Ivan Conti

Ivan Conti, aka "Mamão," is the drummer of Azymuth. Also having developed a solo career, he still participated in the recording of Eumir Deodato's Os Catedráticos and Paul Mauriat's (with whose orchestra Conti toured Brazil and Japan) Exclusively Brazil.

In the early '60s, Conti began to frequent the Beco das Garrafas (Bottles' Alley) in Copacabana, Rio, where bossa nova and jazz groups were featured every night. At the beco, several important artists like Elis Regina debuted; the place also held shows by consecrated composers/performers like Johnny Alf, Leny Andrade, Dolores Durán, and Silvinha Telles, among others. Conti the young amateur sat in with those artists, and also asked advice from Edison Machado, another regular. With his group the Youngsters, which was one of the most important supporting groups of Jovem Guarda, Conti opened the Canecão, a leading popular music room in Rio in 1968. By then an experienced sessionman, he recorded with other studio professionals (the Philips keyboardist and arranger José Roberto Bertrami and the bassist Alex Malheiros), and on the Marcos Valle soundtrack for the film O Fabuloso Fittipaldi. As Valle, an Odeon artist, couldn't receive credit for it, the trio recorded the disc as Apolo IV. With one of the album's tracks, "Azymuth," becoming a hit, the trio took that name as its definitive denomination, launching their first album, Azymuth, in 1975.

Conti participated in several jazz festivals, like the Playboy Jazz Festival, Berkeley Jazz Festival, Monterrey Jazz Festival, Montreux Festival, Circus Theater Holland, Quartier Latin Berlin and the Brazilian Fest Athens/Greece. As a sideman, he worked with Chico Buarque, Vinicius de Moraes, Toquinho, Edu Lobo, Wanderléa, Roberto Carlos, Erasmo Carlos, and Jorge Benjor, among others. He also performed with several orchestras, like Paul Mauriat's (touring Brazil and Japan), Erlon Chaves' Banda Veneno, Orquestra da Rádio Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, Orquestra da TV Tupi, and Orquestra da TV Globo. He worked on the soundtrack of Bye, Bye, Brasil, and as a producer, worked with Grupo Batuque, Wilson das Neves, and Jürgen Sifelder. ~ Alvaro Neder, Rovi