Brazilian guitarist Roberto Montero released his first album in 2025. Todos Os Tempos (All Tempos & All Times) establishes the Los Angeles based musician as both a formidable composer and a creative guitarist. Playing acoustic / electric guitars, vocal scat, synth guitar, bass and percussion, Montero receives skillful support from a range of American and Brazilian musicians including Rique Pantoja on keyboards, Catina DeLuna singing wordless vocals on one track, a six-piece vocal group on a track, three different drummers and a pair bass players along with others.

The sound of the mainly instrumental album is quite varied yet overall establishes a realm of calm and quietude. Montero’s guitar is superbly recorded. While the central focus is on his acoustic fingerstyle guitar, he also adds in some tasty electric guitar sounds, giving the album a kind of Pat Metheny meets Charlie Byrd flair. With ten tracks that clock in at just under 54 minutes, there is something for all fretboard fans on Todos Os Tempos.

Thanks to the pioneering jazz and pop albums and hit songs of the great Antonio Carlos Jobim, the country of Brazil has long been renowned as a stronghold of ultra-melodic and supremely relaxing contemporary music. On his debut solo album, Roberto Montero keeps Brazil’s legendary instrumental guitar legacy alive and well.

 

RMR Speaks With Roberto Montero

RMR: Can you tell us where you grew up, where you live now and how did that lead to teaching guitar? Tell us about your teaching the Los Angeles College of Music. What courses do you teach there and do you find that the guitar is as popular now as it was in the 1970s?

Roberto Montero: I was born in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and grew up in the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina, southern Brazil.

The reason I came to the United States, 26 years ago, was to study guitar at what was then, Los Angeles Music Academy, which would a few years later become LACM - Los Angeles College of Music. At that time, the guitar department head was guitarist visionary Frank Gambale, and it was such a privilege learning from him…

A few months into the classes, the Dean of Academic Affairs, who at that time was the extraordinary drummer Mike Shapiro, invited me to play with him as part of the “school house band” on Brazilian, Jazz, Pop, Rock, and R&B classes, and that eventually led me to work in the guitar department where I now teach Brazilian, world, jazz, music theory, etc. LACM has continuously been an important part of my life since I arrived from Brazil, and I just feel lucky to be associated with such a wonderful educational institution.

As to your question about the popularity of the guitar nowadays: yes, I believe it is still super popular. The guitar is a widely intercultural instrument, with such a unique, beautiful voice and expression, which makes it easy to relate to, and at the same time very difficult to simulate with, or being replaced by, for example, a synthesizer.  

 

RMR: What music were you first exposed to as a younger person and who were / are some of your favorite composers and recording artists? How important was the music Antonio Carlos Jobim to your own music and what other Brazilian composers influenced you and how about classical composers like for example Villa Lobos? Also tell us when you started playing guitar and how old are you now?

Roberto Montero: My father was an extraordinary professional acoustic guitarist, singer and composer, and he’d play popular Brazilian like choro, samba, etc, and Argentinean music, as well as classical guitar at home - and there is so much wonderful music just there - but I recall that we’d also listen to the Beatles, James Taylor, Barney Kessel, Louie Armstrong, Count Basie, radio top 40’s, etc…

At the age of fifteen, I was listening more to rock, and that’s really when I started studying and spending time with the guitar. Parallel to playing rock, I’d also listen and study classical guitar - Villa Lobos, Leo Brower, Andrés Segovia, Francisco Tárrega, Bach, Sor - but really any music that would catch my interest, regardless of style.

I started paying more attention to Jobim’s music in my early 20’s, and quickly became amazed by the beauty and subtle complexity, which to me defines the geniality of his music.

Reflecting back, I realize that many of the most inspiring musicians and albums were often the ones that somehow opened doors to a new style of music, or to a new combination of styles, and that had always been beyond only Brazilian music, but I can mention Dori Caymmi, Baden Powell, Toninho Horta, Ivan Lins, Gilberto Gil, Yellowjackets, Pat Metheny, Cesar Camargo Mariano, Helio Delmiro, Dave Brubeck, Rush, Jimmy Hendrix, Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale, Chic Korea, Romero Lubambo, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, and so many more…

One of the things I love the most in being a musician is that there will always be new inspiring musicians, songs, and styles to be discovered. I’m fifty-five years old now, but, as my dear friend, extraordinary pianist and composer Frank Zotolli would say, “in body and spirit I feel I’m fifty-four”.

 

RMR: Can you say something about the album title Todos Os Tempos, which translates to All Tempos & All Times. Does the title relate to the album tracks or the overall period in which the album was recorded and released? The music and sound of the album seems kind of timeless.

Roberto Montero: The title relates directly to the album cover, but it has a double meaning: In Brazilian Portuguese, we use the same word, tempo, when referring to both chronological time and musical tempo. The cover has a collage of photos from many different moments and people in my life, so the title refers to all of those moments but also to all musical elements of the compositions.

Underlying, and I only realized it after the fact, is my interest in quantum physics and Einstein’s relativity; the evidence that time is not a straight, unbendable line, and matter is not only what we can see and touch, and the scientific studies tying energy, frequency, consciousness, and music together. Hence a few of the song titles: “Static Time Waltz”, “Neither Time Nor Distance”, and “Gone But Still There”.

 

RMR: You have a wide range of musicians assisting you on Todos Os Tempos. How did you pick and choose the musicians who play with you on the album? Are they mostly Brazilian and American musicians and who do you credit with helping you produce the album and can you say something about the album cover art with all those people in the small pictures?

Roberto Montero: I’m very thankful and lucky for having all those fantastic musicians, who are also friends and work colleagues on the album.

Because I recorded this music in between other projects that had priority over my own, I’d schedule sessions in different places and times, depending on everyone’s availability. For example, both “Vila Rica” and “De Duas, Uma” were recorded in southern Brazil, while the rest of the album was recorded in Los Angeles, in different home studios.

On the album liner notes, I do acknowledge and thank my friends Leandro Amaral and Rique Pantoja, who plays piano and Rhodes on most of the album, for “lending a second pair of ears”. It was super helpful having their feedback.

Those small photos on the album cover, nestled within the colorful circles, are a concept I conceived to be tied to the album title, however the album graphic design was created by the talented Debora Tosetti, while the back and inside photos were captured by the skilled Maria Brunner-Ventura.

 

RMR: Tell us about the guitars you play on the album. Do you have a guitar endorsement deal in the US or Brazil? The album art features you with both classical nylon string and an electric guitars, so which do you prefer and can you give an example of a track with your electric? Who are some of your favorite guitar makers? Brazil has a great legacy of guitar builders. How many guitars do you have?

Roberto Montero: I used, for acoustic guitars: one nylon string from a fantastic Brazilian luthier in the Amazon region, Gean Dantas (Puro Amazonas Guitars), one old Japanese Takamine nylon strings, and one steel strings Yamaha Compass. For electric guitars: Two Canadian Godin, one semi-hollow Montreal Premiere, and one solid body Strat like Velocity, as well as one semi-hollow PRS.

Additionally, I used one Brazilian Rosini Cavaco, a small 4-string instrument, just to double a few of the melodies and short arrangement lines, as well as a Schecter Custom 5 bass, on two songs. I love all those instruments, and I’ve had over the years endorsements from Yamaha and Godin. I’m super thankful for the support of these companies.

As both a professional musician and someone who enjoys learning and playing a wide variety of music styles, I end up playing many types of guitars, acoustic, electric, with effects, etc., and I really love all of that, so it’s difficult to have a preferred instrument, because it’ll depend on the music. In many cases, different guitars will complement each other: On “Igarape,” for example, I played both nylon and steel-string acoustic guitars for rhythm, and an electric solid body for the melody.

Yes, Brazil has a legacy of many great acoustic guitar luthiers, but the only one I own is an instrument from is Gean Dantas from Puro Amazonas Guitars. He is one of the best current luthiers from Northern Brazil.

But there are also a few larger companies like Gianinni, Del Vechio, and Di Giorgio, all started by Italian immigrants in southern Brazil, with guitars that, especially if we’re lucky to find one of their old, high-end instruments, are certainly worth the buy. I have fifteen guitars, and counting, of course! You get two guitarists to talk about guitars, and their conversation lasts way longer after everyone else left the room… lol

 

RMR: Can you mention a couple of your favorite tracks on Todos Os Tempos and why? What tracks stand out most in your mind?

Roberto Montero: Perhaps some songs stand out because of where or how I wrote them, or to whom I dedicated them, but each song on the album has a specific and special meaning to me.

For example, “Aquele Mar (The Sea Over There)” is dedicated to my father, “Luz Da Lua (Light of the Moon)” is dedicated to my wife, “Villa Rica” I wrote as I was dreaming, “Igarape (River Stream)” when I was with my wife near a river stream in the Amazon forest region in Brazil, etc.

 

RMR: What plans do you have for the rest of 2025 into 2026? Are you planning more writing, recording and concerts for the close of 2025 and 2026?

Roberto Montero: I plan on promoting the album now for a few months, doing a few concerts, before starting to work on the next. I very much enjoy making music, writing, arranging, recording, and producing, as well as teaching and learning, and I’m always looking forward to all of that!