Naná Vasconcelos

Growing up absorbing a range of music, from classical Brazilian Villa-Lobos to Jimi Hendrix,  Naná Vasconcelos became an innovative percussionist who could pick up a beat on almost any instrument. He came to specialize in the berimbau, the single-stringed Brazillian percussion instrument, and in the polyrhythms typical of his home in northern Brazil.
 
Starting his career with a young Milton Nascimiento, he became a frequent collaborator with what came to be called (deeply over-simply, of course) jazz intellectuals -- bandleaders like Don Cherry and Pat Metheny and crossover artists like saxophonist and composer Jan Garbarek who play with silence, improv and a broad palette of sound. He released a slew of his own records as a bandleader, and throughout his life he sought fresh sounds with new collaborators. For a taste, try his 2009 collaboration with Joyce and Mauricio Maestro, Visions of Dawn: The Paris 1976 Project.