Guilherme Franco (November 25, 1946 – November 12, 2016, in

São Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of Yu ...

) was a

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

in the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and world fusion music genres. Franco performed on the albums of many notable jazz musicians such as

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA J ...

Lonnie Liston Smith Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. (born December 28, 1940) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with such jazz artists as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of ...

Don Pullen Don Gabriel Pullen (December 25, 1941 – April 22, 1995) was an American jazz pianist and organist. Pullen developed a strikingly individual style throughout his career. He composed pieces ranging from blues to bebop and modern jazz. The great ...

and

Woody Shaw Woody Herman Shaw Jr. (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, arranger, band leader, and educator. Shaw is widely known as one of the 20th century's most important and influentia ...

. Between 1971 and 1976 he was an occasional additional member of

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

's "American Quartet", and was also a member of

Paul Winter Paul Winter (born August 31, 1939) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He is a pioneer of world music and earth music, which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The ...

's Consort. In 1981 he started a

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

school in New York City and a power samba group called "Pe De Boi" (a Brazilian slang term for a good musician, literally meaning "foot of the bull"). As a result, he began playing many gigs in the New York City underground scene of the 1980s with the likes of

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

and

David Johansen David Roger Johansen (January 9, 1950 – February 28, 2025) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor best known as lead singer of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under the pseudonym Buster Po ...

among many others. He was said to practice music 14 hours a day. Franco suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

in March 2015 and was cared for at the Hospital Arnaldo Pezzuti Cavalcanti in

Mogi das Cruzes Mogi das Cruzes ( or ) is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, located within the metropolitan region of the state capital of the city of São Paulo. The population is 451,505 (2022 census) in an area of 713 km2. It is located 4 ...

, São Paulo where he died in November 2016.

Discography

In 1998 he recorded the solo album ''Capoeira: Legendary Music of Brazil'', on the Lyrichord record label, on which album he plays most of the instruments. He appeared on at least one album a year in most years after 1972, as shown in the table below.

References

External links

Guilherme Franco
at YouTube * {{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, Guilherme Brazilian percussionists Brazilian drummers Brazilian jazz musicians 1946 births 2016 deaths Paul Winter Consort members