| Tom Ze |
Jazz
Tom Z‚ began his career together with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Maria Bethƒnia. As a composer, he influenced Caetano and many others and delivered an expressive body of work through his own discography. A restless thinker, he was adept at modern erudite music experimentations, yet he was always ignored by both industry and audiences until he was discovered by David Byrne. He can be better understood through his self-coined definition: "I don't make art, I make spoken and sung journalism."
Z‚ was born in the Bahia hinterlands. The stronger musical references of his childhood were the cocos by Jackson do Pandeiro, the forros by Luiz Gonzaga, the local folklore, washerwoman's sambas de roda, and violeiros' cantigas, together with the mass idols broadcast by the omnipresent R dio Nacional (only after 1949, when electricity arrived there). In 1951, he was already in Salvador. A bad student, he discovered a great inspiration in the arid Os Sertoes (Euclides da Cunha), the coverage of the battle of Canudos that brought a detailed description of him and his Northeastern peers. Later, he joined the CPC, a popular culture center that acted as cultural resistance organizations during the military dictatorship, researched folklore, and producing culture based on the findings. After some partnerships with the poet Jos‚ Carlos Capinam for folkloric dances like bumba-meu-boi and chegan‡a, he was criticized by CPC members as he was becoming repetitive. He hadn't accepted the criticism ("folklore is always the same"), but he enrolled at the Music College of Bahia. After a basic course to learn the rudiments of written music, he studied with such luminaries as H.J. Koellreuter (music history), Piero Bastianelli, Walter Smetak (violoncello), Aida Zolinger (piano), Edy Cajueiro (violao), Ernest Widmer (composition), Yulo Brandao (counterpoint), Jamari Oliveira (harmony), Lindembergue Cardoso (instrumentation), and S‚rgio Magnani (orchestration).
In 1963, he became acquainted with Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso in Salvador, where actress Maria Muniz promoted weekly musical get-togethers, also frequented by musicians and young artists such as Fernando Lona, Alcyvando Luz, Orlando Senna, Maria L¡gia, and Alvaro Guimaraes. On September 7, 1964, Z‚ had his opening night a the musical directed by Caetano Veloso (N¢s por Exemplo No. 2), with Caetano, Gil, Gal Costa, Maria Bethƒnia, Alcyvando Luz, Perna Fr¢es (still known as Ant“nio Renato), and percussionist Djalma Corrˆa. Soon, he joined the other Baianos in the Nova Bossa Velha -- Velha Bossa Nova Show and in 1965, in the musical Arena Conta Bahia, which included his composition (with Chico de Assis), "O Cachorro do Inglˆs." The musical was such a success that Caetano, Gal, Gil, Bethƒnia, and Z‚ were invited to record their singles through RCA. Then, in the same year, Z‚ debuted in the record business with his single "Maria do Col‚gio da Bahia." His "Parque Industrial" was recorded on the album/manifesto Tropic lia, and he recorded his first LP Tom Z‚ (Rozemblit). His "Sao Paulo, meu Amor" won first place at TV Record's IV FMPB (Sao Paulo), and got fourth place and the Best Lyrics award at the same festival with "2001" (with Rita Lee).
In 1969, he performed in Rio and Sao Paulo with Gal Costa in the show O Som Livre de Tom Z‚ e Gal Costa. In 1970, he recorded Tom Z‚ through RGE. The next year, he opened a music course in Sao Paulo, Sofist Balacobaco -- muito som e pouco papo. In 1972, he recorded Tom Z‚ through Continental, followed by 1973's Todos os Olhos, 1976's Estudando o Samba, and 1977's Correio da Esta‡ao do Br s, all for the same label. In 1974, he gave a concert with the band Capote, in Sao Paulo. In 1975, he worked on the Brazilian staging of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as an actor. In 1976, he toured the university circuit with Vicente Barreto. In 1984, he went to RGE, where he released Nave Maria, and Continental re-released his 1972's Tom Z‚ as Se o Caso ‚ Chorar. In all this time, he continued to make sporadic appearances, but was still almost completely ignored by the masses due to his unusual approach in music with plenty of irony, erudite music references, and the utilization of self-made instruments. Z‚ was so depressed that he decided to return to his small home town to work at his nephew's gas station. In 1989 while visiting Brazil, David Byrne found a used exemplar of Estudando o Samba, which he took as a didactic work. When he listened the album, he was immediately taken by Z‚'s sound and called Arto Lindsay, who gave him what information he had about Z‚. When a Brazilian journalist from a renowned newspaper interviewed Byrne, he saw a note on his desk, "When in Brazil, look for Tom Z‚." He reported that and Z‚ was alerted. Radiant, he phoned Caetano for more info and Caetano replied that it shouldn't be about him, but about Tuz‚ de Abreu, Byrne's friend. The fact yielded some reserves by Z‚ in interviews. Byrne then took Z‚ as the first artist of his label Luaka Bop. His releases there would get favorable reviews in The New York Times, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Le Monde, and win the Creativity Award in Telluride, CO. In 1991, his album The Best of Tom Z‚ was appointed by vote the third best album by critics and fourth by the readers of Downbeat. In 1992, he recorded The Hips of Tradition (Luaka Bop), participating in the Zurich Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He then departed for a successful series of tours in Europe and the U.S. He is the first and only Brazilian musician to be presented at New York's MoMa (1993), and the first and only Latin American composer to be presented at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. He also opened a concert at the Lift -- London International Festival of Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. He performed concerts and festivals in Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatoon) and New York and in August, as part of 20th Century Artist and at Summerstage, Central Park. In 1994, he worked on the film S bado (Ugo Giorgetti) and toured through Amsterdam, Berlin, Switzerland, and France. In 1995 and 1996, he toured the biggest capitals of Brazil. In the same year, he wrote (together with Jos‚ Miguel Wisnik) the "Parabelo" soundtrack for Grupo Corpo (a modern ballet company), which brought them the APCA award. Alvaro Neder
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