Results for "Bossa Nova"

Backgrounder: Bossa Nova for Swinging Lovers

March 23, 2022

Today, I start an intermittent series I call “Backgrounder," featuring great, rare albums that are probably unknown to you. My intent is to provide you with superb music while you work or read that I'm listening to as well. So we'll be listening to the exact same music at the exact same time. Cool, right? Hopefully, ...

Nate Najar

Born: August 28, 1981

An accomplished guitarist-composer and Charlie Byrd devotee, nylon string fingerstyle player Nate Najar has distinguished himself as a talent worthy of recognition with his impressive output over the past ten years. On his latest trio recording, Blues for Night People: The Nate Najar Trio Remembers Charlie Byrd, the Florida-based guitarist pays tribute to an important role model with a collection of tunes either composed by or associated with the late, great guitarist. Najar also performs on Byrd’s own guitar, a 1974 Ramirez 1a nylon string classical guitar, the same guitar Andres Segovia used.

Accompanied by the veteran D.C.-based rhythm tandem of drummer Chuck Redd and bassist Tommy Cecil, Najar runs the gamut from alluring bossas and romantic ballads to urgent swingers and delicate, classically influenced numbers on his sixth outing as a leader

Geovane Santos

Born: August 5, 1989

Geovane Santos, an Afro Brazilian from the city of Belo Horizonte currently living in New Orleans, is a guitarist, vocalist, composer, researcher, videographer, and educator. Awarded the 2017 Louis Armstrong Foundation Jazz Composer Award through ASCAP in association with the University of New Orleans (UNO), Santos’ creative work and scholarship explore the intersectionalities of race, transculturation, culture appropriation, and processes of narrative building in music. 

Founder of the #NewOrleansBrasilDay and considered by OffBeat Magazine New Orleans’ "best Brazilian jazz guitarist", Santos holds a M.A

Love - And Bossa Nova - Were In The Air

September 23, 2021

Eighteen months since its 2019-20 concert season was cut short by the pandemic, and its 2020-21 season canceled, the Charlotte County Jazz Society had music in the air again on Wednesday, September 22. A matinee “Love and Bossa Nova Live” performance by guitarist Nate Najar and Brazilian singer Daniela Soledade was a mighty welcome warm-up for ...

David Manson

David Manson is a trombonist, composer, improvisor, presenter and music technologist with a diverse range of experience in music. His degrees include a doctorate from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He began his performance career with positions in the Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra and Memphis Symphony Orchestra and taught low brass and jazz studies at Indiana State University before returning to Florida. He has been soloist and composer with the BONK New Music Festival, Subtropics New Music Festival, Society of Composers and SEAMUS. He has performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Eugene Chadbourne, John Lindberg, Davey Williams and other innovators.  He has also backed popular artists including Henry Mancini, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Johnny Mathis, Burt Bacharach and toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

David's solo recordings include "Modern Music for Trombone" (lps 3209) and "Beast" (isospin)

Manoel Cruz

Born: July 9, 1968

The Essence of Brazilian Jazz with a Global Touch

Manoel Cruz is a prominent figure in Brazilian instrumental music, widely recognized for his mastery as a bassist, composer, arranger, and producer. Based in São Paulo, his artistry seamlessly fuses the refined techniques of contemporary jazz with the rhythmic richness of regional Brazilian sounds, ranging from baião and maracatu to samba and forró.

With a career spanning decades, Manoel has consolidated his reputation both as a highly sought-after sideman for Brazilian icons—such as Adylson Godoy, Pery Ribeiro, and Moacyr Franco—and as a prestigious solo artist with international reach.

Manoel’s evolution is marked by several landmark albums:

Rosa Passos: The Bossa Whisperer

August 27, 2021

If João Gilberto is the male bossa-nova whisperer, Rosa Passos is certainly the female equivalent. There is little biographical material about her online other than she was born in 1952 in the Brazilian state of Bahia and, at 13, she was inspired to drop the piano for the guitar and a singing career after hearing Gilberto ...

Amber Chiang

Born: November 29

Renowned for her beautiful, melodious voice, Amber delights audiences with her song interpretations and jazz stylings. Mixed in with standards, she often performs her own compositions which tell a story of her life relationship experiences. Audiences around the world are moved by her emotional honesty. As expressed by a fan, "Wow! I'm impressed, Amber! Your songs moved me.” 

New York born, jazz/pop vocalist, Amber Chiang, received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Massachusetts. Her jazz education started when working as a DJ at WTBS, she spent her afternoons in the radio station soaking up as many jazz albums as possible. Her jazz styling influences are a combination of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn and Betty Carter as well as from Brazilian and pop artists.

Katsumi WF

Born: February 2, 1970

A native of Fukuoka, Japan, Katsumi W. Ferguson began her violin studies at the age of 2, influenced by her father who was the student of Shinichi Suzuki. She began her professional career as a violinist and piano accompanist from the age of 16.

She freelanced extensively with various professional orchestras throughout Japan.

Katsumi moved to New York City in 2008.

As a soloist, she performed at Tanri Cultural Institute, William PatersonUniversity Musical Salon Series, Baruch College and many other places.

From the Fall in 2018 to Winter in 2020, she participated Dr

Elis Regina: Little Pepper

May 26, 2021

Elis Regina was one of Brazil's most beloved singers. Born in Porto Alegre, a major port city in the southern part of the country, Regina was a child singing star on local radio. In her teens she moved to Rio de Janeiro to record her first album. When she was 20, she competed in her first ...