Rovanio Rovnny Assis (born August 25, 1969), known professionally as Nanny Assis, is a

Brazilian-American Brazilian Americans ( or ) are Americans who are of full or partial Brazilian ancestry. The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates the Brazilian American population to be 1,905,000, the largest of any Brazilian diaspora. The larges ...

singer, percussionist, composer, producer, and guitarist based in New York City. Assis attributes many artists from

Salvador, Bahia Salvador () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality and capital city of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognize ...

, and Brazil more generally as his influences, including

Dorival Caymmi Dorival Caymmi (; April 30, 1914 – August 16, 2008) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, actor, and painter active for more than 70 years, beginning in 1933. He contributed to the birth of Brazil's bossa nova movement, and several of his samb ...

, and

Tropicália Tropicália (), also known as tropicalismo (), was a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s. It was characterized by the amalgamation of Brazilian genres—notably the union of the popular and the avant-garde, as well as the meldi ...

icon

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...

. He also cites

Djavan Djavan Caetano Viana (; born 27 January 1949) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest singers in Brazilian history. Early life and career Djavan was born in Maceió, Brazil to a whit ...

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, and

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

for their heavy impact on his artistic approach.

Early life

Assis was born in

, Brazil in 1969. When he was 7, he began participating in several children's and youth choirs and singing and playing at the churches where his father, an evangelical pastor, preached. Assis studied

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and Portuguese literature at the

Catholic University of Salvador The Catholic University of Salvador (, UCSal) is a private and non-profit Catholic university, located in Salvador, the first capital of Brazil, and fourth largest city of Brazil. It is maintained by the Catholic Archdiocese of Salvador. Underg ...

Career

In 1984, Assis participated in the Bahia Instrumental Festival. In 1993, Assis joined the

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

–based band Rolling Thunder as a percussionist. Then, in 1999, after six years of regular work in the United States, he moved to New York City. Assis continued working in multiple genres but primarily performed with jazz musicians. Some acts Assis performed alongside include Lauren Henderson, trumpeter Mark Morganelli, and keyboardist

Pete Levin Pete Levin (born December 20, 1942) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. Career Pete Levin grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts. His first instrument as a teenager was the French horn. He studied at Boston University a ...

. After 1999, Assis also performed across Europe, in countries including Italy, France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and England. Assis has been featured at

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...

in London as well as Jazz Forum Arts, Birdland, Zinc Bar,

Blue Note Jazz Club The Blue Note Jazz Club is a jazz club and restaurant located at 131 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club's performance schedule features shows every evening at 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm and a Sunday jazz brunch. The club h ...

SOB's SOB's is a live world music venue and restaurant in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. S.O.B.’s is an abbreviation of Sounds of Brazil. Larry Gold opened SOB's in June 1982 with the purpose of exposing the music of the Afro-Latino d ...

, Jazz Standard, Red Rooster Harlem, and

Joe's Pub Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. It is located at 425 Lafayette Str ...

in New York City. In 2011 and 2017, Assis received the Brazilian International Press Award as "Best Singer of the Year." Also, in 2017, Assis received the award of Brazilian Ambassador on Music and Arts in Tokyo, Japan for his work promoting

Brazilian culture The culture of Brazil has been shaped by the amalgamation of diverse indigenous cultures, and the cultural fusion that took place among Indigenous peoples in Brazil, Indigenous communities, Portuguese people, Portuguese colonists, and Afro-Brazi ...

in Japan, New Zealand, Cuba, Italy, Russia, Israel, Turkey, and England. Additionally, Assis has composed music for theater productions such as "Rio Uphill."

Discography

* ''Double Rainbow'' ( Blue Toucan, 2006) * '' Brasilian Vibes'' (2010) * '' Requinte Trio - Honey & Air'' (2015) * '' Rovanio'' ( In & Out, 2023)

Filmography

* 2022: '' Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes''

References

External links

Nanny Assis Official Website

CAP Radio Interview

Making A Scene Interview with Nanny Assis

Matthias Kirsch Review of Nanny Assis – Rovanio
American people of Brazilian descent Brazilian jazz percussionists {{DEFAULTSORT:Assis, Nanny 1969 births Living people Musicians from Salvador, Bahia