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Joyce Moreno

Born in Rio de Janeiro, the singer, composer, arranger and instrumentalist JOYCE MORENO has in her portfolio 400 recordings of songs she has authored, interpreted by the greatest names in Brazilian popular music: Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Maria Bethânia, Milton Nascimento, Ney Matogrosso, Edu Lobo, Emilio Santiago, Boca Livre, Nana Caymmi, Zizi Possi, Elizeth Cardoso, Simone, Leny Andrade, Mônica Salmaso, and many others. Beyond Brazil, Joyce’s work has been recorded by Annie Lennox, Wallace Roney, Omara Portuondo, Black Eyed Peas, David Sanchez, Jon Lucien, Claus Ogerman, Gerry Mulligan, Till Brönner, and Flora Purim, to name a few. Joyce’s compositions have been featured in film soundtracks (e.g., The Player by Robert Altman and Legally Blonde by Robert Luketic), animations (the Japanese anime Wolf’s Rain, in partnership with composer Yoko Kanno), TV programs, and theatrical productions. Since the beginning of her career, Joyce’s registered trademark has been the first-person feminine voice, which she pioneered; she was the first Brazilian songwriter to express herself in this form, opening the way for countless other artists who followed.      Joyce received four nominations for the Latin Grammy. To date, she has released 33 personal CDs and two DVDs, in addition to numerous compilations and guest appearances. Currently, her work takes her all over the world; she makes annual tours and records new albums in various countries, never losing her feminine Brazilian identity. Each year she performs on the Japanese Blue Note circuit and tours jazz festivals and other venues in Europe and North America.

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Live Review

Joyce Moreno al Summer Jazz Festival di Palermo

Read "Joyce Moreno al Summer Jazz Festival di Palermo" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo


Joyce Moreno Summer Jazz Festival Stand Florio Palermo 21.7.2022 Un Martini secco, fluido, avvolgente, sensuale, autenticamente preparato in tutti i suoi tradizionali ingredienti. È la metafora giusta per connotare il bel concerto di Joyce Moreno, accompagnata da Jean Yves Candela (pianoforte), Rodolfo Stroeter (basso elettrico) e Tutty Moreno (batteria). La sua è una musica trascinante, che afferma con empatica sincerità l'anima della bossa nova e del samba, cuore della musica popolare brasiliana. Da “Desafinado" ...

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Album Review

Joyce Moreno: Cool

Read "Cool" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Cool is the album that Brazilian singer-songwriter Joyce Moreno simply refused to make for decades. “For over 20 years I've been requested to make an album with North American jazz standards. Nothing against it, but I always said no," she explains. “I had the strange feeling that such an album would look weird in my discography, too commercial--like I didn't have any new tricks up my sleeve, and yes, I always have plenty. Music has never ceased to bless me ...

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Album Review

Joyce Moreno: Cool

Read "Cool" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Since the late '60s, Brazilian guitarist and singer Joyce Moreno has been one of the most iconic members of the MPB movement, pushing the envelope way past the traditional bossa novas of Jobim. In the early '80s, albums such as Feminina and brought Joyce an international following that she continues to enjoy to this day. Her sizeable catalog features a diverse collection of original material, not to mention key collaborations with such heavyweights as Jon Hendricks, Joao Donato, Kenny Werner, ...

7
Live Review

Joyce Moreno at Nighttown

Read "Joyce Moreno at Nighttown" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Joyce Moreno Nighttown Cleveland Heights, Ohio June 23, 2015 Many folks entranced by the magic of jazz also find their tastes gravitating towards artists form the Latin and Brazilian musical worlds as well. These musical styles actually share more in common with jazz than what might seem possible at first glance. The legacy and language of the music is something passed down over the years and placed at a high value by musicians and fans ...

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Album Review

Joyce: Just A Little Bit Crazy

Read "Just A Little Bit Crazy" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger


The late, great Elis Regina was the first major artist to record Joyce's songs, and there are some similarities in their approach: both are honest, passionate, fluid and pitch-perfect, with a minimum of vocal pyrotechnics and often the distinct sound of a smile. While delivering the sultry and sunny sambas the world has come to expect from Brazilian vocalists, Joyce also gets adventurous, transcending stylistic and cultural borders.

In line with the title of Just a Little ...

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Album Review

Joyce: Gafieira Moderna

Read "Gafieira Moderna" reviewed by William Grim


Joyce, the Brazilian songstress and songwriter best known as the originator of the samba subgenre called “hard bossa," presents an impressive new album containing ten of her original tunes written in the style of the music of the traditional dance halls ( gafieira ) of Rio de Janeiro. This is an album that will appeal to straight-ahead jazz fans as well as Brazilian music aficionados because Joyce combines the melodic wit and subtle harmonic sophistication of Brazilian bossa nova with ...

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Album Review

Joyce: Live at the Mojo Club

Read "Live at the Mojo Club" reviewed by AAJ Staff


A wonderfully hang-tough swinger of an album recorded at a German club. The interplay between Joyce and her band (Tutty Moreno, drums; Sizão Machado, electric bass and Teco Cardoso, saxophones/flutes) is super-tight, making for a completely captivating seventy-minute set of jazz Brazilian-style. Even though Joyce gets top billing, the album belongs to the whole group, and there are plenty of stratospheric solos by all parties. At the top of my list: “Suite Baracumbara/Banana," “Caymmis, “Berimbau" and “Taxi Driver," with its ...

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“One of the best singers of all times!… As if it weren’t enough, Joyce is a great composer and plays ace guitar! What an amazing woman!” —Antonio Carlos Jobim

“Joyce is a Brazilian treasure” —DownBeat Magazine

"Her musical capacity surprised me when, years later, she reemerged playing guitar like the best (in the land of João Gilberto, Dori [Caymmi], [Gilberto] Gil, and João Bosco, this is not a bagatelle), her singing precisely tuned, writing songs with original harmonic and melodic imagination." —Caetano Veloso

Ed Johnson
guitar and vocals
Voision Xi
vocals

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Cool

Far Out Recordings
2017

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Cool

Far Out Recordings
2016

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Raiz

Far Out Recordings
2015

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Aquarius

Biscoito Fino
2012

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Slow Music

Unknown label
2010

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Aquarius

Biscoito Fino
2009

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