Raul de Souza

Born in the western side of Rio de Janeiro, Raul began playing the trombone at age 16, with the band of the local fabric factory, Fábrica de Tecidos Bangu. He started performing around town and took up the stage name Raulzinho, suggested by Ary Barroso and later turned into Raul de Souza. He was in the army from 1959 till 1963. When he finished military service, he joined Sérgio Mendes' band, touring around Europe and USA. Raul made his debut solo album, "À Vontade Mesmo", in 1965. Raul performed with Luis Carlos Vinhas and Gilberto Gil, lived in Paris and invented the "souzabone", a trombone variation with four valves (one of them chromatic) replacing the usual three valves and tuned in C. He released the album "Colors" in 1974, in the USA, produced by Airto Moreira. Still in the USA, Raul performed with stars like Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, George Duke, Chick Corea, Jimmy Smith and others. Raul is regarded by the specialized critics as one of the greatest trombone masters in the world. He moved to France by the late 1990s.