Ivan Conti

With a music career that spans more than half a century, drummer, composer, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Ivan Conti, aka Mamão, was among the most celebrated musicians in Brazil. His nimble, break-driven, hard-swinging style was the rhythmic backbone of jazz-funk fusion trio Azymuth from their inception in 1973. That group, with bassist/composer Alex Malheiros and keyboardist/composer/producer José Roberto Bertrami (until his death in 2012, when he was replaced by Kiko Continentino) worked together as Projeto 3, recording the album O Trio in 1968. Conti was an...