[Dixielandjazz] Obscurity in Jazz?

[Steve Barbone]

I wonder how much jazz is performed and/or composed by those of us who are
virtually unknown, and/or unheard? Surely Moacir Santos is known to list
mates Tito and Luis, but to whom else among us?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 

Moacir Santos, 80, a Composer Revered in Brazil¹s Jazz History, Dies

NY TIMES - By BEN RATLIFF - August 14, 2006

Moacir Santos, a Brazilian jazz composer whose six decades of music were
rediscovered and celebrated in Brazil and the United States only in the last
five years, died on Sunday in Pasadena, Calif. He was 80.

The cause was complications of a stroke, said Richard Zirinsky of Adventure
Music, his American record label.

Mr. Santos was born in Flores do Pajeú, a rural town with five streets in
the northeastern state of Pernambuco. When he was 2, he was effectively
orphaned: his mother died, and his father had already left home. He was
taken in by a family who placed him in school and helped him take music
lessons. 

At 14, proficient on the saxophone, banjo, guitar and mandolin, he ran away
from home, traveling around Pernambuco in search of work. In the early
1940¹s, he hitchhiked around the states of Pernambuco, Ceará and Bahia,
settling for a while in Recife and elsewhere for radio-studio work, and
became known for his swing-style saxophone playing.

In 1948 Mr. Santos moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he became a staff musician
at Rádio Nacional do Brasil, the prestigious government-owned station.
Having already learned to sight read, he studied conducting and
orchestration and finally became the station¹s music director.

In the 1950¹s and 60¹s, he also gave private lessons to a variety of young
musicians who would become important within bossa nova, including Nara Leao,
Baden Powell, Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal.

In 1965 Mr. Santos recorded the album ³Coisas² (³Things²), one of the great
accomplishments of modern Brazilian music, though underrecognized at the
time. It mixes marches, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, strong melodies, jazz
syncopation and bracing harmony of an Ellington-like concision; it gestures
at different kinds of Brazilian regional music but is overall a highly
original work.

³Coisa No. 5,² from the album, was later retitled ³Nanã,² given lyrics by
Mario Telles, and recorded by more than 100 artists, including Sergio Mendes
and Eumir Deodato.

In the 1960¹s, Mr. Santos also composed music for the soundtracks of
Brazilian films including ³Seara Vermelha,² and ³O Beijo,² and, in 1965,
³Amor no Pacifico² (³Love in the Pacific²), an ambitious score that he said
opened doors for him to work in the United States.

In 1967, he and his wife, Cleonice, moved to Pasadena, where they remained.
His wife survives him, along with his son, Moacir Santos Jr., also of
Pasadena, and three grandchildren.

Much of Mr. Santos¹s work in Hollywood soundtracks was uncredited; in an
interview, he said that ³Final Justice² (1985) was the only film for which
he received official credit. He recorded three albums for Blue Note in the
1970¹s; one of them, ³Maestro,² was nominated for a Grammy.

In 2001, with the original ³Coisas² still not reissued, the Brazilian
musicians Zé Nogueira and Mario Adnet organized sessions in Brazil to
re-record a selection of Mr. Santos¹s best work ‹ including much of ³Coisas²
‹ with younger Brazilian musicians and guests who included Milton Nascimento
and Gilberto Gil.

The album, ³Ouro Negro,² rehabilitated Mr. Santos¹s reputation in his own
country and abroad; one of his new American fans was Wynton Marsalis, who
played on Mr. Santos¹s final album, ³Choros & Alegria.²

In 2004, ³Coisas² was finally reissued by Universal in Brazil. Adventure
Music plans to release it in the United States next year.