Hélcio Milito

Hélcio Milito, a remarkable drummer with his distinctive smooth brushwork, worked with such names as Sammy Davis Jr., João Gilberto, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, the Mitchell-Ruff Duo, Luís Bonfá, Don Costa, Gil Evans, Tony Bennett, Wes Montgomery, and others, not to mention Luís Eça, with whom he worked over the decades in their seminal Tamba Trio. He was responsible for the percussion tracks on the movies Cinco Vezes Favela (Leon Hirzman, 1961) (in the segment A Pedreira de São Diogo), Os Cafajestes (Rui Guerra, 1962), and Garrincha, Alegria do Povo (Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, 1963). A self-taught drummer/percussionist, Milito started his professional life with the Conjunto Robledo in São Paulo, from 1950 to 1951. His influences included the first Brazilian drummer to invent modern Brazilian drumming was Luciano Perrone. He worked intensively as a session man and also as a radio accompanist for the greatest talents of those times, always in close association with one of the busiest arrangers, Radamés Gnattali, he himself a revolutionary in terms of Brazilian music. In 1952, Milito joined Maestro Peruzzi's orchestra, soon joining Mário Casalli's sextet as well, from 1953 to 1954. In 1954, he worked with the Grande Orquestra de Luís César and in 1956, with the Izio Gross Trio. In 1957, he moved to Rio and worked with the Conjunto Djalma Ferreira, recording with them the Drink series in 1958. In that year, he began to take classes with American percussionist Henry Miller. In the same year, he toured Venezuela with the Orquestra de Ary Barroso. In 1958, Milito was hired by the major outing Rádio Nacional for its own orchestra. That was also the year when he recorded Garotos da Bossa Nova (Odeon) with Roberto Menescal, Luís Carlos Vinhas, Luís Paulo, Bill Horn, and Bebeto....