Luciano Perrone

Brazilian drummer (8 January 1908, Rio de Janeiro - 13 February 2001, Rio de Janeiro). Considered one of the main musicians on the instrument in Brazil, son of maestro Luis Perrone and pianist Noêmia Perrone, his first steps in music were as opera singer. At the age of 9 he performed alongside the famous Italian opera singer, Enrico Caruso, when he performed in Brazil in 1917. In 1922, in live sessions at Cine Odeon, he began to act as a percussionist, producing sound effects in films. From 1924 onwards he began to act as drummer at dances, accompanying orchestras and jazz bands. In 1927 he started recording on the Odeon label, developing rhythms such as samba adapted to drums, still in its embryonic phase. He met maestro and pianist Radamés Gnatalli at Cassino Eden, in Lambari (Minas Gerais state), in 1929, beginning a very productive partnership that would last for many decades. In the 1930s he worked at Rádio Nacional and participated in many recordings with the main artists of the time, work he continued to do in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1960, he was part of Terceira Caravana Oficial da Música Popular Brasileira (Third Official Caravan of Brazilian Popular Music), which performed in several European countries. He released the album Batucada Fantástica with the group Ritmistas Brasileiros, with whom he recorded several traditional Brazilian rhythms, such as maxixe, baião, samba and many others. He was also a timpanist with the National Symphony Orchestra.