Jazz Articles about Nilson Matta

Nilson Matta: Nilson Matta's Black Orpheus

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
March 18, 2013

This CD is the culmination of Nilson Matta's lifelong dream: to record his interpretation of the Orpheus music from the Brazilian play and movie of the 1950s. To make it happen, Matta enlisted fifteen superb players from Brazil and the United States, building his ensemble up from the rhythmic, native heart of the music. The result is a stunning accomplishment: a fresh translation of the timeless classics from Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius De Moraes, and Louis Bonfa, set in a ...

Nilson Matta and Leny Andrade at Dizzy's

by Nick Catalano
February 22, 2013

Celebrating the release of Black Orpheus (Motéma, 2013), bassist Nilson Matta brought his band into Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola on February 13, 2013. Along with pianist Klaus Mueller, percussionist Fernando Saci, drummer Alex Kautz and saxophonist Steve Wilson the show featured legendary singer Leny Andrade, who also performs on the CD.Although Brazilian music has enthralled American audiences for decades, they rarely encounter the pioneering authenticity that Matta brings to a performance. The producers at Dizzy's have, in recent months, ...

Nilson Matta: Nilson Matta's Black Orpheus

by Dan Bilawsky
February 19, 2013

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice has been told and retold in various mediums and manners throughout the ages. Claudio Monteverdi used opera as his means of transmitting the tale, alt-rocker Nick Cave tackled it head-on in song and author Neil Gaiman revisited the story in comic book format, but the list doesn't stop there; any decent rundown of Orpheus remakes has to include Brazil's two most famous contributions: the play Orfeu da Conceição and its subsequent film offspring, Black ...

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 ...

Nilson Matta / Ze Luis / Paulo Braga: Green Heart

by Ernest Barteldes
January 14, 2008

"Antonio Carlos Jobim was concerned about the environment way before anyone else was talking about it," said Brazilian-born reedman Zé Luis halfway through his mini-set at New York's Joe's Pub, in December 2007, during the release concert for Green Heart, dedicated to the preservation of the Amazon Forest. With that thought in mind, Luis went on to play “Caminhos Cruzados," an early Jobim-Newton Mendonça tune whose original lyrics say that the only cure for a broken heart ...