Laurindo Almeida & The Bossa Nova All Stars

b. 2 September 1917, Prainha, São Paulo, Brazil, d. 26 July 1995, Van Nuys, California, USA. A fluent and skilled musician, famous in his native country as a classical Spanish guitar player, Almeida went to the USA in the 40s to work in film and television studios. His jazz work was first widely exposed during a spell with Stan Kenton in the late 40s. Although continuing his film and television work, Almeida also took many opportunities to play jazz, joining forces with bass player Harry Babasin, altoist Bud Shank and drummer Roy Harte in 1953. The work of this group anticipa...