Jazz at the Spring Fest
Partner koncertu
Performers
- Luciana Souza - vocals
- Trio Corrente
- Fabio Torres - piano
- Edu Ribeiro - percussion
- Paulo Paulelli - double bass
Luciana Souza is one of the most respected jazz singers on the scene today. A native of São Paulo, she has her roots in traditional Brazilian music, while she effortlessly crosses the frontiers of various genres. She has worked with stellar musicians Herbie Hancock, Bobby McFerrin and Paul Simon, contemporary classical composers have written works for her, such as Osvaldo Golijov and Caroline Shaw, and she has performed as a soloist with major American orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Grammy Award holder will travel to Prague with the Brazilian ensemble Trio Corrente to present melodic and temperamental music from the successful release Cometa, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album. Downbeat magazine described the recording with the words: “The samba-drenched Cometa dips into the blues, runs with a percussive beat, leaps into tempo changes, offers straight-up melodic beauty and breaks with celestial vocals”.
“Trio Corrente and I are delighted to have been invited to perform at the Prague Spring festival,” Souza confides. Their festival concert is part of a tour that will also take the Brazilian artists to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Stockholm. “Cometa was recorded live in São Paulo, our hometown,” says Souza, who was twice awarded the distinction Female Jazz Singer of the Year. “It features pieces by the most important Brazilian samba composers – songwriters such as Dorival Caymmi, Djavan, Paulinho da Viola, and Jobim.Performing with Trio Corrente means making music with some of the foremost jazz musicians of Brazil, allowing me to sing with lyricism, with a deep connection to rhythm, a great sense of adventure and improvisation, and immense joy,” Souza tells us. “Joy was actually one of the themes of our recording, as it felt necessary to celebrate the return to a more democratic Brazil after four intense years of a cruel and tyrannical presidency,” she says, indicating the political context, another facet to the album. “Trio Corrente is at the top of their game, having been together for over twenty years and having developed their own musical language. I am so happy that we have the opportunity to bring this project to Europe and to share this music with new audiences,” Souza concludes.
The samba means more to Brazilians than merely music and dance. For them it’s a symbol of joy and solidarity. Come to the Mercedes Forum Praha on 21 May to experience a truly authentic take on the genre in the hands of Brazil’s finest contemporary jazz musicians.
