Home » Jazz Musicians » Jovino Santos Neto

Jovino Santos Neto

The barriers between classical music, jazz, and indigenous Brazilian music have been obscured by Rio de Janeiro-born and Seattle-based pianist, flutist, and composer Jovino Santos Neto. A member of Hermeto Pascoal's legendary band from 1977 to 1992, Santos Neto has built a solid reputation as a creative and inspired musician, producer and arranger. He also worked with such artists as Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Mike Marshall, Gary Stroutsos and Richard Boukas. Santos Neto's 1997 debut solo album, Caboclo, featuring his compositions with the accompaniment of quartet members Hans Teuber (saxophones, flute), Chuck Deardorf (bass) and Mark Ivester (drums), was followed by Live in Olympia in 2000 (with the addition of percussionist Jeff Busch and Harvey Wainapel on saxes and clarinet) and by Canto do Rio in 2003, which was commissioned by Chamber Music America's New Works program and was nominated for a 2004 Latin Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. His latest CD, Roda Carioca, was released in 2006 on Adventure Music and earned Jovino a second nomination for a Latin Grammy. Jovino has received commissions by the IAJE and ASCAP, Jack Straw Foundation, Seattle Arts Commission, Artist Trust and Meet the Composer. Jovino was the recipient of a Golden Ear Award as the Best Jazz Instrumentalist of the Pacific Northwest in 2004.

Studying classical piano from the age of 12, Santos Neto moved to Beatles and Rolling Stones-influenced pop by his 15th birthday. He began to focus on jazz while studying biology at McGill University in Montreal. Invited to tour Brazil with Hermeto Pascoal in 1977, Santos Neto remained an important part of the Brazilian multi-instrumentalist's band for 15 years, co-producing six albums, including Festa dos Deuses, which received a Sharp Prize as Best Instrumental Album in 1992, and archiving thousands of Pascoal's compositions. Relocating to the United States in 1993 after performing on Sergio Mendes's Grammy award-winning world music album, Brasileiro, Santos Neto studied conducting at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he continues to teach piano, composition, and jazz ensemble. Besides performing worldwide, he gives lectures and workshops on Brazilian music and continues to collaborate with his long time mentor Hermeto Pascoal as the music director of the Hermeto Pascoal Big Band. He is a member of the IAJE, Chamber Music America, NARAS, LARAS and the Seattle Composers Alliance.

Tags

12
Album Review

Hermeto Pascoal: Planetario Da Gavea

Read "Planetario Da Gavea" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Planetario Da Gavea is an enormous, sprawling document from a February 1981 outdoor performance series by Brazilian jazz wizard Hermeto Pascoal recorded under the stars in the Gávea neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, within the dome of the city's outdoor planetário (planetarium). Ten pieces, most never recorded before and several never performed again, stretch across two hours of gloriously inspired, indulgent sound featuring the composer, instrumentalist, and sorcerer who Miles Davis once famously called “one of the most ...

3
Album Review

Jenny Davis: Rearranged

Read "Rearranged" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


The first listen is simply heating the snifter to introduce the complex and commanding music made as essence to the listener. The second and subsequent listenings consumes the musical liquor of the talent and vision of vocalist and composer Jenny Davis, who reveals a very sophisticated creative method existing at the triple point of her singing, composing and activism. Davis's previous recordings It Amazes Me (Self Produced, 2006) and Inside You (Self Produced, 2010) were well received, setting Davis up ...

12
Profile

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Jovino Santos Neto

Read "20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Jovino Santos Neto" reviewed by Paul Rauch


The city of jny: Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the south. It has produced such historical jazz icons as Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson. In many instances it has acted as a temporary ...

2
Album Review

Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto: Por Causa De Voce

Read "Por Causa De Voce" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Brazilian pianist/composer Jovino Santos Neto came to the United Startes in 1993, and settled in the city of Seattle. He had visited the city while on tour with the legendary Brazilian musician/composer Hermeto Pascoal, and identified with the physical beauty and cultural landscape of the Pacific Northwest. No matter his global location, Santos Neto is not only a remarkable musician and composer, he is as well the caretaker, or curator of the compositions of the visionary Pascoal. Through his own ...

2
Album Review

Jovino Santos Neto: Piano Masters Series, Volume 4

Read "Piano Masters Series, Volume 4" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Brasiliano residente negli USA, Jovino Santos Neto (classe 1954) ha iniziato la sua attività alla fine degli anni Settanta nel gruppo di Hermeto Pascoal e ha poi lavorato con Airto Moreira e Flora Purim, ma anche con gruppi a suo nome. Qui è alle prese con un repertorio che riassume molte sue esperienze, interpretato in solitudine.

Il programma è vasto, dato che tra le venti tracce trovano spazio Lennon-McCarntey e brani latin, sue composizioni e omaggi al maestro ...

2
Album Review

Jovino Santos Neto: Piano Masters Series, Volume 4

Read "Piano Masters Series, Volume 4" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Adventure Music's Piano Masters series is all about balancing consistency and individuality. The consistency connects to the instrument(s) on hand--high-end Fazioli pianos--and the quality of the recordings. The individuality, obviously, comes with the artist whose hands grace the piano. So far, the work of Benjamin Taubkin, Philippe Baden Powell, and Weber Iago has come to light through separate volumes in this noteworthy series; now, it's Jovino Santos Neto's turn to find himself behind a Fazioli.Neto, who is best ...

158
Album Review

Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto: Current

Read "Current" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Three-time Latin Grammy-nominee Jovino Santos Neto's Current features all new originals covering a range of Brazilian styles from contemporary and choro to baiao, samba and others. Santos Neto has toured the world, performing with mentor Hermeto Pascoal, Bill Frisell, and Paquito D'Rivera, among others, and his long discography has established him as one of today's top Brazilian jazz pianists/composers. Yet this album was penned exclusively for his Seattle-based Quinteto, the group he formed in 1993 after relocating from his native ...

Read more articles
80

Recording

Album of the Week: Current, Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto

Album of the Week: Current, Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

Current Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto Adventure Music The concept of flow is a far reaching and powerful idea when related to musical performance. At its essence, it taps into the thought of moving from one place to another, on a physical, developmental, and artistic level. All of these types of flow occur within any group of musicians that stay together over a long period of time. Each musician flows into physical changes, gaining new technical skills ...

48

Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 5)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 5)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

After a career filled with countless important musical interactions, pianist Jovino Santos Neto focused his energy on a more intimate artistic conversation. His early training led him through classical music, progressive rock, and jazz fusion, before he decided on a career outside of music. A meeting with composer Hermeto Pascoal changed his mind though, and he became a key member of the influential musician's band. Neto stayed with Pascoal's group for fifteen years, soaking in the composer's concepts and becoming ...

117

Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 4)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 4)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

Every musician carries a tool box around to their gigs—it's not a physical collection of devices, but rather the sum total of their experience. Each performance arms them with another piece for their tool box, providing some insight or technical development that allows them to bump their performance to another level. In some cases, the tool might be small; it might just be a simple observation that sparks their curiosity. On the other hand, it could be a major musical ...

56

Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 3)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 3)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

Spending time with an influential musician during the height of their artistic output means a lot of different things. It's an amazing growth opportunity that results in one of the finest educations available—performing regularly with an innovative musician simply demands artistic evolution. The opportunity to experience the development of the artist's musical development is a priceless experience that provides true insight into their creative process. As the artist tries new approaches, they place their ideas and aesthetics in the open, ...

72

Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 2)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 2)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

Whether similarities are readily apparent on the surface, musical styles share common roots from around the world. We hear an end product that has reached our ears after many different connections with established traditions. We tend to forget that these finely shaped musical products developed through a number of interactions, mostly because we don't obviously see or hear it. Musicians travel though, and they come into contact with countless other artists throughout their lives. Each encounter leaves a mark upon ...

80

Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 1)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jovino Santos Neto (Part 1)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

For many modern musicians, jazz is not the first port of entry—they actually travel through several different styles before settling into jazz. A number of musicians start instrumental studies firmly rooted in classical music, building technical and artistry skills. While classical music may seem like a totally different world than jazz, they both occupy the art music space, making it a small leap from classical to jazz. Even more artists get their musical interests kickstarted through rock and pop, following ...

157

Recording

Jovino Santos Neto Explores North & South America on New Adventure Music Release

Jovino Santos Neto Explores North & South America on New Adventure Music Release

Source: GoMedia PR

On October 19, Adventure Music will release Veja O Som/See the Sound, the highly anticipated new release from acclaimed pianist Jovino Santos Neto. The two-CD set pairs the Latin Grammy-nominated Santos Neto with a host of guest artists in a series of duet performances that melodically symbolize music's power to unite. As he says in the CD's liner notes, “This project was born from a phone conversation I had with Adventure Music founder Richard Zirinsky, Jr. exactly one year ago...I ...

112

Interview

Catching up with Jovino Santos Neto

Catching up with Jovino Santos Neto

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

For 15 years before he moved to the US from his native Brazil in 1993, Jovino Santos Neto was the pianist and arranger for Hermeto Pascoal, whom Miles Davis is said to have called, “the most impressive musician in the world." Santos Neto lives and teaches in Seattle and travels to Brazil frequently, keeping up with developments in music there and maintaining his tie to Pascoal. His most recent trip was to join his mentor at a music camp in ...

83

Recording

CD: Jovino Santos Neto

CD: Jovino Santos Neto

Source: All About Jazz

Jovino Santos Neto, Alma do Nordeste (Adventure Music). Based for some years in Seattle, the pianist, flutist and composer returns to his native Brazil and collaborates with eleven of his countrymen. The music is based in the baios, forrs, xotes and other rich forms of Northeastern Brazil. It is intensely rhythmic, melodic and full of adventure. Indigenous percussion and stringed instruments meld beautifully with Santos Neto's jazz concepts. Once you've heard Toninho Ferragutti's playing in the tradition of the great ...

"Beautiful Brazilian jazz from pianist Jovino Santos Neto — playing here in a wonderfully fluid mode that sparkles with lots of warm acoustic touches! Neto's playing mostly piano for the session, but also brings in a bit of melodica, flute, and accordion — further expanding the colors in the tunes, as do some of the album's great guest performers — who include Joyce, Hermeto Pascoal, Hamilton De Holanda, and Marcos Amorim! There's a sense of grace here that's totally great — one that really recalls an older sound of Brazilian jazz back at the end of the 70s, and which is recorded here without the overly glossy production style that sometimes hurts other albums of this nature." Roda Carioca review from www.dustygroove.com website

Read more

Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

Seattle

Credentials/Background

Professor of Music at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. International lecturer and educator. Has given workshops and masterclasses worldwide. For availability, please email [email protected]

Dillon Vado
vibraphone

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Planetario Da Gavea

Far Out Recordings
2022

buy

Rearranged

Three Penny Records
2020

buy

Por Causa De Voce

Adventure Music
2019

buy

Piano Masters Series,...

Adventure Music
2013

buy

Current

Adventure Music
2011

buy

Veja o som

Adventure Music
2011

buy

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.