INTERVIEW: From Rio to Miami with the talented Diogo Brown
Photo: Gafieira Rio Miami’s new album is called Bring Back Samba. Photo courtesy of Andres Fierro / Provided by Cindy Byram PR with permission.
Diogo Brown, the accomplished musician and expert of Brazilian jazz, has been living a life between the two countries and many cultures that have inspired his musical sound. The bass player calls Miami home, but once or twice a year he heads back to Brazil, in particular Rio de Janeiro, to stay in touch with his heritage and gather more inspiration for his chosen art form.
The melding of Rio and Miami can be heard on Brown’s new album, Bring Back Samba, recorded with his big band Gafieria Rio Miami. For the unbeknownst, “gafieria” is a style of samba meant for couples on the dance floor, and, according to press notes, the word also refers to “a low-rent hall or honky tonk where, starting in the early 20th century, the predominantly black underclass of Rio de Janeiro would go to enjoy live music, mainly samba, and practice couples dancing. In those days, musicians would perform waltzes, tangos and polkas at the white upper-class events and then would head to the gafieiras and let it roll.”
Recording this album for Brown, a Latin Grammy winner, was something of a dream. He had the vision to bring a large group of multi-talented musicians together for a recording session, and this was no small feat. Brown’s big band numbers 11 people, featuring some of the best of the best in South Florida, with roughly half of the performers being Brazilian and the other half from various points around the globe.
Brown found himself creating or reinterpreting danceable, infectious music with his fellow musicians — including main vocalist Isa Duarte, plus contributing vocalists Jair Oliveira, Vanessa Moreno, Liz Rosa, Moyseis Marques and Alfredo Del-Penho — and he had one simple command for everyone: “Hey, let’s do this. Let’s make it happen.”
“It’s the type of samba you don’t dance by yourself,” Brown said of the sound on Bring Back Samba, which features tunes like “Deixa isso pra lá (Let It Go)” and “Eu Hein Rosa (Say What, Rosa).” “It’s a kind of style or dance that couples dance together. It has a little bit of the tango … [and] Brazilian influences.”
This style of samba was hugely popular in the 1930s and 1940s, especially in the favelas of Rio. In fact, that’s where Brown was located when talking with Hollywood Soapbox. He was in the suburbs outside the large metropolitan area because he had been traveling around the neighborhoods, meeting friends and gaining further inspiration.
“Samba was a very Brazilian-African style, but also very marginalized, if I can put it that way,” he said. “I think now people around the world have heard about it. It’s almost like you can find gafieria style in Paris. You can find it in L.A. You can find it in New York. You can find it in Europe, in Brazil, of course. Even in Argentina you can find it. It’s everywhere, but in the meantime, it’s not in the mainstream. What we’re doing is bringing it back with a little more speed and modern arrangements, so people can actually keep it fresh.”
One of the most meaningful songs on Bring Back Samba is “A Rã (The Frog),” featuring the vocal and piano talents of the legendary João Donato. The track is memorable for a number of reasons. First off, this particular recording session allowed Brown the chance to sit side by side with a man he has always respected and who helped define the jazz and samba sounds that Gafieria Rio Mami are trying to “bring back.” Also, sadly, Donato died only a couple weeks ago, so this song is now part of the Brazilian jazz great’s long legacy.
“That was a great experience for us,” Brown said about working with Donato. “He just passed away … and that makes it even more special for us — someone who we were always listening to forever.”
Brown made it his mission to have Donato on the album. The jazz impresario was on his last tour and traveling around the world when Brown reached out. It was difficult to get a hold of the composer, but once he did, the dream fell into place. “Amazing, we were super-excited to have him,” Brown said. “That recording, it was actually one of his very last recordings ever — with us. We have a little bit of history here.”
The Donato experience is one of many important memories for Brown and his big band’s Bring Back Samba project.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Gafieria Rio Mami’s new album is called Bring Back Samba. The album is now available digitally and on CD; a vinyl version is in the works. Click here for more information.
