Remembering Hermeto Pascoal

June 22, 1936 – September 13, 2025

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Hermeto Pascoal passed away on Sept. 13, 2025 at the age of 89.

He was born as Hermeto Pascoal Oliveira da Costa on June 22, 1936 in Alagoas, Brazil.

Pascoal started playing music on the accordion as a child and when he was seven added the flute, being self-taught, soon learning the piano, percussion and (by 1960) the saxophone.

He worked with a variety of groups in the 1960s including the Sambrasa Trio (which included Airto Moreira), Trio Novo, Quarteto Novo (with whom he made his recording debut in 1967), and Brazilian Octopus.

Miles Davis was impressed by Pascoal’s playing and he utilized him on three pieces on his 1971 album Live-Evil.

Pascoal also played with groups led by Airto Moreira and Flora Purim although he mostly led his own ensembles from the mid-1970s on.

Pascoal always performed adventurous music whether playing woodwinds, keyboards, guitars or unusual percussion instruments, being inspired by Brazilian folk music and jazz.

Here is Hermeto Pascoal at the 1979 Montreux Jazz Festival playing tenor on his “Susto” and guitar on “Sao Jorge” with Claudio De Quairoz on tenor and flute.

-Scott Yanow

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