Paulo Moura

Grammy Award winning Brazilian instrumentalist/composer/arranger and horn player extraordinaire

paulo_main A legend of Brazilian music for half a century, the first Brazilian instrumentalist ever to win the Latin Grammy (2000), Paulo Moura (clarinet and saxophone) is arguably Brazil’s greatest living instrumentalist. Throughout his multi-faceted career, he has been a dominant figure in every Brazilian musical tradition, including choro, gafieira, jazz and classical music. His virtuoso playing is regarded with reverence in musical circles throughout the world. His sound, whether on saxophone or clarinet, is unmistakable, with his unique sense of improvisation, his interpretations and phrasings. He is the vigorous and effervescent synthesis of all strands of Brazilian music, always experimenting, innovating, inspiring young artists and moving his fans. His dedication to preserving the traditions, while simultaneously moving forward, is the model by which the new generation guides their careers. With an incomparable record of achievement behind him, his prolific career continues in full force as he performs regularly, composes, and constantly releases new recordings.

Biographical Highlights

Paulo Moura was born to melody and rhythm.

His father, Pedro Moura, was maestro of a marching band in the small town of São José do Rio Preto, state of São Paulo, where he taught students and his older children the family business: the art of making music. The youngest of ten children, Paulo naturally joined them in their musical trade, playing clarinet and saxophone, entertaining the local black community in balls and parties in the social clubs.

The family moved to Rio de Janeiro and Paulo’s unusual talent soon became apparent. He devoted himself to a serious musical education, learning harmony, counterpoint and fugue. He began playing in orchestras led by conductors such as Radamés Gnatalli, Lírio Panicalli, Zaccharias, and also performing popular music at gafiera parties.

While continuing his studies in the National Music School, he made his debut at the age of 19 as a soloist with the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra, performing Weber’s Concertino for clarinet and orchestra. Shortly after, he became the first clarinetist in the Municipal Theatre Orchestra, the first black artist to reach such a position, overcoming prejudice and social obstacles. He immersed himself in the world of symphonies, operas, ballet and night concerts, and then, instead of going home, attending late night jam sessions, sharpening his inventiveness with bossa nova experiments, widening and deepening his experience of popular black music in the periphery of Rio.

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Out of this intense musical experience, a unique path emerged; an eclectic and unmistakable musical style and inventive virtuosity — a mixture of erudition, jazz, samba, percussion and choro, blended into an heady cocktail that is his trademark until today.

His international career as a soloist started in 1953 in Mexico playing with Ari Barroso, the famous Brazilian composer. His talent received international recognition in his 1976 recording, “Urban, Suburban and Rural Confusion” which has become a collector’s item in Japan and the USA.

In 1962 he appeared in New York in the historic Bossa Nova night at Carnegie Hall, with the Sérgio Mendes group. From that moment on his international career took off, with performances in Greece, Russia, Argentina, France, Holland, England, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, the United States, Africa and Japan, resulting in the release of numerous recordings and participation in many international festivals, including Berlin, Zurich, Montreal, Geneva, Vail, Alabama, Tel-Aviv, and an appearance at Lincoln Center. He has taught as a visiting professor, along with Karl Berger, at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock and at the Zurich Festival where he held a Brazilian music workshop.

In Brasilia in 1988, he conducted his composition “Arredores da Lapa” to commemorate the centenary year of the abolition of slavery in Brazil.

In 1992, he received a mention in the Brazilian press as the best classical instrumentalist of the year for his solo performance of the Mozart clarinet concerto with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. This was also the year he composed “Suite Carioca”, which opened the huge “ECO” events in Rio de Janeiro. He received the distinguished Sharp Award as the most popular instrumentalist of the year.

In 1997, to commemorate the centenary of Pixinguinha, he released the CD “Paulo Moura e Os Oito Batutas” in the United States and Europe, which received the mention choc exceptionnel in the magazine Le Monde de la Musique and which was listed as one of the top 10 recommendations of the year for 1998 in the Barnes & Noble chain in New York. This same year, a music festival was named after him in the city of his birth, “The Paulo Moura Festival of Instrumental Music”, and was launched under his musical direction.

The sheer strength of his musical experience led him to occupy political and administrative positions. During the period 1997 to 1999, he was a member of the State Council of Culture in Rio de Janeiro, Councillor of the Federal Council of Music, and President of the Museum Foundation of Image and Sound in Rio.

In 2000, Paulo Moura’s musical universe expanded yet again, when he was commissioned to compose and perform solo his “Urban Fantasy for Alto Sax and Orchestra” for the centennial of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. He also arranged and performed the popular songs for the soundtrack of the period film, “Villa-Lobos: Uma Paixão” of Zelito Vianna, and he also appeared in the film as the character “Zé Espinguela”. The release of the CD “Paulo Moura encontra Jobim e Gershwin: Rhapsody in Bossa” on the label Pau Brasil, was an exuberant rereading of the greatest melody-makers of the century, adding to the list of his more than thirty discs released in Brazil and abroad.

After a 19-concert tour of Japan with the singer Joyce, Paulo Moura was honored by being the first Brazilian instrumentalist awarded the Latin Grammy 2000 for his CD “Paulo Moura e Os Oito Batutas.”

Today, Paulo continues to actively perform, tour, compose and record, with his latest project on the Biscoito Fino label scheduled for release in June 2004.

Discography

1956 “Moto Perpétuo” (Chantecler)
1957 “Sweet Sax” (RCA Victor)
1959 “Escolha e Dance com Paulo Moura” (Sinter Discos)
1960 “Paulo Moura Interpreta Radamés Gnatalli” (Continental)
1962 “Tangos e Boleros” (Chantecler)
1968 “Paulo Moura e Quarteto” (Equipe)
1969 “Paulo Moura e Hecteto: Mensagem” (Equipe)
1970 “Paulo Moura e Hecteto: Fibra” (Equipe)
1971 “Pilantocracia” (Equipe)
1976 “Confusão Urbana, Suburbana e Rural” (RCA Victor)
1981 “Concertão” (Kuarup)
1983 “Paulo Moura e Clara Sverner” (Odeon)
1984 “Mistura e Manda” (Kuarup)
1986 “Paulo Moura e Clara Sverner: Vou Vivendo” (Kuarup)
1986 “Paulo Moura e Clara Sverner: Vou Vivendo” (Odeon)
1986 “Gafiera Etc e Tal” (Kuarup)
1988 “Paulo Moura e Clara Sverner Interpretam Pixinguinha” (CBS)
1988 “Quarteto Negro: Paulo Moura, Jorge Degas, Zezé Mota e Djalma Corrêa” (Kuarup)
1991 “Paulo Moura Interpreta Dorival Caymmi” (Chorus)
1992 “Rio Nocturne” (Messidor)
1992 “Dois Irmãos: Paulo Moura e Raphael Rabello” (Caju Music)
1996 “Paulo Moura e Wagner Tiso” (Tom Brasil)
1997 “Paulo Moura e Os Batutas” (Rob Digital)*
1999 “Mood Ingenuo: Paulo Moura and Cliff Korman duo” (Jazzheads)
2000 “Paulo Moura visita Jobim e Gershwin” (Pau Brasil)
2002 “K-Ximblues” (Rob Digital)**
2003 “Estação Leopoldina” (MecBR)
2004 “El Negro del blanco [to be released June 2004)] (Biscoito Fino)

*GRAMMY LATINO 2000 through Rob Digital Brazilian label and also released in the U.S. by Blue Jackel
** Won “Prize TIM” and “Prize Rival/BR”

Participation in Films

Lira do Delírio (Walter Lima)
Parceiros da Aventura (José Medeiros)
O Bom Burguês (Osvaldo Caldeira)
Parahyba Mulher Macho (Tizuka Yamazaki)
Rato Rei (Silvio Auttuori)
Navalha na Carne (Neville de Almeida)
Villa Lobos (Zelito Vianna)