Trivia

Naturalized U.S. citizen from 1961.

Self-taught Brazilian guitarist, composer and arranger. Arrived in the U.S. in 1947 as a member of Carmen Miranda's band, based in Los Angeles. Subsequently joined the Stan Kenton orchestra. From 1952, prolific work on numerous film and TV soundtracks. A founding member of the 'L.A. Four' with Bud Shank, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne in the 1970's.

Married to Canadian-born lyrical soprano Deltra Eamon.

Winner of five Grammy Awards between 1960 and 1965 (nominated for eleven others). Contributed greatly to popularising the bossa nova style of music in the U.S. and a pioneer of samba-jazz fusion. Set up his own publishing company, 'Brazilliance', in 1952.

In addition to guitar, he also played lute and mandolin.

Among Almeida's notable classical recordings is an album widely considered to be the first classical crossover album, the 1958 Grammy winner Duets with Spanish Guitar with mezzo-soprano Salli Terri and flutist Martin Ruderman. In this recording, Almeida arranges standard classical and folk repertoire through the prism of several Latin musical forms, including the modenha, charo, maracatu and boi bumba. The result, according to Hi-Fi and Music Review was "...a prize winner in my collection. Laurindo Almeida's guitar playing captures the keen poignancy and rhythmic élan of Brazilian music with superb assurance and taste...". The recording was nominated for two Grammy Awards and won for Best Classical Engineering for Sherwood Hall III at the first Grammy Awards ceremony. In her recent memoir Simple Dreams, singer Linda Ronstadt discusses Duets With the Spanish Guitar and notes that her aunt, the renowned Spanish singer Luisa Espinel was a friend of vocalist Salli Terri: "Knowing I wanted to sing, Aunt Luisa had sent me a recording, Duets with the Spanish Guitar, which featured guitarist Laurindo Almeida dueting alternately with flautist Martin Ruderman and soprano Salli Terri. It became one of my most cherished recordings.".

At the age of 19, he worked his way to Europe playing guitar in a cruise ship orchestra.

According to author Michael Sparke, Almeida and his fellow Kenton band member drummer Jack Costanzo "endowed the music of Progressive Jazz with a persuasive Latin flavor, and the music is enriched by their presence.".

Of Almeida's five career Grammys, four were awarded in classical categories. His classical recording discography also includes the debut recordings of two major guitar works, Heitor Villa-Lobos' Guitar Concerto and Radamés Gnattali's Concerto de Copacabana.

In 1964, Almeida expanded his recording repertoire by joining forces with the Modern Jazz Quartet on Collaboration (Atlantic Records), which combined classical with jazz, called "chamber jazz." Almeida also toured with the MJQ, both in the 1960s and again in the 1990s.

He and Bud Shank were pioneers in the creation of bossa nova.

Almeida was first introduced to the jazz public as a featured guitarist with the Stan Kenton band in the late 1940s during the height of its success.

Almeida's classical solo recording career on Capitol Records began in 1954 with The Guitar Music of Spain.

In the 1970s, Almeida reunited with Bud Shank, forming The L.A. Four with Ray Brown and Chuck Flores (later Shelly Manne and then Jeff Hamilton). From 1974 to 1982, the L.A. Four toured internationally and recorded a series of albums for Concord Jazz, including The L.A. Four Scores!, an acclaimed live recording from the 1974 Concord Jazz Festival.

Almeida's recording career enjoyed auspicious early success with the 1953 recordings now called Brazilliance No. 1 and No. 2 with fellow Kenton alumnus Bud Shank, bassist Harry Babasin, and drummer Roy Harte on the World Pacific label (originally entitled "The Laurindo Almeida Quartet featuring Bud Shank"). Widely regarded as "landmark" recordings, Almeida and Shank's combination of Brazilian and jazz rhythms (which Almeida labeled "samba-jazz"- presaged the fusion of Latin and jazz, which is quite different in bossa nova, although jazz critic Leonard Feather credited Almeida and Shank as the creators of bossa nova sound. Other observers note that the beat, harmonic stamp, and economy of expression were different from the bossa nova, giving Almeida and Shank's recording "...a different mood and sound...certainly valuable in its own right.".

He was a Brazilian guitarist and composer in classical, jazz, and Latin music.

He moved to the United States in 1947; a trip financed when one of his compositions, a song known as "Johnny Peddler" became a hit recorded by the Andrews Sisters. In Los Angeles, Almeida immediately went to work in film studio orchestras.

Almeida was the first guitarist to receive Grammy Awards for both classical and jazz performances.

In 1980, Almeida joined forces with Charlie Byrd on a series of highly regarded recordings, including Latin Odyssey, Brazilian Soul and Tango.

During his teenage years, Almeida moved to São Paulo, where he worked as a radio artist, staff arranger and nightclub performer.

N 1992, he was honored with the Latin American & Caribbean Cultural Society Award for "his illustrious career as a performer and composer and his dedicated promotion of the music of the Americas." Shortly before his death, the Brazilian government honored Almeida, awarding him the "Comendador da Ordem do Rio Branco." In 2010, Fanfare inducted his 1958 Duets with Spanish Guitar into its Classical Recording Hall of Fame.

He became known for playing both classical Spanish and popular guitar.

He composed more than 1000 separate pieces, including 200 popular songs.

His guitar trio, Guitarjam, with Larry Coryell and Sharon Isbin played Carnegie Hall in 1988.

In the 1990s, Almeida toured again with the Modern Jazz Quartet.

His discography encompasses more than a hundred recordings over five decades.

Laurindo Almeida was nominated for sixteen Grammys and received the award five times:.

Famed Kenton arranger Pete Rugolo composed "Lament" specifically for Almeida's cool, quiet sound, and Almeida's own composition "Amazonia" was also featured by the Kenton orchestra. Almeida stayed with Kenton until 1952.

In 2004 Almeida's guitar work from his version of The Lamp Is Low was sampled by the late Japanese DJ and producer Nujabes for the song "Aruarian Dance" which features on the soundtrack to the anime series Samurai Champloo.

Laurindo Almeida's archives are housed at the US Library of Congress and at California State University, Northridge.

In 1952 Almeida formed his own publishing company, Brazilliance, which has been influential in the dissemination of Latin American music.

In 1992, Concord Records issued Outra Vez, an October, 1991 live recording with bassist Bob Magnusson and drummer Jim Plank; JazzTimes wrote that Outra Vez was "...a testament to his enduring genius as a concert guitarist, composer and arranger".

Almeida was teaching, recording and performing until the week before his death of leukemia on July 26, 1995.

In Paris, he attended a performance at the Hot Club by Stephane Grappelli and famed guitarist Django Reinhardt, who became a lifelong artistic inspiration.

He also recorded with Baden Powell, Stan Getz and Herbie Mann, among others.