MILTON BANANA

Milton Banana (born as  Antônio de Souza, died in May 22, 1999) is the musician who invented the bossa nova drumming style. An extremely busy session man during the first period of bossa nova, he recorded the historic Chega de Saudade (João Gilberto's debut album), the equally historic Getz-Gilberto, and recorded extensively with Tom Jobim, João Donato, and many others. He also performed gigs every night with people like Luís Eça, Johnny Alf, Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, Ed Lincoln, Newton Mendoça, Claudete Soares, Baden Powell, Sérgio Mendes, Luís Bonfá, Bola Sete (in Punta del Este, Uruguay), and others. Milton Banana started to be interested in music very early in life, especially percussion, and was always a fan of Orquestra Tabajara. A self-taught musician, soon he was playing with several dance bands, such as Steve Bernard's, Djalma Ferreira's, Gerardi e Seu Conjunto Rex, and others. In 1955, he joined Waldir read more...