By the time you finish reading this post and interview, you will know one more great Brazilian composer than you did before. That's because Luiz Millan is a well-kept secret in Brazil. Little known outside of the country, he has been writing beautiful songs for decades that have been recorded by Brazilian stars. A modest, low-key guy, Luiz writes with poetry and passion, and his songs evoke the hypnotic melodies by bossa nova composers in the late 1950s and '60s. [Photo above of Luiz Millan by Priscila Prade]
As with all good discoveries, this one started with an email. I've long known producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro and his wife, singer Ithamara Koorax. I first met Ithamara at a party in New York in 2008 and interviewed her a year later when she released her glorious album Bim Bom: The Complete Joao Gilberto Songbook. You can read my 2009 interview with Ithamara here.
The email from Arnaldo arrived last week to let me know that his record label, Jazz Station, would be releasing an album by Luiz Millan this week called Brazilian Match. Luiz who? Arnaldo sent along the CD and I flipped. All 16 of the album's songs were co-written by Luiz and feature him on vocals paired with all-star singers such as Lisa Ono, the French singer Clementine and the New York Voices. Musicians include John Tropea, David Sanborn, Randy Brecker, Mike Mainieri, Eddie Daniels, Mark Egan, Danny Gottlieb and Barry Finnerty. Michel Freidenson arranged the music.
Before we jump into my interview with Luiz, here's the album's opening track—Pacuíba, with Luiz on vocals...
The entire album is spectacular, and Luiz's songs are splendidly crafted and doused in soft bossa energy and sensuality. You'll find Brazilian Match here, or at YouTube and Spotify.
Now that you have a sense of the music, here's my e-conversation with Luiz Millan...
JazzWax: Luiz, where in Brazil were you born?
Luiz Millan: I was born in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, on August 29, 1955. I'm the middle child, with a sister three years older and a brother eight years younger. My father was a plastic surgeon, and my mother studied history and geography in college but never went on to teach or apply her studies.
JW: How were you exposed to music growing up?
LM: My father loved music. I remember him coming home in the early 1960s with records by João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Dorival Caymmi, Vinicius de Moraes, Gilbert Bécaud and Edith Piaf, among others. When I was 3, in 1958, bossa nova had emerged with the song Chega de Saudade, by Jobim and Vinicius. I fell in love with the bossa sound right away. Later, when The Girl from Ipanema came out in 1964 with Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, I fell in love with the music even more. I then began listening to Marcos Valle, Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Ivan Lins, Elis Regina, João Donato, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Edu Lobo and their songwriting partners. I remember putting their records on my parents’ turntable and later going to record stores to buy their new releases. It was a great time for Brazilian popular music, with rich melodies and rhythms, and brilliant lyrics.
JW: Did you listen only to records?
LM: Oh, no. We heard these artists on the radio all the time, too. Through their recordings, they became my bossa nova teachers. But great music was flourishing outside of Brazil as well. In addition to listening to the bossa nova composers, I loved the Beatles. I remember the day I bought their Revolver album in 1966, when it was just released. I was 11. On the album, I heard Eleanor Rigby for the first time and was shocked and in ecstasy. Jazz also has been part of my life, with the beautiful songs of Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Chet Baker, Keith Jarrett, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and George Benson.
JW: When did you start playing the piano? What inspired you?
LM: I took classical piano lessons from age 4 to 8, at my mother's insistence. Back then, I did not like classical or how it was taught. Lessons were formal and Spartan, focusing on scales and scores. Now, of course, I’m grateful for those lessons, since I gained familiarity with the instrument. I started composing at 12, and classical music is present, to some extent, in my writing. As for my inspiration, composing was an existential necessity. I was compelled to compose. Life inspired my songs, along with everyday experiences, challenges, joys and sorrows. Anyway, it was the best way I had to express my feelings.
JW: Thematically, where do your lyrics draw inspiration?
LM: My themes are related to nature, in songs such as in Morungaba, Pacuíba, In the Grove of Jacarandas (No Bosque de Jancarandas) and Full Moon. Social issues also have been top of mind throughout my life and are in some of my lyrics, particularly on songs such as Still Looking at the Moon (Farrapos de Lua), 21st Century (Século XXI) and May the Winds Clear the Times (Que os Ventos Limpem os Tempos). It is worth remembering that Alice Soyer, an excellent singer and composer, wrote the English lyrics for Farrapos de Lua, maintaining the same social theme as the original. The same happened with lyricists Ellen Johnson and Peter Eldridge.
JW: Growing up, did you seek out famous Brazilian songwriters to spend time with them?
LM: I never did. I was too shy. In the 1960s, I admired melodies and harmonies by Antonio Carlos Jobim, lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes, and the rhythm and singing style of João Gilberto. In the early 1970s, the lyrics of Chico Buarque, the elegance of Edu Lobo and the energy of Ivan Lins also had a profound effect on me. I also liked the jazzy songs of Eumir Deodato and João Donato, and the impeccable lyrics and melodies of Dorival Caymmi. There were also older composers such as Noel Rosa and Ary Barroso. My relationship with all of them was based on what came through my radio and stereo speakers.
JW: Tell me about the composing of your first song when you were 12.
LM: I wrote in a totally free and intuitive way, which I do to this day. I have no memory of my first song. I produced a huge number of songs. For me, a song was good when it thrilled people who heard it. That was always my goal as a composer. At 15, I started writing lyrics, too.
JW: Did you take music lessons in school?
LM: I graduated from college with a degree in medicine in 1982 and worked at the University of São Paulo School of Medicine for 28 years. I was part of a psychological assistance group called GRAPAL—Psychological Assistance to Students at the School of Medicine of USP. I left nine years ago and dedicated myself to composing. With me, there's always a song emerging, even at the fast pace of everyday life. I work a lot, but between one appointment and another, if a melody comes to mind, I record it on my cell phone and develop the idea later or on weekends.
JW: Did you study guitar?
LM: I started studying popular guitar with Jorge Pinheiro when I was 20. It didn't work out very well. After some months, we became writing partners and the lessons stopped. The same thing happened with pianist Moacyr Zwarg, many decades later. We co-wrote more than 20 songs.
JW: Is there a correlation between your medical studies and music?
LM: When I was studying medicine, many people in my class were dedicated to the arts. It seemed more like a music school than a medical school. Interestingly, at the School of Medicine there was a huge group of good musicians. I learned a lot from them. We performed monthly, and it was delicious. Musical partners from that time are still close friends, such as Plínio Cutait, Ivan Miziara, Iso Fischer and Márcia Salomão. Back then, I wrote songs with my collaborator, Jorge Pinheiro, and recorded an album entitled Ponta de Rama (1980), an independent production that brought together several composers from USP. For several weeks, we performed at a theater, the Lira Paulistana, in São Paulo. Joyous times.
JW: I’m curious, what made you study medicine instead of music?
LM: From the time I was little, when I barely knew how to speak, I told myself I wanted to be a doctor. I loved the medical profession, probably through my father. I've always loved music too, especially songwriting. I never really had skills for anything else. It's not by chance that I didn't follow my father's brilliant career as a surgeon. I also knew I wasn’t going to become a great instrumentalist. When I do play instruments, it’s just to help me compose. Other times the music comes to my mind spontaneously, without any instrument. Then I find harmony, on the piano or on the guitar. Composing is in my heart and what I was born to do.
JW: When did you start to gain serious recognition as a songwriter?
LM: From my first album, I was privileged to receive favorable criticism from the media, although their praise never really had a dramatic impact on audience recognition. That's understandable, since the most appreciated musical genres today in Brazil are very far from the style of music I compose. But let me tell you, my new album, Brazilian Match, was the result of two fortuitous random encounters.
JW: What happened?
LM: The first encounter was with Michel Freidenson, about 16 years ago. He's a fantastic pianist and arranger. We met at a show and were introduced by my writing partner, Jorge Pinheiro. We had an immediate musical connection and became close friends. I asked him to arrange a song I had composed with Mozar Terra, a pianist living in France who had worked with Joyce and Caetano Veloso. The song was And the Clown Cried. The result was wonderful and became the start of my first major album in 2011, Entre Nuvens, with arrangements by Michel. Since then, Michel has been responsible for arranging all of my recordings.
JW: What was the second random encounter?
LM: Connecting with the brilliant music producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro, who has worked with many great Brazilian and international artists. This meeting took place in an unusual way. Moisés Santana, my Brazilian promoter, was releasing an album by New York-based Brazilian drummer Vanderlei Pereira. Vanderlei asked Moisés to send his album to Arnaldo. Moisés, in turn included my album Achados & Perdidos in the same envelope. [Photo above of Arnaldo DeSouteiro by Bernardo Costa]
JW: What happened?
LM: As you can imagine, Arnaldo receives dozens of albums a month but he was curious to listen to mine. Then he wrote a generous review on Instagram. From then on, we started talking and he accepted my proposal to produce a new album. Arnaldo wanted to release the album internationally and wanted to include great Brazilian and foreign musicians and singers. Hence the name of the album, Brazilian Match. Our conversations were always very intense, and when Arnaldo came to São Paulo, we had a meeting at my house and listened to many songs together. Among them was Deodato's Spirit of Summer. I've always loved that Spanish-flavored Jay Berliner solo on acoustic guitar. We also listened to Puma Branco by Marcos Valle.
JW: How much time did you spend together?
LM: Our conversation flowed in a very pleasant way, until dawn, in the company of my wife, Marília, who provided some of the lyrics for the new songs. We started the Brazilian Match project with fortnightly meetings for a year, along with Michel. We formed a cohesive team, exchanged many ideas and built a project under the direction of Arnaldo, who is, above all, a great connoisseur of music, a living encyclopedia. At my invitation, the singers Ana Lee, Tuca Fernandes, Consiglia Latorre, Anna Setton, Maurício Detoni and Giana Viscardi agreed to interpret my songs.
JW: Did your medical career influence your songwriting in any way?
LM: In my opinion, music enriches my medical activity, and vice versa. There is no contradiction between these two disciplines. As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, I deal with sensitivity and human emotions. There is no art that thrills people more than music, helping to mark times in their lives and to bring forward all kinds of memories.
JW: Your previous album, Achados & Perdidos, released in 2020, is also special.
LM: Thank you. Unlike my other albums, Achados & Perdidos features four songs by other composers. Brazil com S is a fun bossa nova that rock stars Rita Lee and Roberto de Carvalho had recorded with Joao Gilberto. Another was Não Pode Ser, by brothers Marcos and Paulo Valle. It was released on Marcos's second album O Compositor E O Cantor (1965). When I was 10, I'd always go off to a friend's house to listen to it. By the way, on that very same album was Samba de Verão (Summer Samba), one of the world's most recorded songs. One day my friend took the album off the shelf and gave it to me as a gift. I had been saving Não Pode Ser for years to record. Another song is Samba da Pergunta (aka Astronauta), by Pingarilho and Marcos Vasconcelos. The song was recorded often in the 1970s, '80s and '90s by artists such as João Gilberto, Elis Regina, Joyce Moreno and Tim Maia. But now, in Brazil, you rarely hear it. Tastes have changed. The fourth song is Outro Cais (2014) by Eduardo Gudin and J.C. Costa Netto, a beautiful melody with great sensitivity. I was flattered when Marcos Valle, Paulo Sergio Valle and Pingarilho all sent videos congratulating me on the recordings I made of their works.
JW: Where do you live today?
LM: I still live in São Paulo, a pulsating city that's very rich, culturally. Immediately before the meeting with Arnaldo, Michel and I had already finished a new album. This project was temporarily put aside, to open space for Brazilian Match. We intend to resume when possible. If I may, I'd like to say how grateful I am to the wonderful musicians and singers on Brazilian Match. Most of the Brazilian artists had previously recorded with me. The foreign musicians were suggested by Arnaldo, who is always looking for true icons of each instrument and interpreters of great prominence.
JW: A lot of great international stars, yes?
LM: Interestingly, when I had listened to Rodrigo Lima's Saga album (2014), produced by Arnaldo, I was enchanted by Mike Mainieri's vibraphone. Then Mike agreed to appear on Brazilian Match. It was a dream come true. Something similar happened when Arnaldo suggested Lisa Ono, a singer I've admired for a long time. Obviously, the presence of all participants is something unimaginable. A special thanks to Arnaldo and Michel for their unique competence, sensitivity and dedication over the course of two years needed to complete Brazilian Match. And one of the highlights of my career was to record with Brazil's legendary trombone master Raul de Souza. So I'm very proud of the album, as you can hear. I hope people listen and let it into their hearts. [Photo above of Michel Freidenson]
