Amancio D’Silva, born March 19, 1936, and died July 17, 1996. He was an Indian-born composer and jazz guitarist. Born to Goan parents in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. In his teens, he took up the guitar and was influenced by American jazz guitarists like Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery. He soon started performing with local jazz bands. He had already formed his own band with pianist Anacleto Naronha and Braz Gonzalvez by his 20s. In Simla, he met Joyce, his future wife, a teacher of Irish descent. He was so well-known as a musician, that Maharani of Jaipur (an avid jazz lover) became his benefactor, and bought him his first guitar, a Gibson. He traveled to London in 1967 with his family to seek treatment for his son Stephano. Joyce and he had two more children, Maria (and Francesca) He began to live in Ealing after working as a cleaner and as a musician at “Prospect of Whitby” and the Spanish Garden Club in West End. Jonathan Miller introduced him the record producer Dennis Preston to D’Silva. Preston set up a partnership between D’Silva, Ian Carr and Don Rendell, two of Britain’s most prominent musicians. This resulted in the EMI album Integration…introducing Amancio D’Silva, which received critical acclaim as a unique fusion of jazz and Indian music styles. In 1969, Amancio collaborated with Joe Harriott (a Jamaican-born saxophonist), on the album Hum Dono. This album received critical acclaim and Amancio wrote most of the compositions. Reflections…the romantic guitarist of Amancio Da Silva (1971) followed. It featured orchestral arrangements by Stan Tracey for classic songs by Gershwin and Ellington. He was part of the Cosmic Eye album Dream Sequence in 1972, which featured an avant-garde group that included Kashev Sathe and Alan Branscombe. Two albums were also recorded with Guy Warren, a percussionist. Amancio continued to record new music and perform with collaborators from EMI albums, among others. Clem Alford was a collaborator, as well as Lynn Dobson, a flautist/saxophonist. He was a resident of Essex in the 1980s and would regularly play at jazz clubs in Ipswich. There were also concerts at St. Mary’s Arts Centre, Colchester, in 1985 that featured Marcio Mattos on double basse, as well as concerts at Norwich Arts Centre. He performed and recorded extensively. Amancio also customized guitar pick-ups to well-known rock musicians. He performed until his health became unfeasible in the mid 1990s. Amancio also taught extensively at Jenako Art, London’s East End, from the mid 1980s through the early 1990s, as well as at the Krishnamurti International School, Hampshire. He was partially paralysed from a stroke in 1992. Joyce D’Silva and he remained married all his life. After further strokes, he died in 1996 and was buried at his request in a woodland cemetery near Brighton. From Wikipedia
