Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Baptista arrived in the U.S. in 1980 with a scholarship to Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York.

The album was recorded with Marc Ribot and Nana Vasconcelos and released by Avant, a label owned by Zorn.

Baptista has also worked with Paul Simon, Trey Anastasio, Laurie Anderson, Badi Assad, Derek Bailey, Gato Barbieri, Daniel Barenboim, Kathleen Battle, David Byrne, Dr. John, Brian Eno, Melissa Etheridge, Stephen Kent, Ivan Lins, Bobby McFerrin, Medeski Martin & Wood, Milton Nascimento, Robert Palmer, Carlos Santana, Tim Sparks, Spyro Gyra, James Taylor, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Caetano Veloso Baptista formed Beat the Donkey, a percussion and dance ensemble.

[3] Baptista appeared in Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel's 1990 documentary film Step Across the Border about Fred Frith, He composed music for programs for the children's television network Nickelodeon.

A documentary about Beat the Donkey that was a recorded WGBH-TV in Boston program won three New England EMMY Awards in 2002.

Baptista has performed on five Grammy award-winning albums: Yo-Yo Ma's Obrigado Brazil, Cassandra Wilson's Blue Light 'Til Dawn, The Chieftains' Santiago, Ivan Lins' A Love Affair, and Herbie Hancock's Gershwin's World.