Haddad is noted for bringing Brazilian music and culture to the city of Philadelphia, PA when he and his wife Patricia, after living in Brazil, moved back from Rio de Janeiro to the U.S. in 1984.
Minas has performed in all of the area's main venues and Orlando taught Brazilian Percussion at the University of the Arts, a post he held for 10 years.
Patricia King Haddad (born Patricia Gale King on April 27, 1956, in Denver, Colorado) grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where she began her music education studying voice and piano, performed in musicals and theatrical productions at age six.
[4] In 1975, Haddad and King met while attending the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC and first began performing as the duo "Orlando & Patricia" on campus as well as local bars and small concert halls.
In 1978, trip to Brazil, Haddad and King met Coquinho, Carlos Roberto Teixeira Alves, the drummer of Os Miseráveis, and Electron 6, bands Orlando played in during his high school years.
Minas went on for a couple of years performing until Alves left the group and was replaced by Brazilian Manoel Monteiro, originally from São Paulo.
After the birth of their daughter Nicole, they decided to move to Brazil, where they lived near Haddad's family and continued to perform in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and Pernambuco at clubs, festivals and universities.
Joining a recent movement of independent recording artist and labels started by pianist, bandleader and composer Antonio Adolfo, they released their first vinyl “Num Dia Azul” in 1983, which was part of the first catalog of independent record producers in Rio de Janeiro.
[1] Through their musical writings and arrangements as MINAS and its various projects, many jazz musicians in the U.S. and Brazil have collaborated with Haddad and King (MINAS) on recordings and/ or live performances to include: Paul Winter, Herbie Mann, Gerald Veasley, Cyro Baptista, Hendrik Meurkens, Rob Hyman, Djalma Correa, John Swana, Rogerio Boccato, David Finke, Adriano Santos, Adriano Giffoni, João Cortez, Vanderlei Pereira, Cid Teixeira, Andrew Neu, Larry McKenna.