From Jazziz
A Brazilian musician and composer of almost mythical proportions, João Donato is one of the surviving - and still prospering - members of a generation that produced Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto, Manfredo Fest, Luiz Eça and many other masters associated with the heyday of bossa nova. The impish pianist, known for his deliberate, single-note musings and catchy compositions, is, along with Gilberto and Jobim, one of a small handful of artists whose sound defines bossa. In the United States in the 1960s, he worked with Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader, and Bud Shank, while at home in Rio in the '70s, he collaborated with Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and other younger writers. The fondly recalled 1973 New York session featuring Randy Brecker, Airto, Ray Barretto, and Eumir Deodato, reissued on 32 Jazz as João Donato, radiates all the funky spirit of the crossover Brazilian jazz of that era.
--Mark Holston, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.