Maria Bethânia

Maria Bethânia is a Brazilian singer. She is the sister of Caetano Veloso. Born 18 June 1946 in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, Brazil. Her brother Caetano named her at birth. (He was 4 years old at the time.) She started her career in 1964 in Rio de Janeiro with the show “Opinião”. She is the second best selling Brazilian female singer of all time, with more than 24 million albums sold. One of her most famous songs is “Brincar de Viver” Considered to be one of the greatest interpreters in the history of Brazilian popular music. Sister of the singer and composer Caetano Veloso, she began her artistic career in 1963, appearing in the play Boca de ouro by Nelson Rodrigues. A song about the play was written by Caetano Veloso, who opened the show singing a samba track by Ataulfo Alves. That year she met Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, Djalma Correa, Pitti, Alcivando Luz and Fernando Lona in Salvador, with whom she performed at the commemorations inaugurating the Vila Velha de Salvador theatre in 1964 in the shows Nós por exemplo and Nova bossa velha, velha bossa nova. In 1964 she also appeared in Mora na filosofia, her first solo show, when she met Nara Leão. A 1965 she replaced the muse of bossa nova in the show at Teatro Opinião (Rio de Janeiro), sharing the stage with Zé Kéti and João do Vale. She stood out for her stirring interpretation of the song Carcará. In 1965 she also recorded her first record, a single containing the tracks Carcará and É de manhã, the first recording of Caetano Veloso’s composition. That same year she released a double single with the songs Carcará, No carnaval, Mora na filosofia and Só eu sei, followed by her debut album Maria Bethânia and the record Maria Bethânia canta Noel...

Zona Sul

ZONA SUL is a band dedicated to playing bossa nova, the music “invented” in the late 1950s by Brazilians João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim. It has its roots in Brazilian samba and jazz, the lyrics and melodies are often quite melancholy while the rhythms are lively and joyful. “Samba é chorar de alegria – samba is crying for joy“. Inspired by the legendary Zimbo Trio and singer Elis Regina, the band ZONA SUL remains authentic and true to the Brazilian tradition, while having developed an original style. Like the music, its band members have been influenced by jazz and Brazilian music. In 2003 the band recorded their critically acclaimed first CD: “PURE LOVE – um amor tão puro“. With the title “Dans mon île“ by Henri Salvador they made it onto the compilation “The finest in female vocal jazz“ alongside Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson and Sade. The same title was also played nationwide in Germany on “Klassik Radio“. While most compositions on PURE LOVE were by Tom Jobim, the origin of the titles on ZONA SUL‘s second album BEIRA is more diverse, taking the idea of playing bossa nova one step further and turning pop songs into bossa novas. On BEIRA, you can find classics by Jobim, Baden Powell and Milton Nascimento and contemporary compositions by Bebel Gilberto as well as new arrangements of songs by Françoise Hardy or The Beatles. Furthermore there are two original compositions on BEIRA – “Vai e vem“ by Brazilian singer Giana Viscardi and “Mães e filhas“ by Pedro Tagliani, the band‘s guitarist. With BEIRA the band ZONA SUL succeeds in becoming more unique, creating an even more distinctive style. Sophie Wegeners naturally beautiful voice, the virtuosity of her band members, the selection of songs and the outstanding quality of the recording make BEIRA an album that is one-of-a-kind. Upon its release in Germany in May 2006, BEIRA made it to the top 20 in the German jazz charts. Sophie Wegener...

Joe Locke with Kenny Washington, For the Love of You

There’s a world of a difference between being a masterful instrumental accompanist and collaborating with a singer. Beyond the prerequisite set of ears and in-the-moment intuition, a deeper appreciation of the meaning of the lyrics—in order to truly find a song’s core—becomes even more essential than in instrumental readings. Vibraphonist Joe Locke has, more than most, a profound ability to get to the heart of a song—in particular, songs beyond the typical jazz purview—whether it’s in an instrumental setting or with a vocalist. Just as he did with previous albums like the aptly titled Storytelling (Sirocco, 2001), Locke’s For the Love of You combines material from the Great American Songbook with more contemporary fare—this time by The Isley Brothers and Neil Young—as well as Ennio Morricone’s often-covered theme to Giusseppe Tornatore’s modern film classic, Cinema Paradiso (1988). Also featuring three Locke originals, For the Love of You brings together an ace quartet of friends old and new, as well as singer Kenny Washington on eight of its 10 tracks. While his broad vocal range and jazz background make Washington an ideal vocal mate for Locke’s richly harmonized arrangements, he’s also a singer who thankfully avoids unnecessary vocal gymnastics. Instead, with a voice that loosely resembles Stevie Wonder but with greater restraint, Washington breathes new life into the lyrics to Mandel’s and Webster’s enduring “The Shadow of Your Smile”—a song that could be considered past its prime but which, with Locke’s unexpectedly up-tempo and sophisticated yet eminently accessible arrangement, becomes exhilaratingly modern. It takes a lot of courage to open a set with a ballad, but that’s just what Locke does, with an elegant, smoky version of Mancini’s and Bricusse’s classic, “Two for the Road.” It not only highlights Washington’s soulful delivery, but also the empathic relationship between the vibraphonist and pianist Geoffrey Keezer, with whom Locke goes back many years—from the recently reformed Storms/Nocturnes Trio, with...

Tessa Souter, Obsession

Tessa Souter is a consummate and dedicated vocalist who is deservedly on the rise in the New York jazz scene and elsewhere. A contralto who sings with both precision and emotion, her impressionist and minimalist interpretations bring out the meanings of her songs while remaining true to their melodic lines. Following Listen Love (Nara Music, 2004) and Nights of Key Largo (Venus Records, 2008), Obsessioncontinues her in-depth preoccupation with the nature and experience of love, but with a slight shift to the Latin rhythmic side. In this respect, she is helped along by a well-chosen ensemble of instrumentalists who surround her with gentle warmth. By incorporating guitar (Jason Ennis), accordion (Victor Prieto), and violin (Todd Reynolds) into the group, Souter establishes a sultry feeling of a late night cabana in a southern clime. This provides the backdrop for further reflections on the vicissitudes of intimacy which she pursued in her previous recordings. The songs are well-chosen and carefully crafted, and the arrangements are done with great care to evoke an intended range of feelings and stylistic changes. The recording begins on the lonely 1960s note of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” and goes on to songs such as “Riverman,” “Obsession,” and “White Room,” which evoke the passionate, obsessive side of love. “Afro Blue/Footprints” evokes John Coltrane’s classic in an urbane manner, leading up to “Make This City Ours Tonight,” while the remaining songs explore the light and dark aspects of intimacy, always with echoes of Latin genres. The instrumentalists complement Souter’s singing with interpretive sensitivity, with Ennis’ playing especially striking. Souter stands out in a large field of contemporary jazz vocalists because, unlike most of them, she thinks before she sings and never compromises the music with irrelevancies. She thinks not only of the music itself, to which she brings ample talent and sophistication, but also almost philosophically about what she wants to say. She...