André Victor Corrêa

Brazilian composer and sax/clarinet player (1888 - 1948). André Vítor Correia is the composer of one of the most important classics of the choro repertory, "André de Sapato Novo" ("André With His Brand-New Shoes"), inspired by a terrible occasion when he had to dance all night with uncomfortable shoes. Having died in 1948, he came to know only one of the several recordings of that song, the one done by Pixinguinha and Benedito Lacerda. Correia is also highly regarded as a noted choro instrumentalist of the first half of the 19th century. But Correia also wrote many other songs, among choros, sambas, and marchas-rancho. He employed the latter genre exclusively to write for the seminal rancho carnavalesco (precursor of the post-1930 samba schools) Ameno Resedá, of which he was the musical director in 1925. In 1936 he directed a jazz band where he substituted the tenor sax for his traditional clarinet.