Biography

A legendary trombonist with a highly appealing tone, Raul de Souza was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 23, 1934. Coming from traditional styles such as the Gafieira, he took part in the development of the Bossa Nova and Samba Jazz idioms whilst playing with Brazil's musical heroes including Sérgio Mendes, Eumir Deodato, Dom Um Romão, and Baden Powell. An invitation from percussionist Airto Moreira led him to move to Los Angeles in 1974, where that same year, Airto produced Raul’s Album “Colors” which featured Cannonball Adderely, J.J. Johnson, Jack de Johnette, and other prominent Jazz artists. Having played Jazz as early as 1965 with drummer Kenny Clarke in Paris, “Raulzinho” appeared on '70s albums by Sonny Rollins, and Cal Tjader. In 1977, “Sweet Lucy”, became his big break. Both this album and it’s follow-up, “Don't Ask My Neighbors”, were produced by George Duke and catapulted him to fame, next to recordings led by Herbie Hancock, Milton Nascimento, and Jaco Pastorius. The 80’s and early 90’s found him keeping a lower profile until his participation in the Grammy-winning “Antônio Brasileiro” by Tom Jobim (1996) brought him back into the spotlight. Enjoying legendary status in Brazil, he began surrounding himself with young musicians, as evidenced on the remarkable album “Plenitude”, recorded in 2019 by his “Generations Band” featuring trombonist Christophe Schweizer, Alex Corrêa on Piano, Glauco Solter (bass) and drummer Matheus Jardim, and released in 2021.