Ulisses Rocha was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November of 1960 and has been considered to be one of his country's finest guitarist/composers for over twenty years . He began playing and studying classical guitar at a young age but not long after, got an electric guitar and began to explore rock and roll music. At the same time there was the ever present influence of Brazilian music and its abundance of great guitarist-composers. All these elements have combined to make him comfortable in playing a variety of musical styles while enabling him to insert his own distinguishable creative guitar style. Ulisses sometimes performs or records as a soloist but is also often found in the musical company of some of Brazil's most known artists.

In the early 1980s he united with fellow guitar players André Geraissati and Mozart Mello to form the Group D'Alma and with that his career was set in motion. The eclectic styles performed by the group are said to have been an influence in the formation of the enormously successful trio of John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia and Al di Meola. Ulisses has made a number of recordings under his own name in Brazil as well as with other artists. In addition to performing and recording, he has been associated as a professor at Faculdade de Música da Unicamp since 1990 and tries to infuse his students with the same dedication and enthusiasm he holds for the guitar. .