Jazz Musiques Productions: Artist roster 2006

| Agency proposals | 2006-03-06

JON HASSELL & MAARIFA STREET (trumpet - USA)
Face it, it''s all been said about Hassell before, but perhaps this, at least, is worth restating: Jon Hassell''s ideas and techniques have so thoroughly permeated lo- and hi-brow contemporary electronic music, albeit often in a third or fourth hand way . . . that it''s difficult to think what contemporary music would sound like without his influence. I repeat: there''s categorically no doubt that Hassell has had as an important effect on contemporary music as Miles Davis or Jimi Hendrix or James Brown or the Velvet Underground. In the last two decades, his connoisseur recordings, built around a completely unique "vocal" trumpet style have inspired a generation of collaborators like Brian Eno , Peter Gabriel , Kronos Quartet , Ry Cooder - and most recently, director Wim Wenders for whom he and Bono did the soundtrack to the film, "The Million Dollar Hotel."

CARLOS MAZA (piano, guitar - CUBA)
Carlos Maza, a Chilean trouble-maker living in Cuba, spent the last ten years dynamiting jazz and Latino music mixtures, proudly following in Egberto Gismonti''s and Hermeto Pascoal''s footsteps. "Salvedad" is the unexpected album of a virtuoso musician, who also likes to sing for his friends. The result is a magnificent surprise: 12 wonderful songs, sometimes surrealist, sometimes euphoriant or just heart-gripping. The discovery of a composer-interpret, whose musical universe perfectly conveys Latin-American madness.

PAOLO FRESU (trumpet - ITALY)
On any given day he could be playing world music with the Tunisian oud player Dhafer Youssef; appearing with his new fusion-flavored "Devil" quartet; performing with his PAF trio with two accomplice italian musicians Antonello Salis and Furio Di Castri or recording his new albums on Blue Note with his Italian quintet. It is not only for his trumpet that this 40-year Italian should be compared to Miles Davis or Wynton Marsalis, two of the legendary jazz players of modern American jazz. He was strongly influenced by Davis regarding not only the sound drawn from the instrument but also the introspective musical aesthetics, which makes use of electronic resources. Now, the comparison to Marsalis comes from his restless cultural spirit and sense of leadership that he keeps in his country.Besides directing an Art Festival in Sardinia, where he was born, he also promotes workshops for music students and gets down to work in projects for the movies, dance and theater. Managing to keep an average of 200 presentations a year, Fresu has figured in the amazing number of 160 recordings,out of which 20 as a leader. He has also been engaged in recordings with a lot of first-class American and European jazzists as Dave Liebman, Dave Holland, Jim Hall, Gunther Schüller and Richard Galliano.
New album « PARTE » Paolo Fresu Italian quintet

NGUYEN LE (guitar - FRANCE/VIETNAM)
Between East & West, Jazz & Rock, traditonal music & free improvisation, his music acts like a powerful detonator which everytime creates new & unheard soundscapes. There's something marvelously ethereal in Nguyên Lê's music, who flies very high, somewhere between Hendrix's vertigo & vietnamese ancient memories. No kidding, Nguyên Lê is one of today's greatest guitar player.
New album « Homescape » with Paolo Fresu & Dhafer Youssef

NELSON VERAS (guitar - BRASIL)
Those who saw Nelson Veras charging up in Parisian jazz clubs ten years ago still think that they have been living a collective hallucination: a sixteen-year old Brazilian child could not play such a beautiful and intense music! The following years enabled Nelson to develop a musical universe alongside Aldo Romano or Magic Malik. In order to record his first and highly expected album as a Leader, Nelson constituted an astonishing as well as exciting band: alongside his big brother Magic Malik, Stéphane Galland,s drums upsets Harlen Fraanje''s quasi lunar climates. With such an ideal band, Nelson''s guitar takes Milton Nascimento, Jobim, Wayne Shorter or Tonhino Horta towards still unsuspected territories.

VITTO MEIRELLES (guitar, vocal - BRASIL)
Vitto''s music is directly influenced by his native Brazilian roots. A variety of saxophones, shakers, rattles, drums and guitars richly protray the diverse Brazilian soundscapes. Vitto''s vocals are strikingly reminiscent of Brazilian guitarist Caetano Veloso. Ancient traditions unite with contemporary arrangements and catchy instrumentation to ultimately make this album a gem to listen to. Anyone interested in Bossa Nova, Tropical, Latin Jazz and Brazilian folk music in general will surely appreciate Vitto Meirelles.

DHAFER YOUSSEF (oud, vocal - TUNISIA)
Dhafer Youssef is one of the most exciting musicians to emerge in the European music scene. Taking his Tunisian heritage and the spirituality of Sufi as a starting point, Dhafer has brought together some of the most inspiring European musicians to create a sonic world which is at once ancient and modern. His emotive voice and beautiful oud playing create a captivating atmosphere which is complemented by the huge, electronic sound scapes created by the group. Dhafer Youssef's project captures the essence of the new Europe sound.
New album "Divine Shadows"

HUONG THANH (vocal - VIETNAM)
Huong Thanh is one of Vietnams most respected vocalists, who manages to weld traditional Vietnamese music to European jazz, without ever losing her Vietnamese edge. The show draws upon the Vietnamese tradition of Cai Luong, a style of singing that has fallen out of favour, but which is being revitalised by Huong Thanh, among others. The band express the attachment to their homeland through a personal rediscovery of the Vietnamese music respectful of the tradition. They offer, through the crystalline voice of Huong Thanh, an interpretation of this music bringing out the diversity of the regional flavours and style from the three main regions of Vit Nam : from the heavenly North, to the nostalgic South crossing the imperial Centre.

AKOSH.S.UNIT (sax - HUNGRIA)
The saxophonist, Akosh Szelevenyi, is the intellectual follower of the Hungarian improvisative music. He is one of the main characters of the European jazz. The resulting music blends wailing, minor-key melodies, literally off-beat timing and furious, whirling-dervish crescendi. But unlike the confined jazz/Balkan fusions of dance-band king Ivo Papasov, Szelevnyi moves his music out towards free jazz, Indian raga and modern classical forms, creating a fascinating album with much more than curiosity value.

MINO CINELU (percussions - USA/FRENCH WEST INDIES)
Percussionist extraordinaire Mino Cinelu has earned fame performing with the likes of Sting, Miles Davis, Weather Report, Pat Metheny, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, and many others. On his self-titled Blue Thumb debut, Cinelu delivers a pan-eclectic world music mix of jazz, blues, Afro-pop, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and Asian influences.

MARIA PIA DE VITO (vocal - ITALY)
Maria Pia De Vito is a singer, composer and arranger who has studied not only opera and contemporary singing, but ethnic and world music and since the 1980s has been mainly involved in the jazz scene. Her exquisite and unique voice has led her to work and perform with jazz stars from across the world. She possesses a rare combination of vocal prowess and adventure some spirit. Her music is often experimental, yet grounded in traditional forms of harmony and melodic patterns. She often forgoes lyrics altogether, using her voice as an instrument onto itself. She belongs to that select group of vocalists who are unafraid to take liberal risks in their choice of material.

For booking, contact:
jazz musiques productions
ph +33.4.67.59.74.97
email: jmp@jmp.fr
website: www.jmp.fr/gb

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
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