Jazz Articles about Amanda Ruzza

About Amanda Ruzza

Album Review

Amanda Ruzza & Mauricio Zottarelli: Glasses, No Glasses

Read "Glasses, No Glasses" reviewed by Ernest Barteldes

by Ernest Barteldes
October 6, 2014

Those familiar with Amanda Ruzza's debut solo This Is What Happened (2012, Pimenta Music) will find no similarities between that project and this collaboration with fellow Brazilian drummer Mauricio Zottarelli. While that first disc went into more of a samba-jazz direction, this one could be classified as an electronic jazz album with funk-blues tendencies. Playing in a trio featuring Leo Genovese on a variety of keyboards and saxophones, the disc kicks off with “Soundcheck," a funk-inspired tune in which the ...

Live Review

Amanda Ruzza Band: New York, NY, November 8, 2012

by Ernest Barteldes
November 24, 2012

Amanda Ruzza BandZinc BarNew York, NYNovember 8, 2012Brazilian-born bassist Amanda Ruzza took the stage at Greenwich Village's Zinc Bar, backed by a solid band--drummer Mauricio Zotarelli, electric guitarist Alex Nolan, pianist Mamiko Watanabe, trombonist Chris Stover and tenor/soprano saxophonist Ben Flocks--about which the bandleader jokingly referred as “a nice band with three boys and three girls." The set opened with a trombone-led samba, with a funk edge that allowed for lots of improvisation from the ...

Album Review

Amanda Ruzza: This Is What Happened

Read "This Is What Happened" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
June 12, 2012

Brazilian-born Amanda Ruzza began playing bass guitar when she was 12 years old, developing a mastery for the instrument, moving to New York City and, since then, playing a variety of styles of music with such groups as Global Noize and the Chris Stover's Caetano Veloso Project. This Is What Happened is the young artist's debut, featuring original compositions infused with elements of hard funk, jazz, Brazilian and other South American rhythms. The result is a very modern and upbeat ...