Brazzil A festival presenting the music of the state of Louisiana side by side with
that of the nation of Brazil, Jambalaya Jazz was created to establish
permanent musical and cultural bridges between these two great musical
cultures. The first ever “Jambalaya Jazz Festival” will take place from
November 6 – 10, 2002 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From samba and bossa nova
to jazz and blues, perhaps no two other places have impacted the world’s
music as significantly as Brazil and Louisiana.
Named for the spicy jambalaya, a typical Cajun dish that is a succulent
mixture of rice, seafood, sausage and chicken, the festival will feature a
sampler of bands from Louisiana playing jazz, zydeco, and blues to recreate
the sensual atmosphere of Louisiana in Brazil. The festival was conceived of
and organized by founder and director, Thomas Andre, a native of New
Orleans, Louisiana who has also lived and worked in Brazil. This year’s
headliners include jazz legend Alvin Batiste and bluesman Walter “Wolfman”
Washington. Internationally-renowned Brazilian
clarinetist-saxophonist-composer Paulo Moura will also headline the four-day
festival. (See complete list of artists below.).
Culturally, Brazil and Louisiana have a lot in common. Both places are known
for their unique melding of African, European and indigenous cultures.
Jambalaya Jazz Founder Andre admits that the similarities between these two
rich cultures are what convinced him that producing this festival was
essential to furthering cultural ties between the two places, saying “It's
no secret that the best music in the Americas - and in my opinion, the world
–comes from the places which have the closest cultural ties to Africa like
Brazil and Louisiana. With Jambalaya Jazz, we're bringing together styles
and cultures that share similar roots, but developed in different ways.
Then, of course, there are the other benefits: we're also uniting the two
places that throw the best parties on earth." Rio de Janeiro needs no
introduction. Beach after glorious beach radiate south from the historic
center of the city. Chic neighborhoods such as Ipanema offer great
restaurants, nightlife, and shopping, making Rio the perfect host for this
festival..
Ticket and Travel information:.
Tickets for Jambalaya Jazz went on sale in Rio de Janeiro on October 15,
2002 at the venue box offices. Special travel packages with VIP advance
tickets are available through Brazil Nuts tours at www.brazilnuts.com or
1-800-553-9959.
Jambalaya Jazz Festival Event Schedule:
November 7 – 10, 2002, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
· Wednesday, November 6
· Thursday, November 7
· Friday, November 8
· Saturday, November 9
· Sunday, November 10
Featured Artists:
Alvin Batiste & Jazztronauts (Jazz Clarinetist & Bandleader)
Alvin Batiste, New Orleans educator, jazz artist and composer, has performed
and recorded with a multitude of jazz artists, including John Carter, David
Murray and Jimmy Hamilton, as a part of The Clarinet Summit, which has
recorded for both India Navigation and Black Saint Records. He has guest
artists such as Rufus Reid, Kenny Barron, Herman Jackson and Wes Anderson
appearing on ‘Late’, his own band’s album, presented in Sony Records’
Legendary Pioneers of Jazz Series.
He holds a Masters of Music in clarinet performance and composition from
Louisiana State University, and a Bachelors degree from Southern University,
and taught in the latter’s Jazz and Louisiana Music Institute from 1965 -
1989, returning in 1992. Batiste upgraded Institute programs to include the
study of linkages of jazz, blues, gospel and diasporan (Cuban, Brazilian and
South Louisiana and African) music. A roster of former students include
Henry Butler, Herman Jackson, Branford Marsalis, Donald Harrison, Reginald
Veal, Herlin Riley, Wes Anderson, and others, who have gone on to
distinguish themselves with groups like the Basie and Ellington orchestras,
and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.
Batiste’s also latest achievements include a first - the 1997 New Orleans
Jazz Clarinet workshop, sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz National
Historical Park and Evolution Hall production company. The workshop,
features Batiste, along with Michael White, Victor Goines, Michael Pierce,
and a host of the world’s finest New Orleans clarinetists.
Kent Jordan (Saxophonist & Co-Artistic Director, Jambalaya Jazz)
The son of well-known and well-respected saxophonist Kidd Jordan and the
older brother of outstanding trumpeter Marlon Jordan, Kent Jordan's is one
of New Orleans’ most prominent jazz musicians. He studied at the Eastman
School of Music and New Orleans' Center for the Creative Arts, being
inspired at the latter by Ellis Marsalis (father of the famous Marsalis
brothers – Wynton and Branford and a noted music educator and pianist)
Jordan played and recorded with the groups Jasmine and the Improvisational
Arts Quartet before cutting two critically acclaimed Columbia albums in 1984
and 1986. His third Columbia album (1988's Essence) is his strongest,
revealing him to be a capable soloist and composer. Since then, Jordan has
toured extensively with jazz drum legend Elvin Jones and contines to show
the jazz world that he is one of the most creative musicians around.
Sean Ardoin and Zydekool (Zydeco Group)
Sean Ardoin represents both the rural roots and progressive future of
Louisiana's foot-stomping Creole-zydeco sound like no other artist. Sean's
family
is truly zydeco royalty: his great-great-uncle Amédé was the first south
Louisiana Creole accordionist to record; his grandfather Bois-Sec has been
one of the best-known practitioners of the state's rural Creole sound for
six decades; his father Lawrence brought the family's sound to his
generation; and Sean co-led the acclaimed zydeco outfit Double Clutchin'
with his younger brother Chris.
From dancehalls to festival stages, Sean Ardoin & ZydeKool have made
hundreds of national and international appearances on stage and on
television including a recent performance on BET's top-rated "COMICVIEW" hot
on the heels of their gig at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
The group was also nominated for "Best New Zydeco Band" by the Crescent
City's OffBeat magazine. They tour nationally, playing every weekend they're
home in dancehalls and clubs from New Orleans to Houston, regularly stopping
off for high-profile gigs, such as; the New Orleans Swamp Festival and The
Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival.
New Birth Brass Band (Traditional New Orleans Brass Band)
Brass bands play the most popular home-grown music in the Big Easy. A
mixture of drums, horns, funk and jazz, brass bands are nonstop excitement,
energy, and action. They combine the improvisation and spontaneity of jazz
with popular harmonies and fast rhythms that have audiences dancing until
exhaustion, and wondering who is having more fun: the crowd or the band?
The New Birth Brass Band is at the forefront of the recent New Orleans brass
band renaissance. The band fuses hip-hop, Mardi Gras Indian chants, funk,
and modern jazz with age old traditional sounds. Although all under 30, the
members of New Birth are all jazz veterans and have played with everyone
from Wynton Marsalis to Dizzy Gillespie.
The New Birth Brass Band has recently gained national acclaim with features
on MTV and articles in several high profile national publications.
Walter "Wolfman" Washington (Blues Guitarist and Singer)
Walter "Wolfman" Washington is a rare talent in the world of rhythm and
blues. His soaring, deep soul vocals and funky, choked guitar sound are so
immediately recognizable that he'd never be mistaken for anyone else. His
late night sets at clubs such as New Orleans' Maple Leaf Bar are legendary.
Born in New Orleans in 1943, Walter began playing guitar at an early age. By
the time he was a teenager, he was already touring the country and working
with a host of important Blues figures like Eddie Bo, Johnny Adams, Lee
Dorsey and Irma Thomas. By the late '70s, he had started to develop his own
sound. Incorporating soul, funk, jazz, and blues with fluency and power he
was soon touring the United States and Europe with his own band, The
Roadmasters.
Walter Wolfman Washington & the Roadmasters produced several exciting albums
in the 1990s: the Ray-Charles-influenced Sada on Pointblank in 1991, Blue
Moon Rising, recorded in Europe with James Brown's horn section, the J.B.
Horns (Maceo Parker, Pee Wee Ellis, and Fred Wesley) in 1994, and Funk Is in
the House, a heady brew of furious funk and soul on Rounder's subsidiary
label Bullseye in 1997.
The band's most recent album, On the Prowl, released in 2000 on Bullseye
label, was greeted with high praise for its "fiery, skintight ensemble
sound... an overall level of performance that places Wolfman at the top of
the class as a contemporary urban blues guitarist and vocalist" (Living
Blues Magazine).
Winners of two Offbeat Magazine "Best of the Beat Awards," including Best
Blues Band 2000 and Best Blues Album 2000 "On the Prowl" Walter Wolfman
Washington & the Roadmasters are one of the very best rhythm and blues bands
working today. Burning up the stage wherever they go they never cease to
amaze audiences with their blend of blues, soul, gospel, and funk.
Paulo Moura (Brazilian Music Clarinetist & Co-Artistic Director, Jambalaya
Jazz)
Paulo Moura grew up among melodies and rhythms. He learned notes before he
learned words, as they flowed through his home in São José do Rio Preto, in
the interior of São Paulo. The youngest of ten brothers, Paulo waited
twelve years before joining his father - the head of the military band in
that small town - and his siblings as they entertained at dances and parties
in the clubs of the local black community. His instruments: clarinet and
alto saxophone.
After that, he studied at music schools and at age 19 was featured as a
soloist at the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, performing Weber's "Concertino"
on the clarinet. From the origins of black music in rural São Paulo State to
the popular music in the suburbs of Rio to the orquestras on national radio,
he records and plays with Brazilian and international musicians on the
musical vanguard, and has been the clarinetist for the Municipal Theater
Orquestra in Rio de Janeiro - the first black artist to achieve that
position. He delves in symphonies, operas, ballets and concerts in the
evenings, while late at night he applies his technique and imagination to
jam sessions, arrangements and experiences with bossa nova.
In 1988, he led the Brazilian Symphony Orquestra at the National Theater in
Brasília with his piece "Urban Fantasy for Popular Percussion," specially
written in commemoration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the freeing of
the slaves in Brazil. In 1992, the Brazilian press chose Paulo as the best
classical instrumentalist for his solo performance with the Chamber
Orchestra of Moscow at the Mozart Festival. He has recorded over 20 albums,
available in Brazil and abroad. In the coming months he will launch
K-Ximblues, with special guest Mauricio Eihorn, in a mixture of blues and
choro, a path which links African roots with Brazilian and American popular
music.
Mauro Senise (Brazilian Music Saxophonist and Flautist)
Mauro Senise started to study music rather late in his life at the age of
20. He had Odette Ernst Dias as his teacher of classical flute and Paulo
Moura taught him to play the saxophone. He quickly became a busy sideman for
popular music artists, participating in several recordings and performances.
As an instrumental musician, he worked with most important artists in
Brazil, like Wagner Tiso, Hermeto Pascoal, and Egberto Gismonti. In 1981,
along with Robertinho Silva, Zeca Assumpção, and André Dequech, he founded
the group Alquimia. Senise has played many times in Europe and the United
States. He recorded his first solo album only in 1988, Mauro Senise, and has
recorded several other albums since then, in some of them having the company
of such musicians as Romero Lubambo, Gilson Peranzzetta, and Raul
Mascarenhas. In 2001, he participated in two important jazz festivals in
Brazil, the Chivas Jazz Festival and the Free Jazz Festival (performing in
the latter in the exciting Moacir Santos tribute). He has also been a member
of the instrumental group Cama de Gato since its formation in 1982. Also a
classical musician, Senise developed work with Rosana Lanzelotte (clavier)
and David Chew (cello).
For more info visit www.jambalayajazz.com for more information.
Music
Press Release
October 2002Jambalaying in Rio
Introducing the Jambalaya Jazz Festival taking place
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 6 – 10, 2002.
A music festival bridging the cultures of Louisiana and Brazil
Welcome reception for guests and VIPs, Cais do Oriente, 7pm
Jambalaya All-stars, Cais do Oriente, 7pm & 9:30pm
featuring Kent Jordan and Paulo Moura with special guest Mauro Senise
Education Event: Master Classes at local schools, 9am to 4pm
Alvin Batiste & Jazztronauts with special guest Leila Maria, Cais do
Oriente, 7pm & 9:30pm
Dance Party, featuring Sean Ardoin & Zydekool, New Birth Brass Band, Trio
Nordestino & Mestre Ambrosio, Fundição Progresso, 11:00pm
Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters with special guest Flavio
Guimarães, Cais do Oriente, 8:30pm and 11pm
Charity Blues Brunch featuring Walter “Wolfman” Washington and special
guests, Hotel Sofitel, noon to 6pm
