Pianist, arranger, producer and educator Antonio Adolfo grew up in a musical family in Rio de Janeiro (his mother was a violinist in the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra), and began his studies at the age of seven. At seventeen he was already a professional musician. His teachers include Eumir Deodato and the great Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During the 60’s he led his own trio that participated in several Bossa Nova and Jazz shows in Brazil and toured with singers Leny Andrade, Carlos Lyra, Flora Purim, Wilson Simonal, Elis Regina and Milton Nascimento. Adolfo wrote tunes such as Pretty World (original Brazilian title: Sa Marina) that gained great success and have been recorded by such artists as Sergio Mendes, Stevie Wonder, Herb Alpert, Earl Klugh, Dionne Warwick, and others. He won International Song Contests (Rio – Brazil and Athens – Greece) on two occasions.
As a musician, arranger and record producer he has worked with some of the most representative Brazilian names, besides having released more than 25 albums under his name. As an educator, he has been teaching music, specially Brazilian music, throughout the world and has written several books (see list in the Educator’s section of this website). In 1985 Mr. Adolfo created his own school in Rio, Brazil, now with more than 1,300 students. His 2010 CD album, Lá e Cá/Here and There, follows the footsteps of 2007 live recording Antonio Adolfo e Carol Saboya Ao Vivo/ Live. In 2011 his CD Chora Baiao was released and became awarded by The Latin Jazz Corner. Antonio Adolfo’s recent CD “Finas Misturas“/Fine Mixtures has been acclaimed with great reviews and Jazz radio airplay. His CD Rio, Choro, Jazz…, as well as his piano solo album O Piano de Antonio Adolfo were nominated for the 2014 Latin Grammy Awards. In 2015, Adolfo had released a CD recorded in New York and Rio, with singer Carol Saboya and harmonicist/vibraphonist Hendrik Meurkes entitled Copa Village. In 2015 he was nominated in the Latin Grammy for his CD Tema, with only original compositions by him. In 2016, the great CD Tropical Infinito that was released in May, has also been nominated as Best Latin Jazz album for the 2016 Latin Grammy. And in 2017 and 2018, CD Hybrido – From Rio to Wayne Shorter was nominated both, Latin Grammy and Grammy, consecutively. In 2018, another album “Encontros – Orquestra Atlantica” has been release by Antonio Adolfo’s AAM Music, which was also recorded in Rio and is gaining great reviews and radio airplay, besides being nominated as Best Engineered album on 2019’s Latin Grammy. Recent releases include CD Samba Jazz Alley (2019), BruMa - Celebrating Milton Nascimento and Vamos Partir Pro Mundo (this one, with Brazilian vocalist Leila Pinheiro).
