Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, better known as Pixinguinha (Portuguese: [piʃĩˈɡiɲɐ]) was a Brazilian composer, arranger, flutist, and saxophonist player born in Rio de Janeiro.

[2] Pixinguinha was among the first Brazilian musicians to embrace radio broadcasting and studio recording, technologies that played a key role in bringing his music to a wider audience.

[6][7] Their repertoire was diverse, encompassing folk music from northeast Brazil, sambas, maxixes, waltzes, polkas, and "Brazilian tangos" (the term choro was not yet established as a genre).

Os Oito Batutas became a sensation across Brazil, though they faced controversy from the white Rio elite, who were not happy with black men performing in popular venues.

[8] Os Oito Batutas, and Pixinguinha specifically, were the target of attacks reflecting anxieties about race and the influence of Europe and the United States on Brazilian music.

[2] After performing at a gig for the dance couple Duque and Gabi at the Assírio cabaret, Os Oito Batutas was discovered by the wealthy Arnaldo Guinle who sponsored their first European tour in 1921.

He began to incorporate jazz standards and ragtime into his group's repertoire, changing the lineup dramatically by adding saxophones, trumpets, trombones, piano, and a drum kit.

However, the growing demand for radio music from large ensembles required fully realized written scores for every instrument, a skill Pixinguinha possessed.

Pixinguinha left Victor to join flautist Benedito Lacerda's band,[14] where he took up the tenor saxophone as his primary instrument and continued to compose music for the group.

[15] By the mid 1950s, changing tastes and the emerging popularity of samba, bolero and bossa nova in Brazil led to the decline of the choro, as these other genres became dominant on the radio.

Pixinguinha spent his time in retirement, appearing in public only on rare occasions (such as the "Evening of Choro" TV programs produced by Jacob do Bandolim in 1955 and 1956).