Brazil was declared the “Land of Bossa Nova” with the million-fold success of the album “Getz/Gilberto” in the 1960s, as if it had been transformed overnight into the figurehead or postcard of a single musical style. But this was far from being a new phenomenon for the country. Years before, Carmen Miranda had already enchanted Hollywood, with the result that not only Brazil but all of South America was reduced to one figure: the stereotype of the cheerful, exuberantly partying, carnivalesque and naive samba musician.
In a bid to introduce the world to an underwater part of this musical iceberg that is Brazil, the duo of Daphne Oltheten (violin) and Henrique Gomide (piano) delve into the works of previously little-known composers. Some of the collected beauties can be found among the 12 tracks on this album, which couldn’t have been more aptly named: “Brasis”, in Portuguese the plural of Brazil (Brasil).
More info: https://www.glm.de/en/product/duo-oltheten-gomide-brasis/
About the music: https://glmmusic.de/BrasisWE
As for so many people, the two pandemic years were a challenging time in many respects for creatives like Cologne trumpeter, composer and arranger Christian Winninghoff, a member of the Jazzkantine and the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. Because jazz from the ivory tower was never his thing. His music has always sounded energetic and groovy, more suitable for the atmosphere of a densely packed, heated club than for a ventilated concert hall with a masked audience, possibly even arranged in a checkerboard pattern.
The great writer Gertrude Stein once said: “Jazz is tenderness and powerful violence.” A definition that has shaped the pianist Cornelius Claudio Kreusch already at the beginning of his career – and which now again perfectly applies to his new album “Eye of the Storm”. Whereby improvisation as the primal ground of these strong forms of expression is absolutely part of it.
The title of Giovanni Costello’s new album “In alto Mare” has never sounded so topical. After all, we have been “on the high seas” for some time now – in the sense applied to Corona and the world situation – and in troubled waters at that. At the mercy of the whims of nature and fate, but also set out for new shores and on a journey. All of which flows into Costello’s album, even if it shines primarily in Italian colors, because it depicts Costello’s career path and experiences all around: From Cantautori songwriting and jazzy crooner vocals to international pop and funk.
Canzoni della Bella Italia