Egberto Gismonti (born 1947 in Carmo, RJ, Brazil) is a Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist.

He began his formal music studies at the age of six on piano. After studying classical music for 15 years, he went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger (orchestration and analysis), and composer Jean Barraqué, a disciple of Schoenberg and Webern. After his return to Brazil, Gismonti began to glimpse a reality broader than the classical world of music. He was attracted by Ravel's ideas of orchestration and chord voicings, as well as by "choro", a Brazilian instrumental popular music where varied kinds of guitars are featured. To play this music he made the transition from piano to guitar, beginning on the 6-string classical instrument and switching to the 8-string guitar in 1973. He spent two years experimenting with different tunings and searching for new sounds, which is also reflected in his use of flutes, kalimbas, sho, voice, bells, etc. By the early '70s, he had laid the groundwork for his current conception and was listening to musicians as wide-ranging as Django Reinhardt and Jimi Hendrix... For him, Hendrix's achievements were proof that "popular" and "serious" idioms need not remain opposite poles: There's no difference between the two kinds of music....

In the 1980s he collaborated many times with Nana Vasconcelos recording for ECM.

Excellent albums such as the Brazilian released eponymous Egberto Gismonti were never officially released in the US but are worth tracking down.

Discografia/Discography:

Egberto Gismonti (1969)
Sonho'70 (1970)
Janela De Ouro (1970)
Computador (1970)
Orfeu Novo (1971)
Água & Vinho (1972)
Egberto Gismonti (1973)
Academia De Danças (1974)
Corações Futuristas (1976)
Dança Das Cabeças (1977), com o percussionista Naná Vasconcelos
Carmo (1977)
Sol Do Meio-Dia (1978), com Jan Garbare, Collin Walcott e Ralph Towner
Nó Caipira (1978)
Solo (1979)
E. Gismonti, N. Vasconcelos e M. Smetak (1979)
Mágico (1979), com Charlie Haden e Jan Garbarek
Folk Songs (1979), com Charlie Haden e Jan Garbarek
Antologia Poética de João Cabral de Melo Neto (1979)
Antologia Poética de Ferreira Gullar (1979)
Antologia Poética de Jorge Amado (1980)
A Viagem Do Vaporzinho Tereré, con Dulce Bressante (1980)
O Pais Das Aguas Luminosas (1980)
O Girigivel Tereré, con Francis Hime (1980)
Sanfona (1980)
Circense (1980)
Em Família (1981)
Fantasia (1982)
Guitar From ECM (1982)
Sonhos De Castro Alves (1982)
Cidade Coração (1983)
Egberto Gismonti & Hermeto Paschoal (1983)
Works (1984)
Egberto Gismonti (1984)
Duas Vozes (1984), con Nana Vasconcelos
Alma (1986)
Trem Caipira (1987), versões de Villa-Lobos
Feixe De Luz (1988)
Pagador De Promessas (1988)
Dança Dos Escravos (1989)
Quarup (1989), trilha sonora do filme
Duo Gismonti / Vasconcelos (1989)
Infância (1991) com Nando Carneiro, Zeca Assumpção e Jaques Morelenbaum
Amazônia (1991), trilha sonora do filme
El Viaje (1992), trilha sonora do filme
Casa Das Andorinhas (1992)
Musica De Sobrevivência (1993) com Nando Carneiro, Zeca Assumpção e Jaques Morelenbaum
Egberto Gismonti - ao vivo no Festival in Freiburg Proscenium (1993)
Egberto Gismonti - ao vivo em São Paulo (1993)
Zig Zag (1996)
Meeting Point (1997)