Luciana Souza: Word Strings

Grammy winner, Brazilian Jazz singer, and composer Luciana Souza returns to the stage with Word Strings, her new project on words and poetry, featuring guitarist Chico Pinheiro and bassist Scott Colley.

In many of her recordings and past projects, Luciana Souza has paid tribute to poets and poetry – setting to music poems of Elizabeth Bishop, Pablo Neruda, E.E. Cummings, Gary Snyder, and more recently, Leonard Cohen. For Word Strings, Luciana revisits some of these poets and includes new settings of poems by Leonard Cohen, Octavio Paz, and others.

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“Poetry continues to spill into everything in my life,” Luciana says. “It has been my constant companion and I continue to be fascinated by how powerful words strung together by the mind and eye of the poet can be. I constantly find myself transformed after encountering good poetry.”

Luciana brings together two master musicians – Chico Pinheiro, on guitar, and Scott Colley, on the acoustic bass. She says:”Chico and Scott are both great composers, and play that way – they improvise beautifully and compositionally and contribute to the music from the point of view of deeply understanding structure and color, contrast and texture – all that makes music sound personal and vital. They are also very committed to creating something new, which has always been my driving wheel, even when dealing with traditional music. I am so happy to be embarking on a project with these two musicians – we all aim to illuminate these words and sounds together…”

Chico Pinheiro hails from São Paulo, Luciana Souza’s hometown in Brazil. A self-taught guitarist, he later attended Berklee College of Music, in Boston. Chico Pinheiro is the most prominent composer and musician of his generation, able to translate in a very personal way his influences from traditional Brazilian music and contemporary jazz. Pinheiro is that rare composer that combines intellectual prowess with ideas that are very lyrical and romantic.

Scott Colley is an old collaborator of Luciana Souza, has been the bassist on two of her recordings (Grammy nominated North and South, and the critically acclaimed The New Bossa Nova) and numerous tours over the years. Colley manifests all that’s desired in a great musician – constant curiosity, deep intimacy with the instrument, superb technical ability, and an uncanny rhythmic and compositional approach to the bass – making him the perfect choice for a drummer-less trio.

The live performances of Word Strings will make use of a large projector screen where drawings, text, and animated art will be displayed.

personnel

Luciana Souza, vocalist
Scott Colley, acoustic bass
Chico Pinheiro, Guitar

The Dave King Trio

Perhaps you know Dave King as the drummer in The Bad Plus, or any number of avant-improv/indie-rock/Americana/electronic experimental bands rooted in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. But somewhere in that mix is a deep fondness for the jazz tradition. The Dave King Trio, featuring a rhythm section of pianist Matt Mitchell and bassist Billy Peterson, investigates jazz standards with a modern interpretation.

Dave King is one of the most celebrated drummers in modern jazz. His contributions to the Minneapolis and New York jazz scenes are incalculable, and his imagination and boundless enthusiasm behind (and around) the drum set are singular and stunning. He has performed in 75 countries on six continents, and has been a member of bands like The Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Halloween Alaska, 12 Rods, Love Cars, The Gang Font, and others. He has also recorded or performed with Bill Frisell, Joshua Redman, Jeff Beck, Tim Berne, Mason Jennings, Mark Morris Dance Company, Haley Bonar, Meat Beat Manifesto, Craig Taborn, Jason Moran, David Torn, Atmosphere, and many others.

Matt Mitchell currently composes for and leads several ensembles featuring many of the current foremost musicians and improvisers, including Tim Berne, Miles Okazaki, Ches Smith, Chris Speed, Tyshawn Sorey, Dan Weiss, amongst others. He is an anchor member of several significant creative music ensembles which integrate composed and improvised music, including Tim Berne’s Snakeoil, the Dave Douglas Quintet, John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Bird Calls, Jonathan Finlayson’s Sicilian Defense, Dan Weiss’s Large Ensemble, Steve Coleman’s Natal Eclipse, the Darius Jones Quartet, and more. He is also a 2015 receipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award and a 2012 recipient of a Pew Fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.

Billy Peterson is one of the premier bass players in the world, as well as being a successful producer and arranger, having worked with Ben Sidran, Eddie Harris, Leo Kottke, Bob Dylan and Steve Miller, to name a few. Billy has been the bassist for the Steve Miller band for 15 years and they are currently touring. He is also the musical director for a cooking show which is produced in the south of France, soon to be seen in the US.

“…King’s trio snags an ambience in the open air unknown to many a jazz piano trio.”
– John Garratt, Pop Matters

personnel

Dave King, drums
Matt Mitchell, piano
Billy Peterson, acoustic bass