Ivan Conti

by Alvaro NederIvan Conti, aka "Mamão," is the drummer of Azymuth. Also having developed a solo work, he still participated in the recording of Eumir Deodato's Os Catedráticos and Paul Mauriat's (with whose orchestra Mamão toured Brazil and Japan) Exclusively Brazil. In the early '60s, Mamão started to frequent the Beco das Garrafas (Bottles' Alley) in Copacabana, Rio, where bossa nova and jazz 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. Young amateur Mamão used to sit in with those artists, and also to take tips from Edison Machado, another regular. With his group the Youngsters, which was one of the most important supporting groups of Jovem Guarda, Mamão opened in 1968 the leading popular music room in Rio, the Canecão. Already an experienced session man, he recorded with other studio professionals (the Philips keyboardist and arranger José Roberto Bertrami and the bassist Alex Malheiros) the Marcos Valle soundtrack for the film O Fabuloso Fittipaldi. As Valle, an Odeon artist, was impeded of receiving credit for it, the trio signed the album as Apolo IV. With one of the tracks, Azymuth, becoming a hit, the trio took it as its definitive denomination, launching in 1975 their first album, Azymuth. Mamão 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, Conti worked with Chico Buarque, Vinicius de Moraes, Toquinho, Edu Lobo, Wanderléa, Roberto Carlos, Erasmo Carlos, Jorge Benjor, Marcos Valle, MPB-4, Paulinho da Viola, Elis Regina, Elza Soares, Milton Nascimento, Os Cariocas, Sadao Watanabe, Stanley Jordan, Alcione, Gal Costa, Clara Nunes and Maria Bethânia. 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, conducted by Maestro Cipó, Orquestra da TV Globo and Orquestra do Maestro Gaia. One of his assignments at the cinema was the soundtrack of Bye, Bye, Brasil. As a producer Mamão worked with Grupo Batuque, Wilson das Neves and Jürgen Sifelder.