We each hold a personal relationship with music history and it shapes our broader understanding of the art form. Many of us stand aside, acting as passive observers that consume the music and appreciate its aesthetic qualities. We participate by supporting our favorite artists, ignoring musicians outside our interests, and generally pushing popular trends with our involvement. We leave the artistic act of creation to the musicians, watching their work, and providing our support as an audience. Musicians generally put their energy into a specific genre or artistic approach, defining their career and their place in history. Their dedication to this single track may waver at times with brief dips into other styles, but their legacy revolves around one musical world. They become icons for their contributions and experts in one aspect of musical history. A small group of musicians spend their careers weaving through several different artistic experiences, constantly expanding their musical horizons. These artists consequently contribute to a number of musical trends in a meaningful way, helping push each new approach with their distinct insight. They live through decades worth of musical history and they hold a broad understanding of each era. This last group of participants are the musical gold mines that ride the waves of countless musical trends and share their wisdom along the way.

Pianist Antonio Adolfo was an active participant in the evolving history of Brazilian music throughout the second half of the twentieth century, stretching his musicianship in a variety of ways. Spending his youth in a musical family, Adolfo started playing classical violin at a young age but soon discovered his true calling in the rich harmonic world of the piano. His skills developed quickly through studies with the renowned Brazilian music educator Amyrton Vallim and soon led to performances with a local group, Samba Cinco. His growing interest in jazz led him to the beco das garrafas, where Brazilian musicians were gathering to explore their evolving approach to samba jazz. Adolfo encountered a number of American jazz musicians in beco das garrafas, as musicians such as Horace Silver and Milt Jackson indulged their curiosity about Brazilian music. Along the way, Adolfo performed with some of the best names in Brazilian music, from trumpet player Claudio Roditi to composer Jorge Ben and drummer Dom Um Romão. As the public’s interest in bossa nova faded, Adolfo and Rio de Janeiro’s music community shifted their focus towards Música Popular Brasileira or MPB, a contemporary expression that integrated the influence of American pop artists. Adolfo earned a job with the queen of MPB, vocalist Elis Regina, taking him to Europe for a number of tours in the late sixties. While in Europe, Adolfo auditioned for studies with the legendary pianist, composer, and educator Nadia Boulanger; she accepted Adolfo as a student, leading to several years of study. Upon return to Brazil, Adolfo formed Brazuca, an inspired group that lent a funky edge to a combination of Brazilian styles, jazz, and more. With each new experience, Adolfo grew into a stronger, more interesting musician with integral connections to each piece of Brazilian music history.

These musical journeys left Adolfo with a unique insight into the inner workings of Brazilian music, leading to years of meaningful artistic expression. In part one of our conversation with Adolfo, he discussed his musical beginnings, his early groups, and his time in beco das garrafas. In the second piece of our interview, Adolfo goes into detail about the true nature of MPB, his experiences with Elis Regina, and his studies with the legendary Nadia Boulanger.

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LJC: MPB was a change musically – how would you describe the change from bossa nova to MPB? What did you guys start doing differently?

AA: Bossa nova was very harmony oriented; MPB started to be less harmony oriented and started to be more rhythmically lively. They started to play by mixing styles from the Northeast also, like baião. They brought this combination to what was happening. Edu Lobo, people like Baden Powell, the guitar player, and other people, Jorge Ben – all those people started to play differently. Edu Lobo was a partner of Vinicus de Moraes. Elis Regina recorded some of his songs; even Sergio Mendes did some of his songs.

Bossa nova was more jazz influenced – you could notice the Chet Baker style, George Shearing; some of these guys added the harmonies. There was even an influence of Ravel and Debussy in Jobim’s work. Jobim was a genius and he was very harmony oriented. In the beginning, groups like Zimbo Trio played very typical bossa nova with a jazz influence. MPB was a little bit less jazz influenced.

The lyrics also were very different. They were not about the South side of Rio. They didn’t have the middle-high class type of subjects that bossa nova had. Bossa nova is very light; it involves lyrics that romanticize the South side of Rio de Janeiro. MPB started to be more like songs about social problems. The lyrics were about social problems, then they mixed in a little bit of bossa nova, and a little bit of Northeastern harmonies and rhythm.

LJC: A lot of people throw the word MPB around today, but from my understanding, that time in the late sixties and early seventies was the highlight of MPB and it means a lot of different things today. How would you separate what MPB is today to what it was in the late sixties?

AA: After the Beatles, the music started to be transformed. It started with people like Milton Nascimento – he combined all these elements, but he also loved the Beatles. Other people started to do some things like Djavan and then Chico Buarque. We started to transform MPB literally with more pop, like international pop. It started out with the Beatles in the late sixties and beginning of the seventies. Then in the seventies and eighties, it became more and more international pop influenced. It started to loose the Brazilian character.

There was a boom of rock and roll again in Brazil in the eighties. That movement took place and then we could say that jazz almost disappeared in Brazil. Except for some festivals – they have the Free Jazz Festival every year. I participated in two of them in 1987 and 1988 in Rio and Sao Paulo. But normally, the artist in Brazilian music started to disappear with this mixing of pop music. They started to record Brazilian music with drum machines, sequencers, samplers, and all this technology. Then there were a lot of people resisting, but people still mixed in pop. Even Djavan tried to do something mixing pop. Even Jobim, when he got back to Brazil, continued doing something that was more of a crossover symphonic thing.

LJC: You played with Elis Regina in the late sixties, touring Europe. She’s such a major figure in Brazilian music; could you describe what it was like working with her?

AA: She was what they call “pimenta,” which means pepper. She was like a pepper, a very spicy person. She had a character that some people thought didn’t fit her. She could change her attitude sometimes depending upon the moment or the people. But I had a great experience with Elis Regina. She was a very lovely person with me and with the group. She had much respect for the musicians that she performed with. We had a great time with her playing in that group. We performed many times in Europe. I have very good memories about that. I remember when we were performing in Europe, she was a Polygram artist. Then they were promoting her in Europe.

But at that moment in Europe, that type of music that she played was very jazz and MPB oriented. We could feel a reaction from the audience and even from the people that worked for the television. They watched it and felt like something very different was happening. It was something very new. At the time that we traveled with Elis Regina, which was 1967 – 1968, maybe a little bit of 1969, we did something very new for the Europeans that they didn’t understand well, they didn’t catch it. Of course when she came later with Hermeto Pascoal for the Montreal Jazz Festival; there was a big change. By that time, their knowledge of Brazilian music was bigger, it was deeper.

But I had a great experience with her; I loved to play with Elis Regina. I remember when I announced to her that I was going to leave the group to form Brazuca, she cried and she didn’t want me to go. After I left, she had (pianist) José Roberto Bertrami. Then after him, she had Cesar Mariano, who became her husband. He’s a great piano player and arranger. After him, she married another guy and then she had a bad trip. She was 36 . . .

LJC: When you were in Europe, you studied with Nadia Boulanger. How did you get the opportunity to work with her and what did you get from that experience?

AA: There was a very close friend of hers that was a friend of my sister; they introduced me to Nadia. Nadia didn’t take just anyone; it was very hard to be a student of Nadia Boulanger. You had to make it past an audition. I remember I had this first audition and I started to try and play something classical, because she was more classical oriented. When I started playing, she put her hands on my hand and told me, “No, Antonio. I don’t want you to play this type of music. I know that you play other types of music.” She could feel by the way that I played. Then she told me that she was the teacher of Michel Legrand and mentioned other people like Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett. Then I started to play freely; I started to improvise. She started to smile. She was almost blind at that time, but she paid attention to the way that I was playing. Then she smiled and told me, “Yes, that’s you.”

I took almost two years of lessons with her. What I learned from her, I think was deeper than just techniques. Music is something that has to come from your heart. Since the first interview that I had with her, I felt that. Of course she was a great harmony and technical teacher. She even knew Stravinsky. Before he released a new work, he went to her to hear what she had to say to him. I had one of her assistants teaching me reading and writing skills. I think the best thing that I learned from the experience was to listen to the inner voices of the harmony and that music is not only technical. She also had much respect for other styles, not only classical.

Every Wednesday she had a group lesson with her best students that was like three hours in duration. Everyone was there in the classroom inside her apartment in Paris. She had people improvising in classical music; there were things that were incredible. She encouraged some students to read big scores and then transcribe the scores on the piano in the moment. When the guy stopped, he thought he was doing such a great thing; then she would put her hands on his hands and say, “If you don’t play that with passion, it’s nothing.” She said things like that. Can you imagine trying to transcribe a whole symphonic orchestra score, trying to do your best technically, playing every note, and she says, “No, you’re not putting passion in that. If you don’t play with passion from deep inside, it’s nothing.” That’s something important. Of course, there was a technical side also. And then I came back to Brazil when my daughter Carol was about to come to this world.

LJC: Going back and listening to music from Brazuca in the early seventies, there were a lot of electronics and the influence of rock; what were you listening to and what were you trying to accomplish with Brazuca?

AA: At that moment I was listening to Blood, Sweat, and Tears. That made a high impact upon my development. I liked that combination of horns – like Chicago also. It was jazz horns with some rock and roll and pop. I liked that. Sergio Mendes found an interesting way of throwing Brazilian music in a more pop way and he got a lot of success. I liked it. Sergio Mendes was very jazz influenced; he started playing jazz in his career. He had a jazz trio named The Hot Trio. He was a very good jazz pianist. He was one of the ones that went to play bossa in beco das garaffas. He started playing there in the clubs. Horace Silver was a very close friend of Sergio Mendes. He turned it more into a commercial thing, but that’s a reality in Brazil that’s different from here.

One cannot make a living in music (in Brazil) without opening up to what’s going on. If you don’t do that, you’ll be dying; nobody will call you. Unless you have the chance to be sponsored and live here (in the United States). The people that could move here like Oscar Castro-Neves and many people; these people could keep working doing bossa nova, samba jazz, and jazz. Airto Moreira started to play with Dizzy Gillespie and Chick Corea and all these people. These people were fortunate because they could make a living only playing jazz or bossa nova. In Brazil, if we wanted to make a living from music without sponsorship, we had to go with what was happening. I came from a middle class family, not high class. We moved to Copacabana and I started to meet these people. I had to do recordings. I started in 1974 or 75 when I came from Europe. We had to do commercial things to make a living. Otherwise, you cannot make a living in Brazil; that’s a different reality that we should recall here. It’s impossible to make a living from only playing jazz in Brazil, unless you are sponsored. I think all these experiences in some way helps you. If you know how to deal with that.

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Make sure that you check out Part One of our interview with pianist, composer, and bandleader Antonio Adolfo. We discuss his early musical training, his early bands, and his time in the birthplace of samba jazz, the beco das garaffas. You can read it HERE.

You’ll also want to read Part Three of our interview with Antonio Adolfo. Our conversation covers a lot of ground here, as we talk about the ground breaking creation of Adolfo’s record label, Artezanal, during the seventies, the establishment of his school, and his his first recording with his daughter Carol Saboya, Ao Vivo Live. Check it out HERE.

You’ll love to catch up with the most recent information in Part Four of our interview with Antonio Adolfo. We get into all the details about his latest release with his daughter vocalist Carol Saboya, Lá E Cá (Here & There), including the song choice, the band, the connection between jazz and Brazilian music, and more! You can read it HERE.

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Album Of The Week: From Yucatan To Rio, Gabriel Espinosa

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