The room › Artists › Hermeto Pascoal
Where to start with Hermeto Pascoal
Start with Surpresa — Brasil, Universo, 1986. That is the track sitting closest to the centre of all 31 Hermeto Pascoal tracks in Zubissou Sounds — a listening room of 14,971 tracks placed one at a time by hand, not an algorithm.
This page is not a discography and not a ranking. It describes exactly one thing: the 31 Hermeto Pascoal tracks that one person put in one room, and where they sit relative to each other. The starting point above is chosen by a rule you can check — of the 31 tracks, it is the one nearest the average position on the four knobs the room runs on, and where two sit equally close the one on a named record wins. Nothing here calls any record better than any other.
It is spread thin and wide — 31 tracks across 14 different records, which is a browsing history rather than a shelf of favourites.
The dates here run from 1977 to 2024. They are the dates attached to the releases in this room rather than recording dates, so the later ones are likely reissues — but 47 years is still more than one version of the artist.
Every track is filed under jazz; nothing here crosses into another genre.
Three ways in
The one track, if you only play one
Surpresa — Brasil, Universo, 1986. Of the 31 Hermeto Pascoal tracks here, this one sits closest to the average of all of them across the four knobs the room runs on. It is the least surprising thing in the collection, which is exactly what an entry point should be.
If you want the ambient end
E Nem Dá Pra Dizer — Brasil, Universo, 1986. The lowest energy reading of any Hermeto Pascoal track in the room (50 out of 100). This is as far towards ambient as the collection goes.
If you want the driving end
Rebuliço — Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer, 1987. The highest, at 85. Same artist, opposite corner — a 35-point swing from the track above.
Where Hermeto Pascoal sits in the room
Zubissou Sounds does not have playlists or genres you click. It has knobs. Every track carries a position on each one, set by hand when the track was added, and you find music by setting the room to a state rather than by searching for a name. These are Hermeto Pascoal's average coordinates and the range they cover.
| Knob | Average | Range | Low → high |
|---|---|---|---|
| mood | 70 | 55–85 | melancholy → euphoric |
| energy | 67 | 50–85 | ambient → driving |
| density | 59 | 40–72 | sparse → wall |
| head · body | 67 | 48–82 | cerebral → groove |
All four run 0–100. They are placed by a person, not derived from audio analysis or from any streaming service's feature data.
What is here, record by record
| Album | Year | Tracks |
|---|---|---|
| Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer | 1987 | 5 |
| Brasil, Universo | 1986 | 5 |
| Zabumbê-Bum-Ã | 1979 | 4 |
| Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo | 1982 | 4 |
| Cerebro Magnetico | 1980 | 3 |
| Lagoa de Canoa, Municipio de Arapiraca | 1984 | 2 |
| Viajando Com O Som (The Lost '76 Vice-Versa Studio Session) | 2017 | 1 |
| Hermeto | 1985 | 1 |
| Songbook Antonio Carlos Jobim 4 | 2024 | 1 |
| A Música Livre de Hermeto Pascoal | 2013 | 1 |
| Slaves Mass | 1977 | 1 |
| Ao Vivo | 2003 | 1 |
| Sergio Mendes - Oceano | 2010 | 1 |
| No Mundo Dos Sons | 2017 | 1 |
Every Hermeto Pascoal track in the room
| Track | Album | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Little Cry For Him (Chorinho Pra Ele) | Slaves Mass | 1977 |
| Rede | Zabumbê-Bum-Ã | 1979 |
| Santo Antonio | Zabumbê-Bum-Ã | 1979 |
| Susto | Zabumbê-Bum-Ã | 1979 |
| Correu Tanto Que Sumiu | Cerebro Magnetico | 1980 |
| Música Das Nuvens E Do Chão | Cerebro Magnetico | 1980 |
| A Taça | Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo | 1982 |
| Briguinha de Músicos Malucos no Coreto | Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo | 1982 |
| Cores | Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo | 1982 |
| Novena | Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo | 1982 |
| Spock Na Escada | Lagoa de Canoa, Municipio de Arapiraca | 1984 |
| Tiruliruli | Lagoa de Canoa, Municipio de Arapiraca | 1984 |
| Hermeto | Hermeto | 1985 |
| E Nem Dá Pra Dizer | Brasil, Universo | 1986 |
| O Tocador quer Beber | Brasil, Universo | 1986 |
| Sempre Feliz | Brasil, Universo | 1986 |
| Surpresa | Brasil, Universo | 1986 |
| Candango | Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer | 1987 |
| Intocável feat. Raphael Rabello | Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer | 1987 |
| Quiabo | Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer | 1987 |
| Rebuliço | Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer | 1987 |
| Cancão de Tarde | Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer | 1997 |
| Fátima | Ao Vivo | 2003 |
| Crianças (Cuida de Lá) | Brasil, Universo | 2008 |
| Capivara | Sergio Mendes - Oceano | 2010 |
| Banda Encarnação | Cerebro Magnetico | 2011 |
| Bebê | A Música Livre de Hermeto Pascoal | 2013 |
| Para Thad Jones | No Mundo Dos Sons | 2017 |
| Dança do Pajé | Viajando Com O Som (The Lost '76 Vice-Versa Studio Session) | 2017 |
| Suíte Norte, Sul, Leste, Oeste | Zabumbê-Bum-Ã | 2018 |
| Desafinado (Instrumental) | Songbook Antonio Carlos Jobim 4 | 2024 |
Near neighbours in this room
These are the artists whose average knob position sits nearest to Hermeto Pascoal's in this room. It is a coordinate match, not a claim that they sound alike.
- Where to start with Miles Davis — jazz, 34 tracks
- Where to start with S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe — city pop, 58 tracks
- Where to start with Aphex Twin — electronic, 50 tracks
What the open databases say
MusicBrainz lists Hermeto Pascoal as a solo artist, from Brazil and born in 1936. Its contributors tag the artist jazz, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and jazz and blues. These are the open database's facts, not mine — you can check them against the MusicBrainz entry.
Questions
How many Hermeto Pascoal tracks are in Zubissou Sounds?
There are 31, across 14 albums. 31 of them carry a date, running from 1977 to 2024. That is the whole of what this room holds — it is one person's collection, not a discography.
Is this a best-of, or a ranking?
No. Nothing here is ranked and no track is called better than another. The starting point is picked by arithmetic — the track closest to the centre of all the others on four measured axes — and the rule is printed above so you can disagree with it.
Where do the knob numbers come from?
They are set by hand, one track at a time, by the person who added the track. They are not audio analysis and not a Spotify feature. Mood, energy, density and the head/body balance each run 0 to 100. 31 of these 31 tracks carry an individually placed coordinate rather than the room's default.
Can I listen to these here?
Not yet from this page. Zubissou Sounds is in private beta — the room itself plays through Spotify, and 31 of these 31 tracks are matched to a Spotify ID and ready to play the moment you are in. The waitlist form is at the bottom of this page.