Our current Spotlight Artists Susan Pereira and Sabor Brasil look beyond the standard conventions of Brazilian music generally found in the jazz world; they deliver a potent blend of diverse Brazilian rhythms and meaningful jazz improvisation on their recording Tudo Azul. Pereira holds a broad viewpoint on the genre that respects the history of both Brazilian music and jazz, as well as the instrumental and vocal applications in the stylistic performance techniques. Culturally Pereira moves past the standard jazz usages of bossa nova and samba, utilizing a wider array of Brazilian genres. Her use of this wide palette gives the recording an authentic Brazilian edge, exposing an extensive study from Pereira and her band. Pereira and her group prioritize jazz improvisation, indulging in rich chord changes and focused statements that reveal a solid background in the modern jazz world. Pereira’s vocals bring out the romantically lyrical side of Brazilian music while maintaining an exciting edge by focusing upon the music’s inherent rhythmic propulsion. Tudo Azul incorporates all these elements, delivering an interpretation of Brazilian Jazz that resonates with life and integrity.

The group contributes some potent Brazilian Jazz onto the music scene, so take the opportunity to find out more about them – there’s plenty of places to look online. Bandleader Susan Pereira has a fantastic site that includes a bio, gig listings, pictures, streaming music, and more – check it out HERE. Drummer Vanderlei Pereira leads a Brazilian Jazz band called Blindfold Test – you can read about his group & more on his great site HERE. Woodwind player Laura Dreyer contributes several colors to the album – saxophones and flutes; you can check out information about Dreyer and her own projects at her website. There’s a great articles about Susan Pereira and Tudo Azul on the Música Brasileira website – check it out HERE. If you’d like to listen to some of the tracks from Tudo Azul, you can visit the band’s CDBaby page and stream 30-second samples – visit the site HERE.

The band offers some fantastic Brazilian Jazz – Tudo Azul is really worth checking out. For those of you that want to dig a little deeper, I’ve gathered some information about Susan Pereira and her work with Sabor Brasil. The information below comes from her website, and it provides an insight into the background on this fantastic artist. Start here and then go onto check out the music – you’ll be glad that you did. Enjoy!

———-
Vocalist, pianist, percussionist, composer and arranger Susan Pereira, a New York native, has been one of the most versatile musicians on that city’s Brazilian music scene since 1983. While deeply rooted in traditional Brazilian styles, her broad background in jazz and world music has enabled her to develop a distinct musical personality. Fluent in Portuguese, she is a singer who blends a silky, rich tone with superior vocal technique and is a particularly skilled lyric interpreter and scat singer. Susan’s percussive piano style is enhanced by her mastery of complex Brazilian rhythms and her original Brazilian jazz compositions are a popular part of her performances.

Formed in 1991 by Susan and Brazilian drummer Vanderlei Pereira, Sabor Brasil has established itself as one of the most popular Brazilian ensembles in the New York area by fusing traditional Brazilian styles with contemporary jazz. Susan Pereira and Sabor Brasil regularly thrill audiences with their dynamic performances that draw upon influences ranging from hot samba to cool bossa nova, from the elegance of chorinho to the exotic rhythms of Bahia and modern Brazilian jazz. Their début recording Tudo Azul (Riony Records) was completed in September 2006 and features the core band joined by special guests Claudio Roditi on trumpet, Hendrik Meurkens on harmonica, Romero Lubambo on guitar and Luis Bonilla on trombone. Produced by Susan, the CD includes five of her songs and one each by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Milton Nascimento, among other selections.

Sabor Brasil has appeared at many of New York’s leading clubs, including Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (Jazz at Lincoln Center), Iridium, B.B. King’s, Birdland, Smoke, Zinc Bar, 55 Bar and Enzo’s, among others. The band has also appeared at a variety of festivals and special events including the Savannah Jazz Festival; the Hartford Jazz Festival; New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s “Sounds of the City” Festival; the Wall St. Festival in Kingston, NY; the “Jazz and Roses” Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden; the Mayfair Festival; the Wooster Jazz Society concert series; Riverside Park’s “Sunset Concerts” series; the Hudson River Museum’s festival “Summer Sounds Goes Global;” and the Central Park Music Festival.

Apart from Sabor Brasil, Susan has performed at the Kennedy Center, Sweet Rhythm and the Syracuse Jazzfest with Laura Dreyer and Mysterious Encounter and with with Ben Sher and Tudo Bem at the Blue Note in New York. In Rio de Janeiro she was the special invited guest of the Prosper Bank Jazz series at Armazém Digital Leblon. She has sung with Brazilian guitarist Nelson Faria and appeared often with Brazilian pianist Dom Salvador in New York at The River Café and The Water Club. An original member of the percussion ensembles Grupo Batucada and Samba Novo – playing surdo in both and singing lead vocals in Samba Novo – she performed with Grupo Batucada and Jaco Pastorius at the Blue Note and Seventh Avenue South. Other engagements include opening for Ruben Blades and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Lone Star Café and the Bright Moments Jazz Festival; and at Lincoln Center, SOB’s, Nell’s and Roseland, among many other New York venues and special events.

As a percussionist, Susan was invited to play at New York’s Village Gate with Airto Moreira and Flora Purim in an all-star band that included Tito Puente and Giovanni Hidalgo, and in Rio de Janeiro with the São Clemente Samba School in the final Carnaval competitions of 1987 and 1988. She is an official endorser of LP Percussion.

As a studio musician Susan has composed, arranged and recorded for OMNI Music and written arrangements and played percussion on the vocal group String of Pearls’ CDs S.O.P. New York – Brazil, Vols. 1 & 2 (Alfa Records). She sang, played and also co-arranged the percussion on saxophonist/composer Laura Dreyer’s CD Mysterious Encounter (Lavasphere Records). Other recordings include Sarah Pillow’s Remixes (Buckyball Music); Ruben Rada’s Montevideo, (Big World Music); Miguel Kertsman’s Gravity Tunnel (Proxima Records); Tom Briggs’s Moonlight (SaturnDisc); Sue Maskaleris’s Unbreakable Heart (Jazilian Records) and Cryptic Soup’s Salty Pretzel Dog Logic (Dental Records). Susan is a voting member of NARAS.

Susan studied voice with Jeannie Goffi, Ann Ruckert and Charles Walker; piano with Kenny Barron, Jill McManus, Michael Abbott, Joseph Kahn and Milton Kraus; arranging and composition with Don Sebesky and Bill Barron; and percussion with Cyro Baptista, Manoel Monteiro, Abraham Adzenyah, Robert Levin, David Locke and Michelle Kisliuk. She is a cum laude graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, where she earned a B.A. in Music and English with High Honors in Music.

———-
Check Out These Related Posts:
Spotlight: Viajando: Choro e Jazz, Grupo Falso Baiano
Spotlight: Descarumbiando, Hamlet & His Latin Jazz Experience
Spotlight: Punto De Vista (Viewpoint), Frank Villafañe
Spotlight: La Belleza . . ., Craig Enright

———-
Click here to have these posts delivered via email. Or, click here to subscribe to the full text RSS feed and never miss another post!

Stumble it!