An all star brazilian jazz group plays 12 originals with a great variety of brazilian rhythms, a jazz waltz and a bolero. Lots of lyricism and two beautiful string arrangements give the record also a sentimental taste. 12 paintings decorate liner notes.
Currently living between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil, the saxophone, flute and clarinet player, composer and arranger Da Do, releases his fourth record, Minha Cidade (My Town). But says the title has to do with a space of his own “it’s my inner town, a reflection of my soul, of my inner world. On it, I search for a peaceful and balanced life. When I get in touch with the real town I feel a big contrast. The songs are a reflection of that. There are feelings like: nostalgia, sadness, happiness, love, memories and others that I wouldn’t be able to name.” This inner world of Da Do reach us in 12 original instrumental compositions, and in a booklet with inspired drawings, one for each song, from the artist Marcelo Lelis.
Da Do is the nickname and artistic name of this brazilian born musician that started very early in music. At the age of 3 years old studied piano with Eunice Katunda. Later it came the transverse flute and the saxophone, and through the last one, studied at Manhattan School of Music, New York, between 1998 and 2003. During this period, played with many musicians, among them, the legendary Dom Salvador, and latin jazz stars like Hilton Ruiz and Bobby Sanabria.
In Brazil, Da Do has played with Fafá de Belém, Cristina Buarque, Elton Medeiros, Renato Braz, Vanessa da Matta, Céu, Toni Garrido and Diogo Nogueira. Also on the groups Bossanovíssima! (of Tomas Improta), Glória and Itiberê Orquestra Família. Has 3 Cds released, Whisky com Guaraná (with Gustavo Saiani) (2002); Dado (2002) and Caipiroska (2004).
Brazilian Jazz, a mix of brazilian rhythms with jazz, is how Da Do describes his music: “When I came back to Brazil I made a deep study of percussion which I had started in New York, with pandeiro. Here, I continued my studies entering the drums secton of Vai Vai School of Samba and later with the study of the drums set. All this and a profound learning of Choro, helped me to develop a brazilian style of improvisation”.
The repertoire is diverse and has from choro Funilaria, bolero Romance, bossa jazz Pedra de rio, to partido alto Sol do Brasil. On this last one, he tells how he was inspired: “I lived abroad and it’s not easy, especially for a brazilian. On the return, the first thing that melts the brazilian heart, mistreated, ignored and underestimated by the international coldness, is the heavy and full of tenderness sun that falls on the shoulders, as you walk on the airport’s parking, with two tons of weight and love”.
Dado is one of the best of a new generation of Brazilian musicians playing today.