(Descobrindo João Donato)
João Donato, 2008.
João Donato, 2008.
Somehow I feel ill-equipped to write very knowledgeably about João Donato. Although my familiarity with his prolific compositions (Minha Saudade, Amazonas, The Sea is My Song, The Frog, etc.) is not recent, my introduction to his style of piano playing is VERY recent. In fact, if it were not for his album "Amazonas", I would probably still be ignorant of his abilities on the piano. My own thoughts on the Amazonas album can be read HERE. Being someone who does not like heavy-handed pianists, I was immediately attracted to the sound of João's piano (as I also love the style of Walter Wanderley, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Henry Mancini, Marian McPartland, Steve Allen and others who have a light touch on keyboards and tend to play more single notes than chords).
João's instrumental talents do not just extend to playing the piano, however. He also sings and even plays trombone! In his early days, he also played accordion.
I would leave out something very important if at this point I did not thank Claudio Slon for giving me the inspiration to go ahead with doing this site. Claudio was the drummer of the new João Donato Trio from 1999 until 2001- and it is the absolute truth that I probably would not have even heard Donato play if I did not learn of Claudio's interest in João as a musician back in 1999. So for that, I am extremely grateful!
Thanks to the following people who contributed either album scans, photos, listing information or other Donato tidbits to this site: Ithamara Koorax, Arnaldo DeSouteiro, Doug Payne, Gregory Flores, William Kenlon, Ivone Belem, Daniella Thompson, Augusto Troncoso, Eumir Deodato, Duane Shimizu, Fernando Gelbard, Jose Sanches Perez, Egidio Leitao, Sônia Sirimarco, Jose Domingos Raffaelli, Gary Corben of whatmusic.com, Tom Johnson, Forrest Patton, Shimon Israel, David Cronin, Leonid Bogdanov, Ronaldo Evangelista, Randy Kosht, Harry Neyhart, Laura McCarthy, Sergio Ximenes, Paul Okami, Henry Thelow, Jarkko Toivonen, Frank-Oliver Hellmann, Rodrigo Araujo, R. Rembert Aranda, Hans-Peter Huebschen, Suitbert Kempkes, Zecalouro and Manoel Dantas.
I hope you enjoy this site
dedicated to an exceptional musician and composer - the one and only
João Donato!
--B.J. (Barbara J.)
Major
Introduction amended 4/17/08
DISCOGRAPHY and VIDEOGRAPHY:
78 rpm, 45 rpm, 12 inch Singles & EPs, EP, LP, CS, 8-track, CD, SHM-CD, CD Singles and Live Concerts, Digital Download, DVD-Audio, DVD, and YouTube Links to Donato Videos--HERE
Text List of Original Compositions
by João Donato--HERE
João Donato Song LYRICS--HERE
Other Descriptive Texts about Donato in Other Languages--HERE
Or go directly to a specific interview:
Bruni
Sablan Interview, Jose Domingos Raffaelli Interview,
Arnaldo DeSouteiro Interview,
Ithamara Koorax Interview
What's in a Name?--HERE
WATCH and LISTEN to Donato--HERE
NOTE: THIS SITE HAS NOW
BEEN TOTALLY REORGANIZED AND REDONE IN
RECORD LABEL ORDER.
** This discography online since January
2001 **
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Original site layout and textual content of this site Copyright © 2000-2013, B.J. Major. Interview transcriptions have not been edited for content. Pictured album cover photos, record label images and CD booklet pages are copyright of their respective record labels and are used here only for information and illustration purposes. This is a private site and is not owned in part or whole by any company or corporation. João Donato has contributed information and material for the site "Discovering João Donato" directly to this Webmaster.
