Singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and arranger João Donato passed away at the age of 88 in Rio de Janeiro this Monday (17). The artist had been hospitalized last week due to a lung infection. João Donato’s Instagram page reported his death. “The sky of composers woke up happier this morning, as João Donato joined them to play his beautiful melodies. His joy, just like his chords, will now last forever throughout the universe.”
João Donato is an extremely influential figure in the history and development of bossa nova and Brazilian jazz. The pianist, composer, and arranger has recorded more than three dozen albums under his own name and has thousands of credits. He worked with practically all the Brazilian masters, both men and women, across generations, including João Gilberto, Sergio Mendes, Tito Puente, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and countless others.
Donato was born on August 17, 1934, in Rio Branco, Acre, and 11 years later moved with his family to Rio de Janeiro. Perhaps influenced by his father, who played the mandolin, and his mother, who sang, music emerged early in his life, and by the age of 5, the boy was already playing the accordion.
Once in Rio de Janeiro, after participating in musical parties at schools in Tijuca, in the northern zone of the city, he began attending jam sessions at the home of singer Dick Farney and at the Sinatra Farney Fan Club when he was 15.
His first recording was as a musician in the band of flutist Altamiro Carrilho. It was also around this time that he began making connections with other important artists like Lúcio Alves and became known beyond Brazil, including by Chet Baker.
In the 1950s, he moved to the United States, where he was able to develop the musical area that interested him most, a fusion of jazz with Latin music.
In 2016, his album Donato Elétrico was nominated for the Latin Grammy for Best Instrumental. The work was also voted the 11th best Brazilian album of the year by Rolling Stone Brasil magazine.
He released an album last year and was still performing at the beginning of this year.
“I am not bossa nova, I am not samba, I am not jazz, I am not rumba, I am not forró. In fact, I am all of these at the same time,” Donato told the Rio de Janeiro newspaper O Globo in an interview in 2014.
Source: Agência Brasil and All Music