Fantasy label). Of course, these were highly successful Latin music recordings. His stay with Santamaria stimulated his Latin side felt in his work. For "Latin side" I mean Cuban/Caribbean music, not Brazilian, of course.

 

Q. Do you have any interesting stories to tell us about João Donato that you were there to witness yourself?

A. Some. One of the most amusing was in a party, long time back, even before he went to the USA. That party was in the house of a rich man. The house was packed with hundreds of guests - musicians, socialites, aficionados, especially beautiful women. There where all kind of liquors and many guests became drunk, including the musicians. After a jam session, Donato and the late trombonist Edson Maciel seated in the floor of a large room, side by side. This happend around 2 or 3 A.M. They were really tired. When they seated in the floor, Donato said to Maciel:

- I'm gonna write an arrangement for you.

Around 5 in the morning, Maciel asked:

- What arrangement ?

Around 7 of the morning, Donato replied:

- I decided not to do it anymore.

Thank you for the interview, José!

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[Left: Producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro; Right: João Donato]
Photo courtesy of Arnaldo DeSouteiro and used with permission

 

DISCOVERING JOÃO DONATO

Interview with Arnaldo DeSouteiro, head of Jazz Station Records; Record producer,

journalist, publicist, educator.

Interviewer:  B.J. Major

This interview received in email on 3/1/01.

 

Q. Arnaldo, could we begin with your telling me how long you have known Donato personally?

I'm a big fan of Donato since my childhood, when I listened, in late 1973, to one of his recordings of the Amazonas tune, from the Quem E Quem album, which was receiving airplay in a radio station named Jornal do Brasil AM. I immediately purchased that album, and began to look for any other Donato albums I could find. The second one was an imported copy of A Bad Donato, followed by a second-hand copy of Muito A Vontade.

But I only met Donato personally two years later, in February 1975, when we both went to visit Eumir Deodato. I remember that Donato was leaving Deodato's apartment when I arrived. Deodato intoduced me to Donato briefly.

Q. How did you meet Donato?

The second time we met was the first time we had a conversation, back in 1976. And it was the first time I saw him playing live, in a bar named Breguetes, in a city near Rio where I live, Petropolis. But I was only 13 years old, so I don't think Donato had any interest in talking with a little boy...!

When we finally became friends was in 1979, when I attended his gig in another now-defunct bar, named Cirrose, and headed by bossa nova poet/lyricist Vinicius De Moraes at that time. It was supposed to be a trio gig with Donato backed by Ricardo Santos (bass) and Joao Palma (drums). But Palma has not appeared, so it became a duo gig. I was in heaven, all the audience was in heaven, because Donato was like playing in heaven. I'll never forget that wonderful night! There was no singing, and Donato improvised like a demoniac genius, in the best meaning of the word. In the third set, there were only two people in the audience: my girlfrined and I.

So, it was like a private recital. After the last song, Deodato asked me:  enough? It was over 3AM! Then we went to drink some scotch in another bar, until the sunrise. The following night, Donato and his wife at that time, a very gorgeous blond ballerina, named Telma Rizzo, invited us to attend a show by The Glenn Miller Orchestra in a place called Canecao. I had never thought Donato liked Glenn Miller, but he sang all the brass charts of all songs! This time we have not exchanged not only one word...After the concert ended, Donato, with a big smile on his face, just said: Marvelous, hum? We took a cab together, he left me at home and...the following day we talked for three hours on the phone! We really became close friends, to the point that Donato accepted my invitation to be the pianist in the first album I have ever produced, back in 1981, for RCA in Brazil: the debut solo album by singer Yana Purim, Flora's sister. He used to visit me two or three times a week during the early and mid 80s, and I have many tapes of Donato playing on my Pleyel acoustic piano, composing or improvising, sometimes backed by me on the drums I used to have in the big hall of my apartment.

During all these years, I had the privilege to attend several Donato live performances, as well as many recording dates, including the one for Caetano Veloso's legendary Cores Nomes album, which includes Donato's lovely ballad Surpresa. Between 1994 and 1995 we were neighbours in the same building.

During one party in my apartment, he met again Lisa Ono (they had met before only once, in Tokyo, when Donato arranged one track sang by Lisa on an album of Christmas Songs!). I'm proud that I was the one who suggested Lisa to do a full album with Donato's songs, the starting point for the most productive period in Donato's life. (Lisa was in Brazil to do an album with Oscar Castro-Neves, but she cancelled the project after I suggested the album with Donato!)

Q. How have you liked/enjoyed his music on a personal level?

It may seem a contradiction, but I don't use to listen so often to some of my favorite albums: Miles' Bitches Brew, Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz etc.  However, I use to listen quite often to some albums that are not so great, but that sound very pleasant. With Donato, not only I love his music, as well as I listen to it very often. He is one of my all-time favorite artists, along with Deodato, Bonfa, Jobim, Sivuca, Airto, Flora, Dom Um, etc.  Not counting the American jazzmen, of course.

Q. Do you have a favorite Donato tune? If so, what makes it your favorite?

I'm not a big fan of Donato's most recent albums. Except for Amazonas, which is a great album, the others (Coisas Tao Simples, So Danço Samba) are not in the same level of such masterpieces as Muito A Vontade, A Bossa Muito Moderna (the magnificent trio albums he recorded in 1963) and A Bad Donato, the first funky acid-jazz album in the music history, a truly psychodelic trip!

I also love Donato/Deodato, and I wish he could have tried to record more albums in such a jazz-oriented style. Also among my personal favorites are his sidemen dates with Cal Tjader (Solar Heat) and Mongo Santamaria (Mongo At Black Hawk). Maybe my favorite Donato tune is Mentiras, sung marvelously by Nana Caymmi on the Quem E Quem album, and originally recorded with another title (Warm Song) and another groove on Cal Tjader's The Prophet album for Verve, in 1968, with Donato playing organ and Don Sebesky writing a haunting arrangement for strings & voices.

Q. How would you characterize your own relationship to Donato?

I had the privilege to work with most of my idols: Donato, Bonfa, Deodato, Gilberto, Jobim (I produced the session which became his last recording session, unfortunately, done for Ithamara's Red River album in October 1994) etc., not counting Herbie Hancock, Lew Soloff, David Matthews, Steve Swallow, George Young and many other great jazzmen who played as sidemen in sessions I have produced. So, I try to retribute, to repay, all the joy they gave me through their artistry, by including their songs in almost all compilations I produce. For example: there are Donato's songs and performances in all the volumes of my A Trip To Brazil (for EmArcy/Universal) and Brazilian Horizons (for Milestone/Fantasy) compilations. I feel very happy for having been able even to include one of Donato's recordings with the vocal group Os Namorados, titled Eu Quero Um Samba, from a 78rpm single recorded in 1953, as the opening track of A Trip To Brazil Volume 1, which remained for several months in the top of the European jazz charts in 1998!  Right now I just completed a new compilation to be released all over the world by BMG, and the opening track is Alayde Costa's rendition of Minha Saudade from 1958, the first time this song was recorded with João Gilberto's lyrics.

Very recently, I produced an album with an incredible duo from Bahia, Palmyra & Levita, with Donato featured in all songs! He plays several Brazilian and jazz standards. We hope to mix it in July [2001].

Q. Where do you see Donato's music in relationship to the rest of Brazilian jazz or bossa nova?

Donato is truly unique! He can't be compared to any other artist, he belongs to another level, his music belongs to another dimension. Donato is definitively one of the most original creators in the music history. Period.

Q.  How would you characterize João as a musician, in his playing?

As I said above, everything in Donato's style is unique. The harmonies, the piano touch, the voice. Plus: he is the creator of the bossa nova beat, as I wrote in my liner notes for A Trip To Brazil. Just listen to his accordion playing on Eu Quero Um Samba, in 1953, and you'll notice the bossa nova beat which was later adapted and perfected by João Gilberto on the guitar. He is a sorcerer of sounds!

Thank you, Arnaldo, for the interview!

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DISCOVERING JOÃO DONATO

Interview with Ithamara Koorax, Brazilian vocalist

Interviewer:  B.J. Major

This interview received in email on 3/11/01.

 

Q. Ithamara, could we begin with your telling me how long you have known Donato personally?

The first time I saw him was in the mid-80s, probably 1985. I attended a Donato gig at a club in Ipanema, the Alo Alo, owned by a famous Brazilian manager, Ricardo Amaral. Donato was playing with Sebastiao Neto on bass, and Milton Banana on drums, the same trio from the Muito A Vontade and A Bossa Muito Moderna albums. It was really a memorable night, and I talked to him as a fan, because I was not a professional singer at that time.

 

Q. How have you liked/enjoyed his music on a personal level?

Donato is one of my idols. When I was a teenager I used to listen a lot to his Lugar Comum album. After I married Arnaldo, who had been a friend of him for a long time, I had the chance to develop a close friendship with Donato.  Specially after Donato moved to the same building where we lived in the mid-Nineties, in Barra da Tijuca. We used to meet Donato every day, every night, actually several times a day! We used to go together to the beach, to have lunch, to have dinner. It was really very fun, a very happy period in my life. Arnaldo always loved to invite some musicians to do jam-sessions at our home, so I had the chance to see Donato playing with Bonfa, Lord K, Klaudia Moras, Lisa Ono, Milton Banana and many others in a very intimate context.

 

Q. Do you have a favorite Donato tune? If so, what makes it your favorite?

My personal favorite is A Ra, also known as The Frog. My favorite version is the one from the A Bad Donato album. Very funky! I have recorded this song in a hip-hop arrangement in 1994. It became a big dancefloor hit in the Acid Jazz scene in London. The following year it was included, by the musical director of Globo TV Network, Mariozinho Rocha, in a soundtrack for a Brazilian novela, a soap opera, titled Cara & Coroa. In Brazil, novelas are the big thing. Everything stops, the whole country stops to watch them in the evening. Much of my popularity in Brazil comes from the fact that I have already recorded eight themes for soap operas, all for Globo TV, Brazil's leading TV network. And all became instant hits due to the big TV exposure.

Another favorite is Minha Saudade. I recorded it twice. The first time in Tokyo, in September 1996, for my Wave 2001 album. The second time in New York, in February 1998, for my Bossa Nova Meets Drum And Bass album. Both were Top 10 albums in Japanese charts, with Minha Saudade receiving heavy airplay. Curiously, the version from Bossa Nova Meets Drum And Bass played a lot in pop radio stations, while the version from Wave 2001 was a hit in the jazz radios, being also considered one of the best tracks of that album in a rave review by Japanese jazz bible, Swing Journal, on its May 1997 issue.

 

Q. You've mentioned to me in email that you have worked with/performed with Donato recently. Could you give our readers some details on that and what it was like?

One night, during an engagement at the Mistura Fina, Rio's current top jazz club, in January 2001, Donato attended the first set. I must confess I became nervous to know he was in the audience. It was going to be the first time he was going to see me singing on stage! But he loved the show to the point he stayed for the second set too! A couple of days later, he invited me to do two concerts with him in Sao Paulo, and of course I accepted immediately. Then we performed on February 3 and 4, in a big theater, the SESC Pompeia. Both nights sold-out. The first night, after Donato had performed eight songs, he called me to do four songs: A Ra, Mentiras (just piano and voice), Minha Saudade and Nao Tem Nada Nao, a tune he co-wrote with Eumir Deodato in 1973. It was originally titled Batuque, on the Donato/Deodato album. Later on, Marcos Valle added lyrics, and it has been part of my repertoire since 1994. As an encore, we did Nasci Para Bailar.

Joao's son, Donato Jr., sat in with the trio (Luiz Alves on bass and Robertinho Silva on drums), playing keyboards and doing background vocals.  The second night, both Donato and the concert promoter, Sonia Sirimarco, asked me to sing more songs. Then we added A Paz and Simples Carinho. Donato always asks me to improvise, and he uses to call me My Yma Sumac, because he loves my high notes, or My Polonaise, because of my Polish ancestry. I can say that to sing backed by Donato is like singing in heaven! He is a great soloist, but he is also a tremendous sideman! It's a very confortable and also a very challeging experience to sing with him, I feel both feelings at the same time. Because his playing is so unpredictable, so unexpected, in the best meaning of these words. But at the same time Donato makes me feel secure, cause he plays those great harmonies. It is like having the floor, the ground, and also the freedom to fly in a wondrous journey!

Soon we will be performing again, next April, in Sao Paulo, in a jazz club named Bourbon Street. There are plans to film this show for a TV special or for a DVD release.

 

Q. Have you ever recorded with Donato? If so, on which albums?

I have never recorded with Donato. I can't believe [it]!  I can't understand why it never happened!!!  Maybe because I record very often not in Rio, but in Europe or in Japan. During my career, I have been blessed to perform with all my idols: Jobim, Edu Lobo, Marcos Valle, Deodato, Bonfa, Hermeto Pascoal, Dom Um, the Azymuth group. All of them, except Donato. Oh, and I also would love to record with Airto someday. But, anyway, I hope to have Donato as a guest in one of my future projects.

 

Q. Where do you see Donato's music in relationship to the rest of Brazilian jazz or bossa nova?

I am not a bossa nova singer, I never was part of the bossa nova scene in Brazil. I can sing bossa nova, but I enjoy doing it in a non-traditionalway, giving a more contemporary treatment to the bossa standards, as happened in my Wave 2001 and Bossa Nova Meets Drum And Bass albums. And Donato, although regarded by many as a bossa nova pioneer, is a very peculiar musician and songwriter. Most of the bossa nova composers, who became famous in the early Sixties, now are retired. Or, worst, many became a pastiche of their own identities, doing pasteurized versions of their old hits. It's really a very sad thing, and I don't wanna be associated with this kind of re-warmed bossa nova. Do you know what I mean?  I am not interested in trying reproduce the past, to copy the same arrangements. I like to try new things, to discover new ways to sing those wonderful songs.

And Donato thinks the same, so we share this very important feeling that excites us to create, to perform those standards with a new approach.

 

Q. How would you characterize João as a musician, in his playing?

There is no one in the world who can play piano like him. Like Bonfa, Deodato, Jobim, Sivuca, Walter Wanderley, Dom Um Romao, he is unique. He is inimitable! That's what makes him a genius!

 

Thank you, Ithamara, for the interview!

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