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Antonio Adolfo: The Indelible Master of Brazilian Music

From Classical Cradle to the Jazz and Bossa Nova Revolution

That musical heritage is essential to understanding the greatness of Antonio Adolfo.

Being born into a home where the violin from the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theater orchestra was part of the daily landscape shaped his sensibility from the cradle.

Although he grew up surrounded by the classical discipline of his father, his destiny lay within the keys, jazz, and the revolution of Brazilian popular music (MPB).

De la Cuna Clásica a la Revolución del Jazz y la Bossa Nova

The son of a classical violinist, Antonio Adolfo was born in the bohemian neighborhood of Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro, under the sign of Aquarius in 1947. At the young age of 16, the young pianist was already part of the exclusive bossa nova club brewing in the famous Beco das Garrafas alley, leading ensembles that stood at the forefront of the scene, such as Conjunto Cinco and the Samba Trio 3-D.

Shortly after, he participated in the iconic musical Pobre menina rica by Carlos Lyra and Vinicius de Moraes, beginning to make a name for himself in the industry.

Starting in 1967, by forming a creative partnership with lyricist Tibério Gaspar, Adolfo became one of the great catalysts of modern melody in Brazil, composing massive hits like “Sá Marina” and “Juliana.”

Antonio Adolfo El Maestro Imborrable de la Música Brasileña

At the same time, leading the group Brazuca, he established an electronic pop tone that was highly sophisticated for its time (with tracks like “Teletema” and “Ana Cristina”), culminating in the blistering musical highway of “BR-3″—a song that sparked great controversy and shook the core of the era’s music festivals.

A Pioneering Spirit and International Acclaim

After playing as a member of the backing band for the legendary Elis Regina on two European tours, and refining his technique in Paris with the renowned classical maestro Nadia Boulanger—in addition to studying in Brazil under masters Guerra-Peixe and Esther Scliar Antonio Adolfo was ready to take another giant leap.

In 1977, in an act of bravery and pioneering spirit, he released the album Feito em Casa (Homemade) under his own record label, Artezanal.

This was the opening kickoff for a liberating movement: the independent record industry in Brazil, triggering the rise of artistic dynamics that diverged from traditional market rules. Under this self-managed system, Adolfo recorded both original material (including children’s music that promoted free play) and foundational revisions of pianeiro classics, transforming the works of Ernesto Nazareth and Chiquinha Gonzaga for the contemporary piano.

This versatility proved that, as a performer and creator, Adolfo had achieved a rare distinction: mastering contemporary language from a place of timelessness.

Since 1985, the maestro has focused much of his energy on his music school, the Centro Musical Antonio Adolfo, while also participating in international events as an educator, without ever setting aside his stage career.

His profound work with the music of Chiquinha Gonzaga and jazz has earned him prestigious awards and nominations. Furthermore, he is the author of seven textbooks on Brazilian music published by Lumiar, a video lesson, and two books published abroad. For eight years, he proudly served as the Latin American representative for the IAJE (International Association for Jazz Education).

In recent years, Antonio Adolfo has returned to the stage more frequently, performing either in a solo piano format or with a group. From one of his performances at a U.S. university alongside his daughter, singer Carol Saboya, came an acclaimed live album released both in Brazil and abroad: Antonio Adolfo & Carol Saboya Ao Vivo / Live. This success has been followed by recording productions highly praised by international critics, such as Here and There / Aquí y Allá.

Discographic Gem: “Chiquinha Com Jazz” (1997)

A perfect example of his genius for fusing Brazilian roots with the freedom of jazz is his 1997 album dedicated to the pioneer Chiquinha Gonzaga.

Tracklist:

Atraente

Cordão Carnavalesco

Lua Branca

Angu

Gaúcho (Corta-Jaca)

O Forrobodó

Corte Na Roça

Satan

Ismênia

Faceiro

O Abre Alas

Personnel:

Antonio Adolfo: Piano and musical arrangements

Gabriel Vivas: Double bass

Ivan Conti: Drums

Claudio Spiewak: Acoustic guitar

Contributor:

L’Òstia Latin Jazz

Dj. Augusto Felibertt

Also Read: Carlos “Nene” Quintero comes from a family of musical prodigies

Steel pan percussionist Brad Shores shows us the best of Caribbean music in Florida

Brad Shores is an American musician whose love for tropical music has led him to undertake some truly interesting and successful projects, so we know this article will be of our readers’ liking, so they cannot miss it.

Brad at a church — Percussionist Brad Shores at a church in Newton, KS

How Brad got his start in music

Brad began his story by explaining that his parents were musicians. His mother taught music, while his father loved playing the drums and had been in various bands throughout his life, which caused the boy to be exposed to that world from the earliest age and end up falling in love with it just as his parents did.

He tells that one day his mother used to lend him the sticks she used to play the drums and teach him to read and understand music when he was just in third grade, so from an early age, it was made easier for him to learn everything regarding music. Around the same time, he understood that music would quite possibly have a very special place in his life, since he had always enjoyed playing and loved it so much.

He was studying music theory in high school, and in college, he earned his degree in music education at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. He focused primarily on drums and percussion, but thanks to all the professional experience he has gained over the years, he plays almost all instruments competently. He also had the opportunity to teach others to play from very early in his own bands and now in a little more formal way, so he had to learn to play everything up to a certain level.

Previous experience to his current group Tropical Shores Steel Drum Band

Before starting his own project, Brad had the opportunity to play with groups in all genres and sizes, so he has a not inconsiderable background.

He remembers a jazz trio he was able to be part of in high school, which could be considered one of his first significant professional experiences, but that was just the beginning. He also remembers being part of many projects in college, such as an opportunity in which he played for some Germans and another in which he was in a rock band, showing that the artist was not limited to anything and was perfectly capable of crossing into all genres and adapting to them as it suited him.

Once he moved to Phoenix, he also played with many other bands and continued to experiment until he finally tried steel drums, which is primary instrument to this day and for which he is best known.

Contact with tropical and Latin music

Being already in Phoenix, Brad told us that he was in a band where there was a steel pan percussionist who played a kind of music Brad had never heard before in his life. It was Caribbean music that had really caught Brad’s attention, and he definitely wanted to learn to play it as skillfully as that guy, so he listened carefully to every note that came from his instrument. With his lack of training in those genres, it was a bit difficult for him, but he finally succeeded and got very good.

In the case of Erica, his current wife, her mother played the organ at a church in Chicago, where she grew up. Before he met Brad, she was a salsa, merengue, and cha-cha-cha dancer, so she had a very different background from her husband’s with regard to rhythms. She also had a master’s degree in music, so her education in this discipline was wide, even if she had not had plenty of practice yet. It is worth mentioning that she is his second wife, since Linda, his first wife and mother of his three children, died from lung cancer in 2014.

Brad teaching mini pans to grade school students

Tropical Shores Steel Drum Band

A handicap Brad and all the musicians of the day had to face was the impossibility of finding and repeating a lot of music, since there was still no internet. Therefore, he could only pay attention to what their peers and colleagues were doing at the time to be able to imitate them and learn how to play the steel drums.

When Brad and Linda moved from Phoenix to Kansas, they had to start looking for local musicians who could suit the project they were making and finding places to play, since many people in Kansas were not used to hearing the type of music they played. For this reason, they would start their sets by playing other genres to which the audience was accustomed to, so that they would be more open to their tropical songs.

Tropical Shores Steel Drums and Teaching

In addition to playing, the Tropical Shores Steel Drums Band has a very important component: teaching. Brad decided it was not enough just to learn to play steel drums and many other instruments, but rather had to share his knowledge with others, especially children. They love music and enjoy the challenge of learning to play an instrument they may never have heard before.

He has also taught at the university level. After having taught for a time at Collier County Schools in Naples, he accepted the assistant band director position at Ave Maria University in Florida, where he currently resides with his family.

Gafieira Rio Miami brings the best of Brazilian music to Miami

In this space, we have interviewed artists and groups from different countries of Latin America, but there have been a few times we had the opportunity to connect with talent from Brazil and not only that. They also sing and play typical music of their country, which makes them even more interesting, so we could not fail to speak with Diogo Brown and Isabelle Duarte.

Both have been very kind and shared with us some of their most significant experiences as Brazilian musicians in the United States and how that has shaped their way of making music.

Diogo playing live — Diogo Brown from Gafieira Rio Miami playing live

How Diogo and Isabelle got into music

The first to take the floor was Isabelle, who informed us that she started singing at a church in her home country, Brazil, when she was just six years old. Over time, she also got to sing at weddings, quinceañeras, local festivals, and events of all kinds.

About 10 years ago, she fell in love and married an American man, with whom she moved to the United States, where she met Diogo, a compatriot of hers who was born and raised in a city far from her own. However, their “Brazilianness” and love for music brought them together in the project they now share with other musicians, Gafieira Rio Miami.

In Diogo’s case, his passion for music awoke at 15, the age at which he knew he wanted to be a professional musician. His mother convinced him to enroll in a music school and an English academy, as she suspected that English would be extremely useful for his future career and this was indeed the case. His arrival to the United States was very similar to Isabelle’s, as he also met an American woman online; they eventually fell in love and moved there together. He attended a screening of a Brazilian film in which he had appeared, where he met her and finally live their relationship in person. That was over 20 years ago.

Since then, Diogo has worked with countless artists and companies such as Sony Music, Univision, and Warner. Among the stars he has collaborated with are Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Lara Pausini, and many others.

Isabelle singing live — Isabelle Duarte singing at the Lincoln Cemter

How was the connection with Spanish and Latin Music

Something interesting that Diogo tells us is that, in his early years as a musician in Brazil, he spent listening to Latin music, and some of his favorite artists were Buena Vista Social Club, Cachao, Jimmy Bosch, and many others of this kind. By his own admission, this is uncommon for a Brazilian resident in Brazil, who usually only listens to music of their own country. Both he and Isabelle agree that, in Brazil, very little music in Spanish is consumed, among other factors, due to the language barrier.

Isa tells us that her connection to Hispanic music began to form in the United States, and her husband contributed a lot to that, since he is of Hispanic origen. In addition, they settled in Miami, where there is a mix of cultures of each country, so she started to be exposed to genres like salsa, cumbia, merengue, and other rhythms that are not usually heard in Brazil. For her, Gafieira Rio Miami is a golden opportunity to demonstrate that Brazil is not separate from the rest of the Americas.

In addition, he noted that globalization and major musical phenomena in Portuguese and Spanish have managed to break that language barrier over the years.

Gafieira Rio Miami

Gafieira Rio Miami was born from a much smaller idea that began with just seven musicians. As the project grew, the group managed to have a total of 11 members, including five brass players, the rhythmic part, and a singer. There are 10 musicians and one vocalist, Isabelle. The members include Brazilians, Venezuelans, and Americans, but they are all united by the passion for Brazilian music.

Diogo and Laura — Diogo Brown and Laura Pausini

In a music scene that pushes bands and orchestras to make themselves smaller, Gafieira Rio Miami has always chosen to remain intact despite the circumstances. Diogo has been perfectly clear that if he’s offered a gig with fewer musicians, he prefers to say no. He says there are 11 members and all are needed for every performance, since otherwise, the impact of the live music would not be the same.

Let’s talk about Una noche en Old Town “en vivo,” while staying true to the musical journey of “El Calvito” Reyes

“Yes, Una noche en Old Town was an event held for about 100 people at a restaurant in the area known as Old Town in Kissimmee, Florida. Old Town is a park that feels like a year-round festival, 365 days a year,” the artist explains. This marks the third musical production from the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter known in the salsa world as “El Calvito,” one of the most fervent champions of the Salsa Nueva movement.

With this release, Edwin puts his salsa and his talent at the service of his followers. His repertoire spans classic salsa, romantic salsa, and what he calls “conscious salsa.”

Edwin “El Calvito” Reyes acknowledges that while everything has already been invented, the key is to stay focused and execute the ideas swirling in his mind. The press release for the new live album, titled Una noche en Old Town, notes: “Remember in the ’90s when many artists (…) recorded live productions? That was a trend that (…) went down in salsa history.”

The Production

The final product is a “live” recording of his orchestra. The production turned what was originally planned as a birthday party at Old Town Park in Kissimmee into a full album. Sound engineer Joseph Díaz captured the session, which was later mixed and mastered by pianist and engineer Víctor Romero. The content was further polished at Harmony Recording Studios in Orlando, Florida.

The album features the collective performance of the musicians who have accompanied the singer for years, including their appearance at the 2025 Día Nacional de la Zalsa in Orlando. The lineup includes:

John López: Congas
Daniel Ortiz: Timbales
Manny Urbina: Bongo
Víctor Romero: Piano and Musical Direction
Yasmani Roque & Marcos Rivera: Trumpets
Bert Laboy: Trombone
José Castro Marchán: Baritone Sax
Una Noche en Old Town Edwin El Calvito Reyes
The night at Old Town also featured guest appearances by heavyweights such as Kriptony Texeira, Harold Montañez, and José Novoa. Additionally, Richie Nieves, the well-known voice of KQ FM Radio in Orlando, handled the album’s intro.

The Origin

The stage was set specifically at El Cilantrillo restaurant within Old Town. The event celebrated the birthday of Javier Colón, owner of La Feria Salsera and Edwin’s partner for the veteran-focused dance events that Edwin has successfully led in recent years. Javier hired “El Calvito’s” orchestra, the performance was recorded, and from that session, this authentic album was born.

By chance, the date of the party coincided with one of the most important days on the Puerto Rican salsa calendar: the traditional Holy Saturday Dance (Sábado de Gloria). “Many Latinos don’t understand and ask, ‘Are you guys seriously holding a dance on Holy Saturday?’ So, unintentionally, we tapped into that tradition—and it is a tradition in every sense of the word. By trying to keep it alive, we (Puerto Ricans) have shared it with the rest of the Hispanic public.”

According to Edwin, the performance was originally recorded for promotional purposes. However, the artist felt it was such a great capture of the evening’s energy that he consulted his musical director, Víctor Romero, to see what he thought of the idea.

The Release

Coincidence dictated that the album be published and available on digital platforms exactly one year after the recording. The producer admits it was a high-risk project because it was recorded live during an organic event outside of a controlled studio environment. The classic covers Edwin included as tributes to “those who have passed” (arranged as medleys) were his biggest concern, yet they ultimately earned widespread approval.

“El Calvito” Reyes says he doesn’t fear the critics. Driven by passion, he decided to release this 10-track production—eight of which he wrote himself, plus two salsa hit medleys—aiming to win over dancers, listeners, and collectors alike.

Tracklist:

‘Medley salsa nueva’
‘Así llamaban al Conde’
‘Homenaje a los que se nos fueron I y II’
‘Dime mi Buen Señor’
‘Tú del sur, yo del norte’
‘El karma’
‘Tócame la moña’
‘Baila cha cha chá’
‘Solo tiempo pa’ rumba’
‘Orgulloso de ser latino’

Stream & Connect: The album is available digitally on YouTube Music, Spotify, and Apple Music. Each track has a corresponding video at: https://www.youtube.com/@ElCalvitoReyesOficial/. The orchestra is available for bookings. You can reach the office via phone or WhatsApp at +1-912-980-8476 or by email at [email protected].

For more on the music of Edwin “El Calvito” Reyes, visit: https://solo.to/elcalvitoreyes

David Frankel pursued music and created Avenida B Band to reconnect with the memory of his father

After coupling on our schedules, we were able to speak with bandleader and pianist David Frankel, whose story of how he became interested in music and eventually dedicated himself to it is truly fascinating. It also shows that not only Latinos and their descendants can fall in love with these rhythms, but also people outside our culture. This is because David has Russian and Polish heritage, which did not prevent him from falling in love with Latin music so intensely.

David and Ricky playing — David Frankel and Ricky Rosa playing live some years ago

What inspired David to pursue music

David was born in Lower Manhattan, New York, where there were many Latin families at the time. The neighborhood housed many Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. To this we must add that his father, Daniel “El Mago del Órgano” Franklin, was a musician and moved to that very place where Papote Jiménez, Ismael Miranda, Markolino, Freddy Lugo, Henry Fiol, Luis Ayala, and many others lived. Besides being a neighborhood full of artists, it was much cheaper living there, so he thought it was the ideal place for him.

It is worth noting that Daniel knew how to write music and read scores, but he had never played Latin music before in his life. He began to know it when several musicians he worked with asked for his help to read their scores, which led him to fall in love with Afro-Cuban music and develop an interest in salsa and merengue.

When David was born in 1979, Daniel had already been making music for about 15 years and had earned the nickname “The Organ Wizard” thanks to some band competitions held at a club in the Bronx. From a very young age, the boy watched bands rehearsing on the first floor of his house, so this salsa scene was natural for him. However, David had nothing to do with music until the death of his father in 2003.

David never had any interest in entering the art world, but the void left by Daniel’s death in his life drove him to study music, looking to connect with his father in some way. From there, he began taking piano and percussion classes, but he did not stop there. He also started to go out social dancing in the New York nightclubs and to know a bit more the nightlife of the city. On one occasion, a woman left him alone on the dance floor, and he was so ashamed in that moment that he decided to take classes and learn to dance.

David and the rest of Avenida B — The Avenida B Crew:
Juan Bowers – piano
Alvin Céspedes – bass
Ricky Rosa – congas/coro
Brian Pozo – bongos/coro/stage direction
Jhohan Hernandez – timbales
Demetrios Kehagias – trombone
Dan Lehner – trombone
David Frankel – lead vocals

That was when he realized that all the local bands played almost the same genres and songs, but there was no need for that because there was a world of possibilities in the Latin music he had discovered during his classes. There is a world beyond La Fania, and he learned that thanks to dance schools. All this thinking led him to create his own band with different music, to the old-school style he had always loved.

His father had always told him salsa is for dancing, and if you are not playing dance music, you are doing it wrong.

Which teachers taught David?

After thanking us for the question, David then proceeded to explain that there was a school in New York called the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts, located at 104th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The heads of the education programmes there were Ramón Rodríguez and Louis Bauzó, who were excellent musicians and great people whom he met thanks to his father, who was a piano teacher at that institution. David used to accompany Daniel to the school and met both teachers through him.

Following his father’s death, David returned to that same conservatory to study singing with Ramón, while also studying percussion with Georgie Delgado and piano with Louis. In short, this institution was of vital importance for his career, and the many things he learned there were momentous both personally and professionally.

As for the dance, he enrolled at the Baila Society school in New York through some friends, but later studied at others such as Santo Rico Dance and Dance On 2.

Jimmy and David — Jimmy Bosch and David Frankel

Avenida B Band

David began his career as a musician by playing boogaloo with a group called Spanglish Fly and a few other small bands. After everything he had studied and learned, already for the year 2011, the idea of creating his own group started percolating in his mind, so he posted an ad online looking for musicians and called some former classmates who might be interested in the proposal. That was how he managed to gather a decent number of people with whom he could finally put the Avenida B project together.

He chose salsa dura as his main genre because it is the kind of music that makes him want to dance, and given his background, this was very important to him.

He is also about to release an album in tribute to his father, which he has named “El Mago,” and it will feature some of his own songs; it is scheduled to be released in July 2026.