Jacques Figueras

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Botafogo



It took me three years to make this CD from the first recording session in December 2004 to the release in December 2007. And in fact, I would say that it took me about 15 years to finalize this project. It's the achievement of many years of learning, hours of listening to all kinds of music in order to find what would the be the best way to express myself, many trips between New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and finally Sao Paulo, and many, many people met that in a way or another, helped me to achieve my first CD.This album is my tribute to the great Brazilian musician and composer Hermeto Pascoal. He is famous for his crazy arrangements, sometimes mixing music, people talking, and animal sounds! My idea was to emphasize the composer of wonderful melodies and rhythms, and to play the tunes as one would play a jazz standard, without trying to compete with the luxurious arrangements of the Campeão.I really got into Hermeto's music when I was at the New School in New York in 2002, and I soon realized that it would the perfect way to mix my two passions for jazz and Brazilian music. His tunes offer a perfect mix of Brazilian rhythms with interesting chord changes that are a great pick up for improvisations.I included two songs by the great Pixinguinha to balance the sound of the CD. From my point of view, Pixinguinha is like a J.S. Bach that would have moved to Rio de Janeiro! His choro lines remind me of the Cello Suite of the Cappell meister.
And to close the repertoire, Sandro Zerafa offered me a nice ballad to calm everybody down and I also included great tunes by John Patitucci, Sivuca and of course Tom Jobim (it's hard to record a Brazilian music CD without a tune by the Maestro!).