Paulo Bellinati

Once again I'd like to suggest an entry on JMA for a Brazilian artist: Paulo Bellinati, as you must have guessed by the title. Mr. Bellinati is both known for his great skill on the acoustic guitar and for his research on Aníbal Augusto Sardinha (a.k.a. "Garoto"). He has also made renditions of some of Antonio Carlos Jobim's songs (such as "Luiza" and "Garoto Choro" in his album "Serenata", "A Felicidade", "Gabriela", "Brigas Nunca Mais", "Moda de Viola" and "Gabriela")  and some of Baden Powell's as well (most notably the "Afro-Sambas" along with Mônica Salmaso), not to mention his own songs and of other Brazilian composers, such as Chico Buarque, Dilermando Reis and Radamés Gnattali.

Mr. Bellinati has also, as I mentioned earlier, done a great research about Garoto, considered by many to be one of the founders of Bossa Nova, recovering his songs and biography. It might of interest of you that Garoto traveled to the United States to support Carmen Miranda on a tour, where he had some contact with Jazz, which, according to Mr. Bellinati, was a profound influence on his compositions. Should you ever listen to Mr. Bellinati's renditions of Garoto's songs (and I strongly reccomend you do so), you'll easily notice that the harmony is very jazzy, although the rhytms are typical of Brazil (e.g. "samba", "choro" and brazilian waltzes). There are, unfortunately, very few records of Garoto playing himself - the only reason I do not ask him to be featured in JMA.

A video of Paulo Bellinati playing "Meditação" and "Lamentos do Morro", both by Garoto (sorry for the bad quality):

-Paulo Bellinati/ acoustic guitar

the line-up from "Os Afro-Sambas":

-Paulo Bellinati/ acoustic guitar

-Mônica Salmaso/ voice