Hermeto Pascoal, the innovative Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist long nicknamed “the wizard” for his inventive approach to sound, has died at age 89, his family said. A statement posted on the musician’s Instagram account said he was “surrounded by family and fellow musicians”; it did not provide further details.
Born on June 22, 1936, in a rural settlement north-east of Alagoas, Pascoal overcame childhood poverty and the limitations imposed by albinism to teach himself music. By age 10 he was playing dances and weddings, later performing forró and other regional styles across northeastern Brazil before moving to Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s. In Rio he joined a radio orchestra, played in nightclubs and encountered the city’s jazz scene, where his melding of jazz improvisation and traditional Brazilian forms began to attract attention.
Pascoal wrote more than 2,000 instrumental pieces during a career that spanned decades and genres. Primarily a pianist and flutist, he was also proficient on saxophone, guitar, drums and accordion, and he became known for incorporating unconventional sound sources — from household objects to recorded animal noises — into his compositions and performances. While recording his debut album for Warner Brothers, "Slaves Mass," in 1976, he famously brought a pair of live pigs into the studio.
He collaborated with major Brazilian artists such as the singer Elis Regina and percussionist Airto Moreira. It was on a U.S. tour with Moreira that Pascoal was introduced to Miles Davis, who later praised him as one of the most important musicians of his time. Despite such recognition from jazz luminaries, Pascoal resisted being labeled strictly as a jazz musician, saying he drew as much from Brazilian genres like chorinho and samba. "When they think I am doing one thing I am already doing something else... It's very liquid," he told Jazz World in 2022.
Pascoal continued arranging, composing and recording into his 80s, maintaining an active role in musical projects and in mentoring younger musicians. His family’s announcement asked those who wished to honour him to "let a single note ring — from an instrument, your voice, or a kettle — and offer it to the universe." The message reflected his lifelong interest in everyday sounds as musical material and his belief in music as a communal act.
Musicians and critics have cited Pascoal’s work as influential both within Brazil and internationally. His large catalogue and unorthodox methods expanded the vocabulary of Brazilian music and challenged conventional boundaries between folk traditions and avant-garde experimentation. He leaves a wide-ranging body of work that documented his blending of regional forms, improvised music and sound experimentation.
Detail on the circumstances of his death was not released. Pascoal’s passing marks the end of a career that began in small northeastern towns and reached global stages, earning him admiration from peers and generations of musicians who drew on his example of inventiveness and musical curiosity.