By Sean Chaffin, Editor/Senior Writer

Last Updated: March 8, 2010; 10:00 pm CT

Johnny Alf gave a generation of young Brazilians their first glimpses of the musical style which would evolve to become Bossa Nova – helping to change the course of Brazilian pop. The 80 year-old pianist, songwriter and singer passed away in São Paulo on March 4^th.

Born Alfredo Jose da Silva into a lower middle-class family in Rio de Janeiro on May 19, 1929, Johnny Alf was the son of a Brazilian army colonel who had fought in the country’s 1932 civil war, and died in combat when Alf was only three years old. His mother worked as a maid and often took her young son to work with her. A woman whom she worked for in Tijuca liked music and the young Alf. She helped get him enrolled in the Brazilian-American Institute where he began studying classical piano. Even from an early age, American jazz was a big influence on Alf and would be part of a foundation later in his own foray into Bossa Nova and Brazilian Jazz.

As a fan of American jazz and pop, one of his earliest (and perhaps one of his most important) contributions was to aid in the creation of the Sinatra/Farney Fan Club in Rio de Janeiro. The club celebrated the crooner style of its principals – Frank Sinatra and Brazilian Dick Farney, and the West Cost or cool jazz of musicians like Miles Davis and Stan Kenton. The popularity of the club among the teen set of Copacabana and Ipanema in the early 50’s influenced radio playlists, local record sales and also a number of budding musicians who would go on to create and shape the Bossa Nova style.

“Alf spent more time listening to the King Cole Trio or the English pianist George Shearing than actually practicing,” Ruy Castro writes in his book Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music that Seduced the World.

That would not last and by age 20, Alf was playing clubs throughout Rio including the Plaza Hotel where he played some of his own compositions like “Rapaz de Bem” (Nice Guy), “Cèu e Mar” (Sky and Sea), and “Estamos Sós” (We’re Alone). As Castro notes about his songs during these early years, they “would be the precursors of Bossa Nova.” Along with his own tunes, Alf covered American jazz standards and songs by other musicians whom he influenced and would come to hear him play. These included Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Donato, João Gilberto, his idol Dick Farney and many more. The young Rio piano player was gaining fans among Rio’s young musicians who would take note of his sound and borrow some of his for their own sounds.

The Plaza proved wonderfully creative for the young Alf. Because there were actually few customers, he was allowed to play whatever he wanted, as Castro notes. But those who were often in attendance would be at the forefront of the Bossa Nova movement. Alf was soon discovered and lent his piano to a 78 rpm record. Soon, the young pianist was traveling from club to club playing piano and crooning his compositions.

“By then he was already using sharp harmonic and melodic senses to shape Brazilian songs, such as Dorival Caymmi tunes, in a way that sounded avante-garde to Brazilian audiences used to bolero and Samba-Canção,” Chris McGowan writes in his book The Brazilian Sound. “His singing was jazzy, with scattings and mannerisms typical of bebop, and his piano attach was heavily syncopated.”

By 1955, his song “Nice Guy” had become a hit. He then left for São Paulo and six years later (1961) released his very first album, Rapaz de Bem, at the height of the Bossa Nova movement. But by then, the style that had carried his career forward sounded dated. It had been replaced by Bossa Nova, which had grown from the seeds he had helped to plant.

“By the time he moved back to Rio the following year, Bossa had already peaked commercially,” McGowan writes. “He had a big hit song, ‘Eu e a Brisa’ (Me and the Breeze), in 1967 but the album never really received the attention he deserved.”

Alf appeared on 46 albums, but only recorded nine records of his own.

Bossa Nova guitarist and singer Carlos Lyra said that his generation saw Alf as a musical icon and inspiration.

“The importance of it for us is great because he was one of the pioneers of Bossa Nova,” Lyra told O Globo. “I met Johnny in 1954, when he played in the Plaza Bar. We were all going over there, Tom, Joao Gilberto, Silvinha Teles, Duran Duran, Billy Blanco. The whole group would go see Johnny play. It was very lovely – fine, cool. He was a gentleman. His music was gentle, romantic, a cool music, the influence of American jazz, which he knew very well, and he left it to the Bossa Nova.”

Alf performed concerts over the following decades. According to O Globo, he is often remembered by artists like Caetano Veloso, João Donato (who had piano lessons with him in Tijuca), and Emilio Santiago.

The artist’s funeral was held Friday in São Paulo at the Teatro Sérgio Cardoso in Bela Vista. Johnny Alf may be gone, but his music and spirit will live on to inspire more generations of artists, and fans.