Encouraged by Tony Bennett, among others, Wanderley finally took off for New York in 1966, where Creed Taylor recorded him for Verve. Juxtaposing American hits and Afro-Cuban dance music, he built a following in Brazil during the 1950s, and by the early-'60s, he was immersed in the emerging bossa nova field, recording with Joao Gilberto in 1961 and on his own. Wanderley started playing the piano at age 5, taking a year of theory at 12, and well before he was out of his teens, he moved to São Paulo and got a recording contract.

Although his most popular records contained only a minimum of melodic jazz improvisation, he could stretch out when he wanted to. Yet his sound on the organ, generated by a crisp, lightweight, staccato attack, can be mistaken for no one else's - and his choice of material showed much good taste, particularly when exploring his countrymen' s songs. Read Full Bio A Brazilian organist/composer who stumbled upon a gold mine in the 1960s, Walter Wanderley has been resurrected posthumously in the 1990s, a purveyor of lounge music for a young generation. A Brazilian organist/composer who stumbled upon a gold mine in the 1960s, Walter Wanderley has been resurrected posthumously in the 1990s, a purveyor of lounge music for a young generation.

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