Minas is a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

-based bossa nova jazz band consisting of singer and guitarist Orlando Haddad and singer and pianist Patricia King. Haddad is noted for bringing Brazilian music and culture to the city of Philadelphia, PA when he and his wife Patricia, after living in Brazil, moved back from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

to the U.S. in 1984. Minas has performed in all of the area's main venues and Orlando taught Brazilian Percussion at the University of the Arts, a post he held for 10 years. Minas also created an educational program, “Brazilian Adventure”, which brought assembly programs and residencies to public and independent schools in the tri-state area. This program has been seen by over 500,000 students. Minas also created PhilaSamba, a

samba school A samba school ( pt, Escola de samba) is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square- compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an Afro-Brazilian ...

in Philadelphia, in 1987, with the help of the city's Latin American Musicians Association and musician Eugene Rausa. In 2015, their sixth studio album ''Symphony in Bossa'' was nominated for four Grammys, including for Best Latin Jazz album of the year.

Members

Orlando Haddad (born Orlando Haddad Filho on April 19, 1953, in

Lavras Lavras is a municipality in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Located at an altitude of 919 m, it has a population of 104,783 inhabitants (2020). The area of the municipality is 564.495 km2. The average annual temperature is 19.6°C and t ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

) was the son of a physician and a piano teacher of Lebanese descent. He began playing piano at age six and as a child growing up in Brazil he studied classical piano and guitar. In his hometown of Lavras, Haddad was the leader of the pop-rock band Os Miseráveis (later renamed Electron 6). The group disbanded and with three other high school friends, he formed the group Zin performing mostly British/American as well as popular Brazilian music. Haddad later moved to

, where he studied at the Villa-Lôbos Institute and pursued private classical guitar studies. At the height of the military dictatorship, music schools were not well funded in Brazil, so Haddad transferred to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he received his bachelor's degree in composition in 1979. He later received a Masters of Science in Arts Administration from Drexel University in 1986, and in 2002 a Masters in Composition from Temple University, in Philadelphia. Patricia King Haddad (born Patricia Gale King on April 27, 1956, in Denver, Colorado) grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where she began her music education studying voice and piano, performed in musicals and theatrical productions at age six. In 1974 she enrolled at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) where she studied opera and continued piano studies and composition. She holds a master's degree in Jazz Piano Performance from Philadelphia's University of the Arts and a degree in classical voice from UNCSA. In addition to performing, composing and recording works with Minas, King wrote the story, music, and lyrics for her operetta ''La Giara'' (The Water Jug) a story about her families emigration from Sicily to Philadelphia.

History

In 1975, Haddad and King met while attending the

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

Winston-Salem, NC Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

and first began performing as the duo "Orlando & Patricia" on campus as well as local bars and small concert halls. In 1978, trip to Brazil, Haddad and King met Coquinho, Carlos Roberto Teixeira Alves, the drummer of Os Miseráveis, and Electron 6, bands Orlando played in during his high school years. Alves moved to the US and joined King & Haddad to form a trio which they named Minas, after Haddad and Alves’ home state of

. Soon the trio became a quartet with the addition of bassist Rick Heyman, who was from Paramus, NJ. Minas went on for a couple of years performing until Alves left the group and was replaced by Brazilian Manoel Monteiro, originally from São Paulo. The group worked extensively in the southern states of North and South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and up north in Pennsylvania, until both Rick and Manoel left the group for unknown reasons. Haddad and King continued performing under the name Minas as a duo from then til present time. Haddad and King were married in October 1979 in Lexington, VA. The ceremony was officiated by a long time friend, Rev. Langston Randolph Harrison, a teacher and missionary at Lavras' Instituto Gammon. Now as husband and wife the couple continued performing in North Carolina until 1981. After the birth of their daughter Nicole, they decided to move to Brazil, where they lived near Haddad's family and continued to perform in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and Pernambuco at clubs, festivals and universities. Joining a recent movement of independent recording artist and labels started by pianist, bandleader and composer Antonio Adolfo, they released their first vinyl “Num Dia Azul” in 1983, which was part of the first catalog of independent record producers in Rio de Janeiro. After living in Brazil for some time, Haddad and King returned to the United States and settled in the city of Philadelphia where they now live with their two children, daughter Nicole Michele Haddad and son Jordan Alexander King Haddad. Through their musical writings and arrangements as MINAS and its various projects, many jazz musicians in the U.S. and Brazil have collaborated with Haddad and King (MINAS) on recordings and/ or live performances to include: Paul Winter,

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (inclu ...

Gerald Veasley Gerald Veasley (born July 28, 1955) is an American jazz bass guitarist. Veasley was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he played in R&B groups as a teenager. He worked with Joe Zawinul from 1988 to 1995, and began releasing hi ...

Cyro Baptista Cyro Baptista (born December 23, 1950) is a Brazilian percussionist in jazz and world music. He creates many of the percussion instruments he plays. Career Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Baptista arrived in the U.S. in 1980 with a scholarship to C ...

, Hendrik Meurkens,

Rob Hyman Robert Andrew Hyman (born April 24, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player, producer, arranger and recording studio owner, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters. Early life Hyman st ...

, Djalma Correa, John Swana, Rogerio Boccato, David Finke, Adriano Santos, Adriano Giffoni, João Cortez, Vanderlei Pereira, Cid Teixeira, Andrew Neu, Larry McKenna.

Personal life

Discography

* 1983 - ''Num Dia Azul'' (as Patricia & Orlando) * 1986 - ''Dreams of Brazil'' * 1996 - ''Blue Azul'' * 2006 - ''In Rio'' * 2009 - ''Bossa Nova Day'' * 2014 - "

Girl from Ipanema "Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema") is a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Po ...

" - anniversary tribute single * 2015 - ''Symphony in Bossa''

References

Minas comes out to play cafe
Delaware County Times
Minas

Philadelphia City Paper ''Philadelphia City Paper'' was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The independently owned paper was free and published every Thursday in print and daily online at citypaper.net. Staff reporters focused on labor issues, ...

MINAS band leaders Orlando Haddad and Patricia King

WRTI WRTI (90.1 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a service of Temple University. The Temple University Board of Trustees holds the station's license. The broadcast tower used by the s ...

Minas
Philadelphia Weekly
Minas celebrates the anniversary of a bossa nova classic at World Cafe Live

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format shows ...

The Brazilian Revolution (in Philly)
Jump Philly {{Authority control Latin jazz ensembles Bossa nova musicians Musical groups from Philadelphia Male–female musical duos Married couples 1975 establishments in North Carolina Musical groups established in 1975 American musical duos