Claudio Slon

Top Brazilian drummer Claudio Slon performed with the Walter Wanderley Trio and Sergio Mendes' Brazil '66 during the '60s, and appeared on many Brazilian sessions overseen by Creed Taylor for the Verve label, including such label spotlights as A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness by Astrud Gilberto, Wave by Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Samba '68 by Marcos Valle. Born in Brazil, Slon recorded with several groups from an early age, and won a country-wide jazz critics' poll while still a teenager. He performed in the Sao Paulo Philharmonic for several years as well, but left the country for New York to join the Walter Wanderley Trio. The success of the Wanderley trio's Top Five single "Summer Samba" and platinum debut album Rain Forest brought recording work of all kinds for Slon during the period, including a high-profile gig with Jobim and Frank Sinatra on the album Sinatra & Company and its accompanying television special. He joined Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 by the end of the decade. Slon appeared with the group for almost a decade, and has also played with Dori Caymmi, Paulinho Da Costa, John Pisano, and Joe Pass, among others. Slon also co-led (with Milcho Leviev) the Leviev-Slon Quartet, releasing albums for Vartan Jazz (Jive Sambas) and Elephant (When I'm 64), the latter recorded with Herbie Mann. Slon was based out of Los Angeles for many years before relocating in the mid-90s to Colorado where he continued to work as a drummer, percussionist, and producer until his death in April, 2002. ~ John Bush