Ten years in the making. Over 60 musicians. Seven different recording studios. Symphony in Bossa is a monumental achievement by Philadelphia-based Brazilian jazz group Minas.
Written specially for Minas for big band and strings by the late Bill Zaccagni (Bobby Rydel, Patty LaBelle), Symphony in Bossa merges north and south with big band jazz and Brazilian Bossa Nova. It presents fresh takes on old classics such as “The Girl from Ipanema," “Quiet Nights" ("Corcovado"), “Desafinado," “Chega de Saudade," “Triste," “Waters of March" (A.C. Jobim) and “Manhã de Carnaval," “Samba de Orfeu" (L. Bonfá, from the movie Black Orpheus) and introduces three Minas originals, “Sinal Verde," “Amazonia" (Haddad), “Only the Moon and the Stars" (King).
Symphony in Bossa is grandiose. It's elegant, colorful, soulful, sensitive, sophisticated, imaginative, cheerful, playful. It’s also pensive and poetic. Symphony in Bossa evokes sunsets on Ipanema beach, sunrises overlooking the mighty Amazon forest, fanfare and revelry during Rio’s famous Carnaval. Minas’ new full-length recording could be the most significant Brazilian record made outside of Brazil since Getz/Gilberto, the iconic 1965 Grammy winning album.
Recorded with the Minas sextet surrounded by The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia under the direction of Terell Stafford, Symphony in Bossa features a 15-piece big band, 12-piece string orchestra, an 8-piece vocal ensemble, and many guest artists and soloists including Terell Stafford, Larry McKenna, John Swana, Anthony Pirollo, Tony Salicandro, Steve Tirpak, Rob Hyman (The Hooters), Wendy Simon Sinkler, Paul Jost, Suzanne Cloud, Annie Sciolla, Jordan Haddad, Adriano Santos, Leonardo Lucini, Zé Maurício.
Symphony in Bossa was produced in part thanks to donations made via the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter, with grants by PennPAT and American Composers Forum.
Symphony in Bossa is now ready for the world!
About Minas
Based in Philadelphia for the last 30 years, Minas has had a consistent impact on the area’s cultural life, not only performing and exposing audiences to the music and culture of Brazil, but making a difference in the area of education. Orlando Haddad taught Brazilian Percussion and Jazz at UArts over 10 years, organized and taught Samba Percussion to PhD students (Ethnomusicology) for several semesters at University of Pennsylvania, and Minas’ program Brazilian Adventure, on the roster of Musicopia, has been presented to over half a million students in public and independent schools. Symphony in Bossa is a very important milestone in Minas’ career.
The CD will be available nationally on April 14. Symphony in Bossa is the 6th release by Minas on Blueazul Records.
Written specially for Minas for big band and strings by the late Bill Zaccagni (Bobby Rydel, Patty LaBelle), Symphony in Bossa merges north and south with big band jazz and Brazilian Bossa Nova. It presents fresh takes on old classics such as “The Girl from Ipanema," “Quiet Nights" ("Corcovado"), “Desafinado," “Chega de Saudade," “Triste," “Waters of March" (A.C. Jobim) and “Manhã de Carnaval," “Samba de Orfeu" (L. Bonfá, from the movie Black Orpheus) and introduces three Minas originals, “Sinal Verde," “Amazonia" (Haddad), “Only the Moon and the Stars" (King).
Symphony in Bossa is grandiose. It's elegant, colorful, soulful, sensitive, sophisticated, imaginative, cheerful, playful. It’s also pensive and poetic. Symphony in Bossa evokes sunsets on Ipanema beach, sunrises overlooking the mighty Amazon forest, fanfare and revelry during Rio’s famous Carnaval. Minas’ new full-length recording could be the most significant Brazilian record made outside of Brazil since Getz/Gilberto, the iconic 1965 Grammy winning album.
Recorded with the Minas sextet surrounded by The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia under the direction of Terell Stafford, Symphony in Bossa features a 15-piece big band, 12-piece string orchestra, an 8-piece vocal ensemble, and many guest artists and soloists including Terell Stafford, Larry McKenna, John Swana, Anthony Pirollo, Tony Salicandro, Steve Tirpak, Rob Hyman (The Hooters), Wendy Simon Sinkler, Paul Jost, Suzanne Cloud, Annie Sciolla, Jordan Haddad, Adriano Santos, Leonardo Lucini, Zé Maurício.
Symphony in Bossa was produced in part thanks to donations made via the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter, with grants by PennPAT and American Composers Forum.
Symphony in Bossa is now ready for the world!
About Minas
Based in Philadelphia for the last 30 years, Minas has had a consistent impact on the area’s cultural life, not only performing and exposing audiences to the music and culture of Brazil, but making a difference in the area of education. Orlando Haddad taught Brazilian Percussion and Jazz at UArts over 10 years, organized and taught Samba Percussion to PhD students (Ethnomusicology) for several semesters at University of Pennsylvania, and Minas’ program Brazilian Adventure, on the roster of Musicopia, has been presented to over half a million students in public and independent schools. Symphony in Bossa is a very important milestone in Minas’ career.
The CD will be available nationally on April 14. Symphony in Bossa is the 6th release by Minas on Blueazul Records.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
