Departures of note

Tomás Improta França was a Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger, professor and writer on music theory who built a distinguished career spanning more than five decades between MPB and jazz. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he showed exceptional musicality from childhood and embraced both musical worlds from the 1960s onward.

As an accompanist he worked with leading figures of Brazilian popular music, including Chico Buarque, Djavan, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethânia. He was a member of A Outra Banda da Terra, the band formed by Caetano Veloso in late 1977, playing on albums such as "Muito (Dentro da estrela azulada)", "Cinema transcendental", "Outras palavras", "Cores, nomes" and "Uns". He also played in the Doces Bárbaros ensemble and the jazz-rock group Soma.

Improta built a respected solo discography in the instrumental music niche, releasing albums such as "Tear" (1992), "Bartok jazz" (1995), "Certas mulheres" (1998), "Dorival – Tomás Improta interpreta Dorival Caymmi" (2002), "A volta de Alice" (2015) and "Olha pro céu" (2017), as well as a duo album with flutist Andrea Ernest Dias. He also taught and wrote books on music theory.

He died on 23 August 2026 in Rio de Janeiro at age 77, following complications from throat cancer.