Ed Motta

Brazilian producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger Ed Motta is a musical renaissance man and is regarded as such at home, in the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and Japan. His smooth, edgeless meld of samba, jazz, funk, soul, disco, bossa, pop, and more won him international acclaim for his third album, Entre e Ouça, in 1993. His trilogy of standalone albums -- Poptical (2002), Dwitza (2003), and Aystelum (2005) -- expanded his reputation to the delight of club and critics' circles in North America. Motta released the global hit AOR in 2013, offering original songs inspired by '70s FM radio yacht rock and R&B sounds. With producer Kamau Kenyatta (Gregory Porter) he cut Perpetual Gateways (2015) in Los Angeles, revealing his deep love of funky jazz-rock. 2018's self-produced Criterion of the Senses crystallized smooth, late-'70s soul with contemporary jazz and pop. After a five-year break, Motta returned with the cinematic soul collection Behind the Tea Chronicles in 2023.