Embracing the most lyrical and appealing elements of jazz, pop, blues and Brazilian music, Tania Maria's vibrant voice, brilliant piano work and outstanding performances have made an artist of increasing international popularity.
Without doubt, the true essence of Tania Maria is best experienced in her "live" performances.
Europe, Tania's latest release, admirably demonstrates this by capturing her creative spontaneity and ability to improvise and stretch out on such familiar songs as "Funky Tambourim". Recorded across Europe between 1991 and 1993 with three different groups of musicians, including such heavyweights as Steve Gadd, Anthony Jackson and Sammy Figueroa, these are quality sound recordings "in the raw" - with no editing or studio embellishments. These are simply recording of Tania Maria performance best.
Brazilian-born Tania Maria has been a leader since the tender age of 13, when her band of professional musicians, organized by her father, won first prize in a local music contest and went on to play for dances, in clubs and on the radio. Her father, a metal worker and a gifted guitarist and singer, had encouraged her to study piano so that she could play in his weekend jam sessions, where she first absorbed the rhythms and melodies of samba, jazz, pop music and Brazilian chorinho. Since then, she has never worked in anyone else's group. Exposed early to the artistry of Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Luiz Eca, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O'Day, Tom Jobim and Milton Nascimento, she developed her own masterful synthesis of what she heard an effervescent style of piano work and rapid-tongued vocals in arrangements that fuse Brazilian rhythms and Caribbean salsa with the improvised expression that is the heart of American jazz.
Her family was poor. Her 4 sisters, also musically inclined, followed their mother's prudent warnings against making careers of such inclinations and entered the fields of dentistry, psychology, engineering and advertising. Tania Maria spent 2 years studying for a law degree, married and started a family, but by the mid '70s she had answered a calling that seems to have been waiting for her since her birth. She committed herself to performing again, moving to Sao Paulo where she sang and studied piano.
Her nightlife soon led her to Paris, her home base for several years, where she recorded several albums. At a concert in Australia, her formidable musical precision and freewheeling spirit caught the attention of American guitarist Charlie Byrd, who recommended her to Carl Jefferson, head of Concord Records. "Even then", Byrd recalls, "she put her own stamp on music. I was very impressed, Tania Maria's first America album, 'Piquant', earned jazz critic Leonard Feather's Golden Feather Award".
Although 6 years of classical study underlie her solid pianistic technique, Tania Maria's highly praised vocal skills came naturally, "I'm Brazilian", she says, "and singing is the greatest tradition we have!". Well known for ebullient scat singing, she indetifies herself primarily as a pianist. "I play percussion on my piano", she explains, rather than smooth runs up and down scales. And she often scats in unison or harmony with the notes that flow from her touch, soaring beyond the constraints of words. "The first person that I heard that did this was a Brazilian, Sivuca, and he did this with the accordion, the same thing that George Benson does with his guitar. So I was thinking, it they can do it with the accordion and guitar, why can't I do it with the piano? For me it's so easy in one way it's my trademark. You know somehow that Tania Maria is passing by!"
"There's a kind of musician that utilizes the music to pass their lyrics, because the message is not in the music, the messages is in their lyrics. I don't think I'm that kind of person. When I do my improvisations, I have the impression that I am saying something. The music conducts me to a certain space and a certain message."
"In our day, the less you talk, the more you do. I'm a little tired to listen to politicians say, oh, 'Read my lips'. It's better for me to boop-be-doo-boop-be-ooh-boo - then it's difficult to read my lips!".
Based in New York since the '80s, this extraordinary improviser best known for her fiery interpretation of Brazilian, Afro-Latin, Pop and Jazz Fusion, in a style that is uniquely her own. Tania has played virtually every important Jazz Festival in the world and has appeared on countless television and radio programmes. Tania has recorded 19 albums and in 1985 was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category "Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Female Artist". In 1995 Tania performed at prestigious venues like The Blue Note and famous festivals like Saratoga Jazz Festival, New Orleans Heritage Festival, etc... all over the world. When she chooses to perform live, everyone, including Tania Maria, is in for a joyful celebration of "the colors of people, the many different sounds of people". She tells us "When I play, I have the possibility to be 80 percent more on the side of happiness. The other 20 percent, it's up to the public to put in!".

For booking, contact: ERIC KRESSMANN