Cavaquinho player, arranger, and composer from Rio de Janeiro (1967), Jayme holds a bachelor’s degree in composition and a master’s degree in music education from UniRio.
He was a member of the Brazilian String Orchestra (winner of two Sharp Music Awards, in 1990 and 1992) and the Brazilian Music Orchestra.
He plays with Água de Moringa (Sharp Music Award for best instrumental group in 1999), with which he has performed in all regions of Brazil and also abroad in countries such as Colombia, France, and Portugal. In 2013, he created the Fuleira Orchestra and plays as an instrumentalist and arranger in the Orquestra Portátil. As a musician in various instrumental groups, he has performed in countries such as Germany, Angola, Argentina, Colombia, the United States, Denmark, France, Iran, Paraguay, Portugal, and Sweden.
As a teacher, he has worked at many institutions and music festivals in Brazil and around the world, including the Brazilian School of Music (Rio de Janeiro/RJ – Brazil), Londrina Music Festival (Londrina/PR – Brazil), Music Workshop at the Curitiba Popular Music Conservatory (Curitiba/PR – Brazil), National Choro Festival (Leme/RJ, Águas de São Pedro/SP, Belém/PA, Porto Alegre/RS, Rio de Janeiro/RJ – Brazil), the Casa do Choro Winter Festival (Rio de Janeiro/RJ – Brazil), etc.
Since 2003, he has been teaching at Escola Portátil de Música and Instituto Casa do Choro (casadochoro.com.br/) in Rio de Janeiro, where, in addition to teaching, he is also part of the management and coordination team.
He worked as a musician and musical director for the “sambópera” A Traviata (2001) directed by Augusto Boal, when he had to rewrite Verdi’s score, adapting it to Brazilian rhythms and musical genres.
His compositions have been recorded by various artists, notably: Batucado e Soprado (Água de Moringa), Estação Madureira, (Zé Paulo Becker and Quarteto Radamés Gnattali), a Litorânea (Camerata Brasilis), Caraminhola e Muxongo (Clube do Choro do Porto), Sem essa de Malandro agulha (in partnership with Aldir Blanc, by Zeca Pagodinho), Bolinho de bacalhais (with Aldir Blanc and Luiz Flavio Alcofra, by Walter Alfaiate), Volante de contenção (with Aldir Blanc and Luiz Flavio Alcofra, by Nadinho da Ilha) and Oração Perdida (also in partnership with Aldir Blanc and Luiz Flavio Alcofra), by Valéria Lobão and also by Mariana Baltar, Lupicínica (in partnership with Aldir Blanc, by the partner himself), Regresso da Flor and Flor de Cartum (in partnership with Aldir Blanc by Rancho Carnavalesco Flor do Sereno), Só pra constar, Tungo, Valsa Primeira and Zunga (Tungo group)
As an arranger, Jayme has collaborated with a wide variety of groups and artists: Água de Moringa, Bohuslän Big Band (Sweden), Jazzmin’s Big Band, Petrobras Symphony Orchestra, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Picadinho da Velha group, Quatro na Roda group, Quinteto Villa Lobos, Terno Carioca group, Toca de Tatu, Yamandu Costa, Rancho Carnavalesco Flor do Sereno, Brazilian singers Aldir Blanc, Fernando Pellon, Ivor Lanceloti, Jards Macalé, Marcos Sacramento, Mariana Baltar, Moacyr Luz, and many others.
His awards include: in 2006, among 113 entries, he was one of the five finalists in the SesiMinas Culture Award composition competition – composition for Chamber Orchestra with the piece Incelença e coco de embolada, for strings, receiving an honorable mention on that occasion; in 2021, among 386 entries from 50 countries, his composition Brancaleone was awarded 2nd place in The Valley Winds International Composition Competition (USA – www.valley-winds.org) and in 2024, among 291 entries from 26 countries, he received 1st place in the 2023 International Mandolin Composition Competition (https://musicaward.edition49.de/en/), promoted by the German publisher Edition49 and Siegburger Musikwerkstatt, with the piece Introdução, Ária e Divertimento (Introduction, Aria, and Divertimento) for mandolin and orchestra. In April 2019, his piece Das águas, for symphony orchestra, received its world premiere by the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra at a gala concert at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro.
In 2024 and 2025, commissioned by Rowan University (USA), he wrote the works Calangaboiococo, for percussion ensemble, Samaumeira, for trio (cavaquinho, 7-string guitar, and percussion), and Trapizonga, for percussion ensemble.
