and Mário Reis. Lacerda's conjunto regional In 1939 he was succeeded by well-known composer Radamés Gnattali, and Pixinguinha left Victor to join flautist Benedito Lacerda's band, where he took up the tenor saxophone as his primary instrument and continued to compose music for the group. Lacerda's band was a conjunto regional (or just regional), the name given to in-house bands hired by radio stations to perform music and accompany singers, often live in front of a studio audience. Throughout the 30s, 40s regionais provided steady employment to the very best choro musicians of the day and led to the professionalization of the Brazilian music industry. It was with Lacerda that Pixinguinha began another fertile period of composing and recording. Due to economic troubles as the regionais fell out of favor in the late 40s, Pixinguinha had to sell the rights to his compositions to Benedito Lacerda, who for this appears a co-composer of many of Pixinguinha's tunes, even those composed while Lacerda was a boy. In the recordings with Lacerda, Pixinguinha plays secondary parts on the saxophone while Lacerda plays the flute part on tunes that Pixinguinha originally wrote on that instrument. Retirement and death By the mid 1950s, changing tastes and the emerging popularity of samba and American jazz in Brazil led to the decline of the choro regional as 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). Pixinguinha died in 1973 in the Church of Nossa Senhora da Paz in Ipanema while attending a baptism. He was buried in the Cemitério de Inhaúma. The day, which was believed to be his birthday, April 23, is today commemorated as the National Day of Choro in Brazil. The day was officially established in 2000 after a campaign by bandolim player Hamilton de Holanda and his students at the Raphael Rabello School of Choro. In November 2016, however, it was discovered that Pixinguinha's real birth date was May 4, and not April 23. Despite that, Brazil's National Day of Choro remained unaltered. Pixinguinha is depicted in the 2021 biographical film Pixinguinha, Um Homem Carinhoso. He was portrayed by Brazilian actor Seu Jorge. Musical contributions Compared to the older chorões of the late 19th century from which he drew inspiration, Pixinguinha's compositions were