Vasconcelos was born in
Recife, Brazil. Beginning from 1967 he joined many artists' works as a percussionist. Among his many collaborations, he contributed to four
Jon Hassell albums from 1976 to 1980 (including
Possible Musics by
Brian Eno and Hassell), and later to several
Pat Metheny Group works and
Jan Garbarek concerts from early 1980s to early 1990s. In 1984 he appeared on the
Pierre Favre album
Singing Drums along with
Paul Motian. He also appears on
Arild Andersen's album
If You Look Far Enough with
Ralph Towner. He formed a group named
Codona with
Don Cherry and
Collin Walcott, which released three albums in 1978, 1980 and 1982. Between 1984 and 1989, he was the Honorary President of the first samba school in the UK, the London School of Samba. In 1981 he performed at the
Woodstock Jazz Festival, held in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the
Creative Music Studio. In 1998, Vasconcelos contributed "Luz de Candeeiro" to the AIDS benefit compilation album
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon produced by the
Red Hot Organization. Vasconcelos was awarded the
Best Percussionist Of The Year by the
Down Beat Critics Poll for seven consecutive years, from 1984 to 1990. He was also honored with eight
Grammy Awards. Vasconcelos was diagnosed with
lung cancer in mid 2015. He died from the disease on 9 March 2016, in Recife. He is survived by his two daughters, Jasmin Azul and Luz Morena. The work "
Vasconcelos" is dedicated to his honor, recorded on the 2018
Michael Waldrop release
Origin Suite. ==Instruments==