Born Arthur Côrtes Verocai on 17 June 1945 in Rio de Janeiro, Arthur Verocai studied music with Lô Soares, Darci Villaverde, Nair Barbosa da Silva, Roberto Menescal, and Vilma Graça whilst studying civil engineering. His first song, "Olhando o Mar", was recorded by Leny Andrade on her 1966 album We Are There. After graduating in 1968, he worked as a civil engineer until 1969, when he began his professional music career scoring the theatrical production É a maior and writing his first orchestral arrangements. He quickly became a sought-after arranger for Brazilian stars, working on Jorge Ben's Negro e Lindo (1971), Ivan Lins' Agora (1971, including the break-laden "Hei, Voce"), Gal Costa, Elis Regina, Marcos Valle, Quarteto em Cy, O Terço, MPB 4, Elizeth Cardoso, and producing two albums for singer Célia. As house arranger at Continental Records, his work impressed the label president, who invited him to produce his own album.
Released in 1972, Verocai's self-titled debut featured a 30-piece orchestra with 12 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos, vocalists Célia, Carlos Dafe, and Oberdan from Banda Black Rio, plus percussion from Pedro Santos and Paulo Moura on sax. He described it as samba mixed with soul, influenced by Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Debussy, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Chicago, and Frank Zappa. The album's visionary psychedelic orchestral arrangements contrasted with Tim Maia's Brazilian soul and have been compared to American arrangers David Axelrod and Charles Stepney. Largely ignored in Brazil upon release, Verocai stopped composing for 30 years, switching to arranging jingles. He founded Studio "V" - House of the Sound in 1983. In the 2000s, the album achieved cult status with original vinyl copies selling for £2,000. He returned to composing with Saudade Demais (2002), Encore (2007, Far Out Recordings), and No Vôo do Urubu (2016). In 2009, he performed his 1972 album with a 30-piece orchestra at Los Angeles' Luckman Theater. His work has been sampled by MF DOOM, Ludacris, Common, Little Brother, Action Bronson, and Curren$y, and cited as an influence by TV on the Radio, Cut Chemist, Madlib, and BadBadNotGood. Recent collaborations include BadBadNotGood, Hiatus Kaiyote, and Gal Costa.
