Antônio Carlos Marques Pinto and José Carlos Figueiredo are better known as the musical duo Antônio Carlos & Jocafi who modernized Brazil’s beloved samba throughout the seventies. With their catchy pop-samba compositions, sweet vocal harmonies and acoustic guitar funk, they’re kinda like the Afro-Brazilian version of Seals & Croft. Though they’re best known for their many contributions to the ubiquitous telenovela soundtracks that defined Brazil’s popular music landscape in the seventies, including the massively popular romantic samba “Você Abusou,” most of their songs effortlessly reimagine the roots samba sound of their home state of Bahia with heavy doses of funk and psychedelia.

Like many of future stars of the Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) scene of the seventies, this duo started their career penning songs for the influential song festivals of the late sixties, teaming up with the up and coming vocal star, Maria Crueza, who would go on to marry Antônio Carlos. Their first album, Mudei de Idéia, released in 1971 feels a part of the Tropicália scene with their bold fusion of samba and funk and also because of the searing electric guitar contributions from that scene’s most serious shredder, Lanny Gordin. Their next two albums, Casa Segundo (1972) and Antonio Carlos e Jocafi (1973) complete an unfuckwithable trio of genre-defining afro-samba-funk.

Hugely influential throughout Brazil and Latin America, their music is criminally underappreciated throughout most of the rest of the world, though it should be mentioned that through a cover of one of their greatest songs, “Glorioso Santo Antonio” by the Florida based Latin group Los Sobrinos del Juez, their infectious latin-funk style eventually influenced the formation and sound of Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine! On July 7, 2022 Antônio Carlos & Jocafi will make their historic debut performance in the United States, bringing their iconic samba-funk sound to the Lodge Room in Los Angeles as part of the Jazz Está Morto series which celebrates underappreciated musical legends from Brazil