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Moacir Santos: Coisas

By Marc Myers
July 16, 2023
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Moacir Santos was a Brazilian composer, multi-instrumentalist and educator who never became as well known as his peers, including Bola Sete and Baden Powell. While he collaborated on songs with Nara Leão, Roberto Menescal and Sergio Mendes among others, he privately taught artists who went on to become highly successful global bossa nova singers and songwriters.

In 1965, he released Coisas (Things, in English), which combined the new Brazilian beat with big band jazz. The album didn't attract much attention when it was released, but over time it was heralded as the first to create such a fusion. He moved to Los Angeles in 1967 with hopes of writing for the movies. While he achieved that goal, much of his work was uncredited. He continued to give lessons in L.A., where he met Horace Silver and recorded three albums for Blue Note in the 1970s. Santos died in 2006.

Here's Moacir Santos's Coisas album on Brazil's Forma label without ad interruptions...

Contact Marc Myers on All About Jazz.
Marc Myers founded JazzWax in 2007, writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Why Jazz Happened."

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About Moacir Santos

Instrument: Composer / conductor

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