A composer’s composer, a musician’s musician, Nelson Angelo is one of the most creative and revered artists in Brazil’s contemporary music scene. Particularly famous for his prolific fifteen-year association with many big Brazilian names, with whose he tourney worldwide and recorded legendary albums, his musicianship goes beyond technique and taste into the realm of artistry through intuition. Born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, in 1949, Angelo studied classical guitar for three years while still in ...

A composer’s composer, a musician’s musician, Nelson Angelo is one of the most creative and revered artists in Brazil’s contemporary music scene. Particularly famous for his prolific fifteen-year association with many big Brazilian names, with whose he tourney worldwide and recorded legendary albums, his musicianship goes beyond technique and taste into the realm of artistry through intuition. Born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, in 1949, Angelo studied classical guitar for three years while still in his teens. A self-thought composer and arranger, he started his professional career in Rio de Janeiro, in 1966, immediately building a strong reputation. He’s also part of the group of musicians that created the “Clube da Esquina”, a music way with Milton Nascimento association. Since then, his deep harmony knowledge has been an integral part of the best music created in Brazil for the past thirty years, enriching many albums by such leading Brazilian artists as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chico Buarque, Edu Lobo, Elis Regina, Alaíde Costa, Luiz Eça, Nana Caymmi, Milton Nascimento, Luiz Bonfá and many others. During this period, he also had the privilege to record with jazz vocal diva Sarah Vaughan on her internationally acclaimed album “I Love Brazil”, which was released on the Pablo Label and received a five star review on Down Beat in ‘78. During the ‘80s, Angelo lived sometimes in Paris, where he recorded another two masterpieces of modern Brazilian acoustic sounds: “Nana Vasconcelos & Nelson Angelo & Novelli” and “Mineiro Pau”. Now, for the past ten years, Nelson Angelo release several solo albums, featuring very important guests from the popular Brazilian art of music, such as Edison Machado, Dom Um Romão, João Bosco, Robertinho Silva, Carlos Malta, Raul de Souza, Hugo Fattoruzo, Cristóvão Bastos, Paulinho Trompete and Toninho Horta among many others. After the sounds of Brazil became an integral part of London’s dance floor jazz scene in the ‘90s, his original record of “Tiro Cruzado” (Cross Fire), a song also covered by Sergio Mendez and Tom Jobim, became an acid jazz cult guaranteed in all clubs. (by Arnaldo DeSouteiro)