Jazz Articles about Mauricio Zottarelli

Luiz Millan: Brazilian Match

by Chris M. Slawecki
September 20, 2023

Brazilian Match is a tour-de-force of classic and contemporary Brazilian music written by and featuring singer-songwriter Luiz Millan. Millan's fifth album is a leader is his first for Jazz Station Records and Brazilian jazz impresario Arnaldo DeSouteiro, whose storied history includes working with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Eumir Deodato, Dom Um Romão, João Donato, and other legends, and who called Millan “a composer's composer." “A great melodist who also happens to be a great poet, a fabulous storyteller; a ...

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

by Howard Mandel
July 26, 2023

Everyone wants to go to Brazil, and one of the easiest, most pleasant ways of doing so is to listen to bassist Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage. The third album organized by Matta, a native of Sao Paolo who moved to Rio in 1970 and the U.S. in 1985, conjures the vistas and moods of a country that is idealized as a source of breezy airs and pulsing rhythms. That Brazil in fact even more than in myth generates ...

Shiri Zorn: Into Another Land

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 20, 2022

Into Another Land braids together the voices of percussionist Mauricio Zottarelli, guitarist George Muscatello and vocalist Shiri Zorn into music that has a much heavier impact than its light and bright, floating and breezy sound. Zorn studied music in her native Israel, steeping herself in the magic of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae, and then in London before moving to Albany, New York in 2010, where she met and has since been working with Muscatello. When ...

Filtron M: Astoria Roots Live

by James Nadal
May 17, 2017

In a genuine international collaborative effort, with sessions recorded in New York and Zurich, Astoria Roots Live showcases the eclectic sounds of Filtron M, performing in a live setting. Launched as a musicians' collective based out of New York under the direction of pianist/composer Manu Koch, this project has expanded into Europe and integrated musicians from around the world. Favorably compared to the work Joe Zawinul did with Weather Report and in his later recordings, Filtron M draws on that ...

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 23, 2010

How it is possible that bassist Nilson Matta is allowed to fly so low under the proverbial radar, with recognition coming mainly from his peers, is one of those mysteries that artists have to learn to live with. Meanwhile, Matta has been complementing the music of luminaries from singers Jo&#227o Gilberto, Johnny Alf and Chico Buarque do Holanda, and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, to saxophonist Joe Henderson and pianist Don Pullen, with grace and majesty.Matta's career has spanned decades ...

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

by Jerry D'Souza
March 11, 2010

Brazilian music is given a shot of verve and vivacity by bassist Nilson Matta, as he succinctly captures the imperatives of the music through originals and standards. The music of his native land courses strongly through his veins, and his compositions blood that presence. He sets up several moods, encompassing them in arrangements that draw the nectar without forsaking the tang.

Matta turns on the seduction from the time he sets the tempo on bass for “Baden," a tribute to ...

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

by Edward Blanco
March 1, 2010

New York-based bassist Nilson Matta's Copacabana offers a musical adventure reflecting the many aspects of his native Brazil. Whether the culture, its different regions or natural wonders; Matta blends an exciting selection of new material with old Brazilian standards in a dedication to his homeland. The album--as well as Matta's combo (Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage--was born from a single event; a convention about Brazilian culture held at The Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York where he was asked to perform ...