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Cliff Korman
Born and trained in New York, Cliff Kormanʼs relationship with Brazilian music began in 1981 at the Creative Music Studio’s World Music Institute in Woodstock, where he met the legendary Brazilian clarinetist Paulo Moura. From their friendship and musical partnership a series of concerts and recordings was born: Mood Ingênuo: The Dream of Pixinguinha and Duke Ellington (Jazzheads); Rhapsody in Bossa, on the music of Gershwin and Jobim; Gafieira Jazz, a celebration of the sounds of Brazilian ballroom, and the Gnattali/Monk Project, exploring two of the most influential American pianists of the century.
While still in NY, he produced and arranged a number of Brazilian Jazz CDs for the Chesky label, including Chuck Mangione’s The Feeling’s Back and Entre Amigos, featuring vocalist Rosa Passos and bassist Ron Carter. His recording Migrations (Planet Arts, 2004) illustrates the mark Brazilian music and culture have made on his compositions and improvisational language.
Since establishing his spiritual and physical home in Brasil, Cliff has become one of the most acclaimed and respected North American artists and teachers in the country. He is currently on faculty at the Villa Lobos Institute- UNIRIO in Rio de Janeiro, teaching Popular Brazilian Music and Improvisation, and with the Instituto Paulo Moura coordinates the project to digitalize and research Moura’s musical archive.
His release Brasilified (Tiger Turn, 2022) is the fruit of his projects with Brazilian musical partners Augusto Mattoso (bass), Rafael Barata (drums) and Paulo Levi (saxophone), features his arrangements of works by Paulo Moura, Milton Nascimento, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Wayne Shorter, and his own composition Brasilified, and represents Cliff’s “poly-musical” and fluid way of thinking, writing, and playing. His most recent release Bossas and Ballads: Cliff Korman Piano Solo (Tiger Turn, 2024) is his first solo recording made in Brasil, and reflects his love for adagios, and his interpretative approach of reharmonization and orchestration. The album includes readings of “Montreux” (Hermeto Pascoal), “Encontros e Despedidas” (Milton Nascimento), “Some Other Time” (Bernstein, Comden and Greene), “Michelle” (Lennon and McCartney) and his own composition “Almonds and Roses.”
Cliff also appears on numerous recordings made in Brasil, including the series “Bossa Jazz” which features his arrangements of songs of composer Pacifico Mascarenas , “Samblues” (Juarez Moreira) and “Era Só Começo Nosso Fim” (Yuri Popoff).
Cliff holds a Master of Arts in Jazz Performance from the City College of New York, where he trained with Roland Hanna, Ron Carter and Kenny Barron, and a DMA from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Dave Liebman, composer Ludmilla Ulehla, and arranger Mike Abene.
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Cliff Korman: Bossas and Ballads
![Read "Bossas and Ballads" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/55cab49e3df3461142c9df432eb6fa68.jpg)
by Katchie Cartwright
Pianist-composer Cliff Korman lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, where he serves on the faculty of the Instituto Villa Lobos at the Federal University. A New Yorker with a jazz degree from City College of New York, he trained under Roland Hanna, Ron Carter and Kenny Barron. His musical journey," as he put it, began years earlier at the innovative Creative Music Studio in Woodstock founded by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso and Ornette Coleman. There, he encountered Brazilian clarinetist ...
read moreThiago de Mello & Dexter Payne: Another Feeling
![Read "Another Feeling" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/2007/tdemello.jpg)
by Chris M. Slawecki
Have you ever walked alone through a quiet beautiful woodland and stepped into an open space full of nothing but warm and growing brightness, and felt like nature was a cathedral and you were seated in its front row? Another Feeling sounds just like that: completely, naturally, immaculate and beautiful.
Dexter Payne on clarinet and alto saxophone creates this Feeling with writer/ arranger Thiago de Mello on acoustic piano, guitar and organic percussion, handmade instruments personally crafted from ...
read moreCliff Korman Brazilian Jazz Ensemble Tuesday March 13th 7PM Billie Holiday Theatre Restoration Plaza
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Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
The Cliff Korman Brazilian Jazz Ensemble Presentsthe Culminating Concert of their Chamber Music America Residency Grant THREE TRADITIONS JOINED An evening of Original and Traditional Brazilian Popular Music and the Celebration of Carnaval Peter Brainin (woodwinds), Andy Eulau (bass) Caf (percussion), Vanderlei Pereira (drums) Rosamaria Moraes (choreography) Students of PS 3 (Bedford Stuyvesant) and 32 (Gowanus-Carroll Gardens) will sing, dance, and join in the percussion section DATE: Tuesday March 13 TIME: 7PM LOCALE: Billie Holiday Theatre ...
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Cliff Korman Qt (Tonight) Emilio Solla & NY Jazz-Tango (Sat) Heather Bennett Qnt (Sun) at the Cornelia Street Cafe
![Cliff Korman Qt (Tonight) Emilio Solla & NY Jazz-Tango (Sat) Heather Bennett Qnt (Sun) at the Cornelia Street Cafe](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/logo/bd38a72ed12128b10ddc05c6087dacb8.jpg)
Source:
All About Jazz
Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street Greenwich Village, NY 10014 Tel: 212-989-9319 Fax: 212-243-4207 Web: corneliastreetcafe.com between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1,9 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, F to West 4th St. a culinary as well as a cultural landmark" Mayoral Proclamation, City of New York 1987 This Weekend at Cornelia Street Cafe Sept. 16 thg Sept. 18 Fri Sep 16 CLIFF KORMAN QUARTET (Billy Drewes, woodwinds; AndyEulau, bass; Vanderlei Pereira, drums/percussion; Cliff ...
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