Egberto Gismonti

Egberto Gismonti is a Brazilian guitarist, pianist and composer, born in 1947 in Carmo, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. He trained as a classical pianist in Brazil, later studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Jean Barraqué, and took up the guitar in his teens. He plays eight- and ten-string guitars, piano, wood flutes and kalimba, and has recorded for ECM since 1977, often in duo or trio settings. Gismonti's first ECM record was Dança das Cabeças (1977), a duo with percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, with whom he also made Duas Vozes (1985).