Friday, December 29, 2006

Interview - Entrevista

Hey - Oi:
One of my New Year's resolutions is to combine the English and Portuguese blogs in one place - here!
Decidi começar o ano de 2007 combinando meus blogs em inglês e português em um só, aqui mesmo...

I posted on my site a lengthy interview I gave to the Japanese magazine Euro Rock Press earlier this year. They asked some quite interesting questions...to read the interview, click here.

Em abril de 2006 dei uma entrevista ao repórter Ivaldo Costa do jornal "The Brasilians", que é publicado em Nova Iorque. A entrevista foi publicada em outubro, e eu a pus no meu site, aqui.
Feliz Ano Novo - Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

NPR Christmas show

I played a special Jazz Piano Christmas concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC earlier in December. NPR has made that show available for streaming on their web site. Click here to go there. Check out the bonus track with a round-robin version of "Silent Night" and the pictures...

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Sivuca

I found out today that the great Brazilian accordionist Sivuca passed away last Thursday in his home state of Paraíba, Brazil. He was a true pioneer and a beautiful person. I had the opportunity to play with him and with Hermeto back in 1978. Below is an obituary from the L.A. Times.
Sivuca, 76; Brazilian accordionist, composer won Latin Grammy From Times Staff and Wire Reports December 17, 2006


Sivuca, the white-maned accordionist, composer and arranger known for his work with South African singer Miriam Makeba and others, died Thursday of throat cancer at a hospital in his home state of Paraiba, Brazil. He was 76.

Born Severino Dias de Oliveira, Sivuca was credited with arranging Makeba's most famous recording, "Pata Pata." During his 50-year career, he played with a wide range of musical artists around the world, including Harry Belafonte, Toots Thielmans, Airto Moreira and Hermeto Pascoal.

A master of the accordion-driven forro style of Brazil's northeast, he won a Latin Grammy in 2005 with accordionist Oswaldinho in the Brazilian roots category.

Born on the family farm in northern Brazil, Sivuca was an albino whose need to stay out of the sun allowed him to avoid farm chores and devote more time to music. He began playing the accordion at fairs and parties when he was 9 and by 15 was performing on radio programs. In 1950 he made his first recording, which included the hit "Adeus Maria Fulo."

He lived in Rio de Janeiro for many years before moving to Lisbon, Paris and New York City. He joined Makeba's group as a guitarist in the early 1960s and eventually toured the world with her.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Hermeto Pascoal - Programa Jazz Brasil

here is some more fotage of the Hermeto Group in 1991. This is an extended version of the tune "O Galo do Airan"
Hermeto Pascoal - Hermeto Campeão

here is an excerpt of the film "Hermeto Campeão", made in 1980. Here is the Grupo at a rehearsal...check out the hair!