Perfil: Jorge Ben Jor


With no package leaflet or contraindications, that is the music of Jorge Ben Jor.

He got interested in
music when Bossa Nova was still in charge of the Brazilian and world artistic scenery. Just like the majority of the teenagers at that time, his idol was João Gilberto, whose colloquial voice woke up his admiration. But Jorge Menezes, known in the whole world as Jorge Ben Jor, listened to Luiz Gonzaga and Ataulfo Alves during all of his childhood. At home, his parents used to talk about a certain Nelson Gonçalves who was the crooner of Severino Araújo’s orchestra. We can also remember from the same time the special voice of Cauby Peixoto who, one day, about decades later, would record one of his songs, Dona Culpa Ficou Solteira.

Jorge Ben Jor was revealed by the song Mas Que Nada and soon confirmed his talent with another great success, Chove Chuva. Two songs which had nothing to do with Bossa Nova or with the traditional samba either. The purist believed his music was too modern. It was hard for the musicians at that time to follow him, so much that his first albums were recorded with a group that played jazz in the Beco das Garrafas, the Meireles e os Copa 5.



So, from the beginning of his career, Ben Jor has shown himself innovative. As a composer, singer, musician, bandleader and arranger, Ben Jor is the only one. It is impossible to classify his music and balance, which are unmistakable. But “this samba mixed with maracatu”, a registered mark of Jorge Ben Jor, has found its place in the world and became a worldwide success. He is the only Brazilian unanimity. Respected and received with respect, by every artist, in every musical movement, from the post-bossa nova until nowadays. The remaining artists of bossa nova, such as Tamba Trio, Pery Ribeiro and Walter Wanderley recorded Mas Que Nada and other of his compositions. Mas Que Nada was the only song in Portuguese to ever reach the top songs played in the United States.


Since the end of the 60s until nowadays, Jorge is the only composer to be recorded by artists of every musical kinds. Mas Que Nada is registered in the voices of Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzie Gilespie, Julio Iglesias, Al Jarreau, Trini Lopez, José Feliciano, Fred Bongusto, Mina, Nicoletta, Los Hermanos Castro and in hundreds of other records of artists and musical groups in hundreds of countries in the world.

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