My journey into the world of Brazilian
music has in a way come full circle, a good moment to look back
in evaluation and self-criticism, and to look forward to new
projects and hopefully growth and development. I met
saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer Paulo Moura at the
Creative Music Studio in 1981; he, the professor, I, a young,
unformed, curious student of what was soon to be called
"World Music". I spent only a week in his workshops,
and it was enough to kindle a real desire to know what made his
universe tick. The vocabulary was accesible to me, I recognized
it as made up of elements I had already encountered, but it was
put together differently: the melodies, the harmonic and
rhythmic cadences, the swing. The experience planted a seed
that took a while to germinate, and when it did, it took hold
of my life and became the foundation for my musical point of
view.
In the early-mid 1980's, a number of
Brazilian musicians arrived in New York City. I was called to
join a rehearsal band playing songs of "Música
Popular Brasileira", and was introduced to a completely
new world of Brazilian composers, arrangers, instrumentalists
and vocalists including Djavan, Gilberto Gil, Milton
Nascimento, Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Cesar Camargo Mariano,
Lincoln Olivetti, Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti, Dori and
Nana Caymmi, Leny Andrade... this list could go on for quite a
while. I had, like many American musicians, equated Brazilian
music with the songs of bossa-nova, samba of street carnival,
Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, and Carmen Miranda. And as strong
and important as those elements are, I came to learn that the
spectrum is a lot broader and deeper.
I spent five years touring and recording
with vocalist Astrud Gilberto, and took the opportunity to
study the compositions and styles of important bossa nova
artists including Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto,
Carlos Lyra, Marcos Valle, Luis Bonfa, Roberto Menescal, and
Nara Leão. Drummer Duduka da Fonseca was in Astrud's
band at the time, and he turned me on to some of Brazilian jazz
artists of the sixties and seventies such as João
Donato, Tenorio Jr., Edison Machado, and Dom Salvador.
Guitarist/composer Toninho Horta travelled with us for a few
months, and I had the chance to sit with him and learn about
the contribution of musicians from his home state of Minas
Gerais. Toninho became a good friend, and we initiated a
working relationship as well. I travelled to Brasil a number of
times in the early nineties to perform and teach with him. He
gave me a great surprise when he told me that he would include
my composition "Encanto" on his CD "Foot on the
Road". I had written it imagining the sound of his guitar
in my ear! I had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with a
number of musicians from Minas including Juarez Moreira , Yuri
Popoff, and Wagner Tiso. The "Mineiros", as they are
called, bring a unique perspective to their compositions,
arrangements, and harmonic approach. I have benefited greatly
from their influence, and always include some of their
repertoire in my performances.
After my tenure with Astrud, I formed my
own group with the idea of combining my experience and training
in American and Brazilian jazz. The project takes on differing
personnel and orchestration, and has included bassists David
Finck and Dennis Irwin, drummers Paulo Braga, Portinho, and
Duduka da Fonseca, saxophonists Steve Sacks and Billy Drewes,
trumpeter Diego Urcola, and guitarists Paul Meyers and Nelson
Faria. I include original compositions and arrangements of
Brazilian and jazz standards. My experience with Brazilian
music has led to recent projects including recordings with
Gerry Mulligan and Chuck Mangione, and concerts with
pianist/arrangers Cesar Camargo Mariano and Wagner Tiso, and
vocalists Leny Andrade, Zizi Possi, and Leila Pinheiro.
In the early nineties I started a
collaboration with Paulo Moura which led to a number of
different performances and recordings including “Mood Ingênuo: The Dream of Pixinguinha and
Duke Ellington”,
“Rhapsody in
Bossa”, “Radames Gnattali and Thelonious Monk”, and “Gafieira
Dance Brasil”. This
cross-cultural and interpersonal exchange has tremendously
broadened my understanding of the Brazilian instrumental
tradition and has remarkably influenced the developments of my
research.
Paulo Moura’s knowledge is extensive
and is often the outcome of first-hand experience. His reading
of facts and aesthetics is extremely creative and leads toward
sometimes unlikely but very interesting and always
fruit-bearing experiments.
Thanks to our conversations and his
guidance through the “streets” and the music spots
of old Rio, my interest in the genre of choro deepened and
became a relatively structured research which has been
supported by the Fulbright association, and is advancing
through the connections I established with Brazilian archives
and libraries and with other informal and formal scholars such
as Henrique Cazes and Luiz Otávio Braga.
In recent years I also had the opportunity
of experiencing as an insider outstanding educational
enterprises such as that of the Escola de Musica in Brasilia
where I taught several courses and participate in the
development of integrated curricula of classical and popular
music.
On the performing side I was invited by
Wagner Tiso to play a small tour of a duo-piano concert with
Milton Nascimento. The ensemble included string quintet,
percussion, and Andreas Wollenweider on harp!
The "full circle" of my
Brazilian voyage is today reflected in a multifaceted project
which I came to call “The
Brazilian Tinge” and combines
my two-way explorations of the music both as a performer and as
a researcher and educator.
As this cycle completes, I look forward to
encountering the many musical "caminhos" (paths) that
Brazilian music has to offer, and to develop my own voice along
the way.