Tom Bergeron and Duo Violão Plus One play at the Jazz Station in Eugene
Sax, percussion, voice, and two virtuoso Brazilian acoustic 7-string guitarists playing classic & modern choro & samba and original compositions. Oba!
- Tom Bergeron tenor saxophone
- Rogerio Souza acoustic guitar
- Edinho Gerber acoustic guitar
- Ami Molinelli pandeiro
- Rosi Bergeron vocals
Duo Violão Plus One started with two Rio de Janeiro based guitarists, Rogério Souza and Edinho Gerber, and the desire to explore and expand the musical possibilities of playing two violões, or Brazilian guitars. During their first visit to the Bay Area in 2015, they met percussionist Ami Molinelli and the musical connection was immediate. The ensemble navigates 20th century Brazilian popular music, emphasizing Brazil’s first original musical genre, choro, while also showcasing original works and inventive arrangements. The group’s first album, “A História de Choro”, was released in 2019 and featured as one of the best musical albums of the Bay Area by the San Jose Mercury News. In 2020-21 they produced a project to further explore the intersections between choro and samba. “Raizes do Choro e Samba” (Roots of Choro and Samba) was an online concert presented during the pandemic that featured a blend of compositions that showcase these connections and will be the basis of their upcoming release. A master of both 6 and 7 string guitars, Rogério Souza is one of the foremost representatives of the music of Rio de Janeiro. Rogério is constantly producing and performing in concerts and events that showcase traditional Brazilian music, especially Samba and Choro. He has worked with a multitude of world class Brazilian Musicians as musical director and producer for concerts, TV shows, CDs, and DVDs. Some of these artists include: Baden Powell, Paulinho da Viola, Sivuca, Ney Matogrosso, Altamiro Carrilho, João Bosco, Paulo Moura, Ivan Lins, Guinga, Turíbio Santos, Rafael Rabello, Cristovão Bastos, Nó em Pingo D’agua, Época de Ouro, Elizeth Cardoso, Elza Soares, João Nogueira, Dona Ivone Lara, Nelson Cavaquinho, Guilherme de Brito, Delcio Carvalho, Martinho da Vila, and Zeca Pagodinho.
Rogério Souza is a pioneer in developing the style of music that is known today as “choro novo” – innovative interpretations of traditional Brazilian instrumental music while remaining true to the roots of the music. He performs regularly in music festivals, concerts, and workshops throughout Latin America, Europe, the United States, and Asia. His current show focuses on the art of Brazilian guitar and includes original works as well as classic repertoire. Along with performing, Rogério frequently gives masterclasses and workshops that focus on guitar styles and cover material from his latest books and CDs.
Edinho Gerber possesses a rich musical vocabulary developed in the two countries where he was raised: the United States and Brazil. Navigating effortlessly between the genres of choro, jazz, samba, and blues, he is always in search of the intersection points within his dual cultural identity. A staple in the Chicago music scene for many years, he was a highly in demand sideman having played with countless U.S. based Brazilian groups, including Som Brasil, Renato Anesi Trio, A Cor do Brasil, and led the samba-jazz group Zona Sul. He has performed in prestigious festivals and concerts in throughout the United States, Russia, and Japan, and currently resides in Rio de Janeiro where he performs regularly with Duo Violão Brasil and recently released “Benjamim e Edinho” an inventive cross cultural collaboration with Ben Lamar Gay.
Ami Molinelli is a professional percussionist and educator specializing in Brazilian and Latin percussion.
Ami received her Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts. Her performance and recording credits include theater, television (NBC). She is a freelance performing artist as well. She is endorsed by Latin Percussion (LP) and Rhythm Tech. Her last album, “História do Choro” with Duo Violão Brasl + 1 was released in 2019 and was celebrated as one of the best jazz albums from the Bay Area for 2019. (Andy Gilbert, San Jose Mercury News) She is a two-time San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Recipient 2018 and 2020. She co-leads the Brazilian and Jazz ensemble, Grupo Falso Baiano with three albums to their credit: “Depois” released in 2017, “Simplicidade – Live at Yoshi’s” and “Viajando em Choro e Jazz.” Grupo Falso Baiano have been featured on NPR’s the California Report, Radio Latina and Pandora LIVE! Her percussion curriculum has been used and published in clinics and education workshops including the Los Angeles Philharmonic,The San Francisco Jazz Center, Los Angeles Music Center, Music in Schools Today, Young Audiences of Northern California, UFBA Ouro Preto, Brasil, HeadStart (San Mateo County), Los Angeles Music Academy, California Brazil Camp, Jazz Camp West, etc. Her curriculum, “Recycled Rhythm” was created for her artist residency of 7 years at the Los Angeles Music Center. Currently Ami is a music integration and curriculum specialist with organizations such as The San Francisco Jazz Center, Living Jazz and San Francisco Unified School District.
Tom Bergeron has performed throughout the United States, and in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, France, Germany, and Poland. Since 2000 Tom has been deeply involved in studying, playing, and teaching Brazilian music — returning regularly to Brazil to further explore choro, samba, bossa nova, frevo, and Brazilian jazz. This passion led to the formation in 2012 of Vianna Bergeron Brazilian Jazz, based in the Pacific Northwest, which he co-leads with Brazilian pianist Cassio Vianna. Another long-standing passion of Tom’s is free improvisation. In 1997, he was invited to join the band Labirynt, based in Katowice, Poland — a band dedicated to open-form and loosely-structured improvisation. Tom draws musical inspiration from the jazz heritage and other music traditions from around the world. In the 1980s, he studied with the late Zimbabwean master-percussionist Dumisani Maraire, and was a founding member of the Eugene, Oregon-based African marimba group Shumba. He has premiered dozens of new concert works for the saxophone, and is the author of a comprehensive book on saxophone multiphonics, the esoteric technique of producing several notes at once on the saxophone. During his varied career as a performer, Tom has performed with renown artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Lynn Anderson, Hal Blaine, Anthony Braxton, Marvio Ciribelli, Rosemary Clooney, Natalie Cole, Robert Cray, Myron Florin, Vinnie Golia, Dick Hyman, Oliver Lake, Graham Lear, Joe Lovano, Glen Moore, Bernadette Peters, Luis Resto, Curtis Salgado, Bobby Shew, Sunny Turner, Gust Tsilis, Mason Williams, The Fifth Dimension, The Temptations, Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians, and Marin Alsop's String Fever. Tom began his musical journey as a multi-instrumentalist in Manchester, New Hampshire, studying piano and music theory with Roland Belisle, who learned stride piano from Fats Waller. His first professional experiences date to 1968, when he joined the New Hampshire Philharmonic as a bassoonist, and he formed his first band — The Tom Bergeron Dance Band — which played music of the Great American Songbook and The Beatles for wedding receptions, anniversary parties, and corporate events throughout New Hampshire. In 1974, he co-founded the jazz collective Antares — which in the mid-1970s was a fixture on the New England jazz club and steak house circuit, and later on the college circuit in the Mid-West. Since that time, Bergeron has performed and/or recorded as a leader or sideman with many bands and ensembles, including The American Metropole Orchestra, Cathexis Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Cascade Festival of Music, Eugene Symphony, Grande Ronde Symphony, Hagberg/Bergeron Quartet, Kansas City Symphony, Midnight Serenaders, Newport Symphony, Oregon Bach Festival, Oregon Coast Music Festival, Oregon Festival of American Music, Pittsburg New Music Ensemble, Portland Center Stage, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Sacramento Symphony, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Western Rebellion, and Whirled Jazz. Tom’s academic credentials begin with BA and BM degrees in music theory and saxophone under the tutelage of David Seiler, followed by a Master of Music degree in woodwinds with the legendary concert saxophonist and teacher Donald Sinta – who had served as a role model and mentor since Tom’s high school years. Upon moving to Oregon in 1981, Tom earned a doctorate in saxophone with another mentor and good friend, J. Robert Moore, who was among the last generation of students of Marcel Mule, the French Godfather of the classical saxophone. In the early 1970s, Tom studied improvisation with the composer Julius Eastman and the choreographer Merce Cunningham. His undergraduate recital was entirely improvised. For 28 years, Tom was Professor of Music at Western Oregon University, where he taught woodwinds, music theory, ethnomusicology, music business, songwriting, jazz, and Brazilian music — and served as both Department Head and Chair of the Creative Arts Division. He had previously taught at Eastern Oregon University, Lane Community College, the University of Oregon, Crescent Music Studios in Ann Arbor, and Groton School in Massachusetts. He and his wife, Rosi, split their time between the mountains of Camp Sherman, Oregon, and Camboinhas Beach in Niterói, Brazil, across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. When not working on music projects, Tom can often be found kayaking or hiking in the Oregon Cascades, or walking the beaches of Brazil.
Singer Rosi Bergeron brings to the band the sensuous sound of Brazilian Portuguese and her distinctive expression of Brasilidade (Brazilianess). Born in the “cidade maravilhosa” that is Rio de Janeiro, Rosi immersed herself throughout her childhood in music and dance at her neighborhood samba school – frequently visiting and practicing, as well, with the venerable escolas de samba Portela and Vila Isabel. Her father, a saxophonist who regularly played at block parties during Carnaval, instilled in her a love of traditional Brazilian music – especially samba, choro, and marchinha – from a young age. As an adult, Rosi studied voice with Suely Mesquita & Sonia Joppert, and continued to feed her passion for Brazilian music, absorbing the influences of the hundreds of Brazilian musicians who constantly leave their mark on Rio’s unique and varied music scene. Her major influences include Elis Regina, Tom Jobim, Gal Costa, Paulinho da Viola, Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque, Marisa Monte, and Maria Rita. Since coming to the US in 2009, Rosi has established herself as a dynamic interpreter of bossa nova, samba, choro, and música popular brasileira (MPB). As as singer, she strives to physically connect with the emotional resonance of a song’s lyric and melody, and to reach listeners on an intuitive level through her embodiment of those emotions. In addition to her work as a singer, Rosi owns a thriving counseling practice, which focuses on helping her patients understand and experience the connections between body, mind, and emotion – and to bring them into a healthy balance. She also treats children with autism and their families, at the Autism Treatment Center of Bend, of which she is the Director. In her free time, Rosi loves to hang out at the sun-drenched beaches of her beloved Brazil, and the lakes and rivers of Central Oregon.
