Jose Mauro

José Mauro is a Brazilian composer, guitarist, and singer. In 1970, he recorded 24 songs at the Odeon Studios in Rio de Janeiro with lyricist Ana Maria Bahiana, producer/conductor Roberto Quartin, arranger/conductor Lindolfo Gaya, and a host of Brazilian musical luminaries. The sessions resulted in two albums. The first, Obnoxius, earned press acclaim for its seamless, dreamy meld of MPB, Afro-Brazilian Candomblé spirituality, jazz, folk, psychedelia, and classical orchestration -- despite poor distribution. The remainder of the tracks were not released until 1976 as A Viagem Das Horas, and then only briefly. Mauro, a very private man, was discouraged by the long time span between albums, and virtually disappeared. Some rumors claimed he died in a car or motorcycle accident on the way home from the studio after the sessions, while others claimed Brazil's brutal military dictatorship -- which had already caused the exile of many of its artists -- had captured, tortured, and murdered him, despite the fact his music was apolitical. Joe Davis, of Great Britain's Far Out Recordings, found sealed copies of Obnoxius in a Brazilian record shop for a dollar each. Recognizing Quartin's name among the credits, he bought two copies. Blown away, he eventually secured the rights to reissue it. Obnoxius was re-released in 2016 and was greeted with acclaim by the press. Gilles Peterson proclaimed it the "holy grail," while Madlib and Floating Points abundantly sampled it. Afterward, Far Out was contacted by Bahiana, by then a well-known author and journalist, who told them Mauro was very much alive but that she didn't know where he was. Thanks to an out-of-the-blue call from musician Guilherme Estevez, who told them he lived close to Mauro, they tracked him down in a small suburb of Rio, where he had been living in seclusion almost the entire time. Mauro worked for years with the Tablado Theatre School, composing original music for plays and musicals. He also taught students the Brazilian ten-string guitar. After a fall damaged his mobility and compromised his health, he retired. He was later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In May 2021, Far Out reissued A Viagem Das Horas, restoring the entirety of the session material for the first time. With coordination from his family, the solitary Mauro gave his very first press interview at the age of 72.
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