My son Rodrigo was born that April, and I sent a telegram to my friend Wesley Lee: “Tell Uncle Lee that the order of the day is loose diapers and warm milk.” They arrested both of us, because they thought it was a coded message to start the revolution. ![]() In 1964 there was a military coup in Brazil. The dream of my life! Loose diapers and warm milk ![]() In 1962 we were invited to play in the first big bossa nova concert at Carnegie Hall. I put together a sextet, and we recorded an album that did very well. Bossa nova was just starting, and I got to jam with people like João Gilberto. When I was 18 or so, a friend invited me to play at the Bottles Bar in Rio, where all the best musicians hung out. My whole life has been a series of encounters that I never planned but that opened incredible doors for me. I thought, If he could do that, maybe I can leave here one day and go someplace! We were, like, “There's an incredible life out there.” I fell in love with the painter Paul Gauguin, because he had left France to go live in Polynesia. My group of friends would get together every week and listen to records, talk about art and literature, go to see movies by foreign directors like Fellini and Kurosawa. I started out playing classical, but when I was in my early teens, somebody played me a jazz record - Dave Brubeck's “Take Five” - and I was, like, “Wow, this is amazing.” Wanderlust Growing up there, it's all around you people are playing instruments on the corner and dancing in the streets. A lot of people in Brazil have that combination, and so does Brazilian music. My father was Black my mother's side was Portuguese. We lived across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. When the cast came off, I still couldn't ride a bike or play soccer, but my mom said, “I'm going to give you a piano.” It was, like, “Here is your new life." The power of song ![]() I was in a body cast until I was 6, and I had several operations. My father was a doctor, so we were able to get penicillin, and that saved my leg. When I was 3 years old, in 1944, I came down with a bone disease, osteomyelitis.
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