Carlos Eduardo Pereira da Costa was born in 1976 to Brazilian parents from Rio de Janeiro. Music was very common in his extended family, and so he started experimenting with music at an early age. His inexpensive toy instruments (a saxophone, a clarinet and a melodica) were inseparable to him. Although his mother was a formally trained piano player, he began learning to play the piano by ear. It was not until the age of thirteen that he decided to begin formal training for piano and music theory at the city conservatory. And when Carlos' grandmother gave him her old classical guitar, he applied his new-found musical talent in learning to play it. Although Carlos did not choose to study music in college, he did stay within the field of arts study, Architecture and Urbanism being his major. In his free time, he continued to study music.
Four teachers impacted Carlos' musical learning: Renato Pfeil was a teacher who did not use traditional sheet music reading methods. He taught Carlos not only how to read chords, but really to understand what inversions and tensions were all about. Sérgio Nacif taught harmony, and most importantly, how to really listen to music. His main focus was training the ear to relate what a person is hearing to the instrument being played. Flávio Paiva taught arrangement techniques, and Itiberê Zwarg presented new ways to harmonize and compose, breaking "the rules" and expanding possibilities in music.
Another person who was critical to Carlos' musical enlightening was Elza Lakschevitz. She was a conductor of the Canto em Canto choir in which he sang for six years. She, by example, taught the beauty of simple nuances of interpretation in a cappella music as he developed his appreciation, arrangements and compositions in this style.
In the beginning of 2007 Carlos finished his first cd called "Harmonias" presenting fresh versions and challenging arrangements for Bossa Nova standards like Corcovado, Água de Beber, Dindi and Chega de Saudade; with the special participation of drummer Márcio Bahia and, flutist and saxophonist Carlos Malta.
In 2007 Carlos moved to the United States, where he had the opportunity to meet the percussionist Cyro Baptista and participate in several of his albums. Not only did Carlos contribute his instrumentals, but he also acted as a recording engineer in the 2008 album, "Banquet Of The Spirits" and the 2010 album, "Caym". He was also a co-producer of the 2009 album, "Infinito". All three albums from John Zorn's label, Tzadik.
In 2011 Carlos released his second album called "Brazilian Heritage" in which he presents his own instrumental compositions mixing Brazilian music elements, with jazz harmonies and complex rhythm patterns. He plays a diverse range of instruments from piano, accordion, acoustic guitar to clarinet, soprano sax and Irish bouzouki; the cd also features the flutist Liz Simmons as special guest.
In 2016 Carlos produced Cyro Baptista's album called "BlueFly" from Tzadik Records, composed and played on track #4 called "Bala" which features Tim Keiper on kamel ngoni, the amazing brazilian guitar player Romero Lubambo, Vincent Ségal on cello and of course, the unique Cyro Baptista on percussions; He also contributed playing acoustic guitar and clarinet on tracks #1 and #5.
In 2018 He participated in Phil Marucci’s first cd called “Next Stop Brazil” which includes artists like Cyro Baptista, Maucha Adnet, Claudio Roditi, Duduka da Fonseca, Paul Meyers and many others. Besides mixing the entire cd (except track #2), Carlos also acted as recording engineer. As instrumentalist he played acoustic and electric guitar, soprano sax, clarinet, and sang background vocals. As arranger he contributed his skills in the songs “Flor de Maracujá”, “Quero um Xamego”, as well as in the title song of the cd “Next Stop Brazil” composed in partnership with Phil.
In July 2019 Carlos released the first 6 songs of his album “Hymns Go Jazzy” which presents a jazzy twist for famous traditional Christian hymns like Amazing Grace, His Eye is on the Sparrow and Jesus Paid it All. Whether playing with complex harmonies, polyrhythms or unexpected modulations, Carlos catches the listener’s attention with outstanding arrangements and beautiful vocals. Besides playing instruments like Piano, Rhodes, Clarinet, Soprano Sax, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, the cd shows one of Carlos’s specialties that is, programming drums. All drums on the cd were programmed from scratch, that means, no premade midi loops, no audio loops. Every note and pattern were created note by note resulting in amazingly realistic rhythmic tracks. The album also counts with the participation of Christina Dickerson on trumpet, Liz Simmons on flute and Jalyssa James on cello; and on vocals Tammy Holmes, Lisa Daily-Winfrey, Jalyssa James, Daveda Browne, Keisha Smith-Carrington, Shalanda Jackson, Toni Walker-Stanley and Carolina Santos.
Music Theory at Rio de Janeiro State Conservatory of Music
Harmony with Sérgio Nacif, Carlos Almada, graduating at Cigam with Billy Teixeira
Arrangement at Cigam with Flávio Paiva
Composition with Ian Gest
Instrumental Music Clinic at Pro-arte with Itiberê Zwarg (Hermeto Pascoal Group)
Escola Portátil de Música - Piano Classes with Cristóvão Bastos
II Musifest Festival - Piano Classes with Jeff Gardner and Marcos Nimrichter
Vocal Group Practice at Cigam with Paulo Malaguti
Vocal Arranging in Brazilian Music at Pro-arte with André Protásio
I RioAcappella Forum of Vocal Music
VII Internac. Course of Choir Conduction with Janet Galván and Bob Chilcott (The King's Singers)
Choir Workshop in San Juan (Argentina) with Antonio M. Russo
Recording and Mixing Engineering at Rio Música with Fabio Henriques and Gilberto Suzano
Mastering at IATEC with Vânius Marques