How Musical Is Man?

"It seems to be that what is ultimately of most importance in music can't be learned like other cultural skills: it is there in the body, waiting to be brought out and developed, like the basic principles of language formation"

This quote is by John Blacking, and it is found at the end of this great book I just finished: The Singing Neanderthals, by Steven Mithen (Harvard University Press). This is a book I recommend to anyone interested in the evolutionary origins of music. Very cool!

Gafieira Big Band at California Brazil Camp this August

As you probably know, I have been teaching at the California Brazil Summer Camp located at Cazadero in Northern California for a number of years. This is a great opportunity for all those who are interested in the many aspects of Brazilian music, as it offers a week-long immersion program, combining percussion, guitar, piano and ensemble classes as well as dance and Portuguese instruction. The daily jam sessions have become legendary as well.

For this year's second session (August 28 - September 3), we are working on a new concept: Gafieira Cazadero, A Brazilian Gafieira big band. Gafieira is the name given to the style of ballroom samba dance music as played by legendary Brazilian orchestras, including Severino Araújo's Orquestra Tabajara, Pixinguinha's Orchestra, Banda Mantiqueira and many others. The focus is on assembling a line-up of musicians who will work with me during the week, culminating with an all-Camp dance on the last day of the session. I am preparing arrangements of some of the greatest samba and baião classics of all time, combining traditional material with contemporary compositions. The focus is on great grooves, expanded solos and ensemble textures.

The intrumentation will be as follows:
5 saxophones (2 altos, 2 tenors, 1 baritone - doubling on flute, soprano, clarinet, and bass clarinet welcome)
4 trombones (tuba welcome)
4 trumpets (flugelhorn doubling welcome) Rhythm section ( bass, drums, piano, guitar, percussion)


We hope to also have other instruments, guest vocalists and soloists participating. This promises to be a great way for advanced and beginning musicians to become more proficient in phrasing, articulations and soloing options within Brazilian music styles. Basic sight reading skills are required. I intend to post the parts as PDF files online before the beginning of Camp, so players can start practicing the music ahead of time.

If you are interested in participating, please visit the Camp's web site at http://www.calbrazilcamp.com . You will be able to sign up for the Gafieira Cazadero there.

I hope to see you at Camp this year, and I am looking forward to a great musical experience.

Obrigado,

Jovino

Recent news

I was in Southern California last week. My daughter Maíra graduated from Claremont McKenna College, so that was a nice event. While in the area, I played a couple of gigs. I did a CD release concert at the Vic for Jazz in Santa Monica (www.thevicforjazz.com) with Mike Shapiro on drums and Leo Nobre on bass. Both play in Sergio Mendes' band, and it was a pleasure to perform with them. I also played with flutist Rebecca Kleinmann, who is releasing a new CD, "Raio de Sol". We played at La Ve Lee in Studio City and also at Soho in Santa Barbara.

I am reading some very interesting books about music perception. One of them is "Hearing in Time" by Justin London (Oxford University Press). The author goes deep into the nature of rhythm, meters, musical tempo and much more...

end of semester

I teach at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, and this is our final week. Lots of activities with the students, and the good feeling that we'll be done soon...Springtime is beautiful in this city, the flowers are beginning to come out.
Last weekend I went to perform at Stanford University. It was an event for the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoutics (CCRMA). I played some of my tunes and some free improvisations with Andrew Schloss (on the radio drum, an elctronic drum machine) and his wife Irene Mitri on violin. A different crowd...

Next week I am heading to Los Angeles for my daughter's graduation and a gig at the Vic for Jazz in Santa Monica.

Bye,
JSN