Tickets: HERE
For Leeds Jazz Festival 2024, Hyde Park Book Club has joined forces with Leeds jazz legend DJ Lubi (Lubi Jovanovic) to present a special commission (by Lubi) for one night only bringing together two of the city's favourite and best known jazz musicians paying homage to a living legend of Brazilian music..
Música Universal - A Tribute To Brazilian Music Legend HERMETO PASCOAL by Fergus Quill/Gustavo Andrade & The Universal Music Ensemble
Bass player/bandleader/composer/arranger Fergus Quill and Brazilian tenor saxophonist/bandleader Gustavo Andrade have one big thing in common. They love the music of Brazilian music legend Herneto Pascoal. Both discovered the musician as young jazz fans. Fergus heard Hermeto for the first time on the Miles Davis "Live Evil" record which then led him to the musician's own body of work. Gustavo was aware of Hermeto from when he first got into jazz but his love for the man's music really took off in 2019 after he attended a workshop in Brazil with Hermeto's bass player Itiberê Zwarg. Tonight, they have assembled a fantastic group to perform some of their favourite Hermeto Pascoal compositions.
Hermeto Pascoal is a giant of Brazilian music. Born in the northeast of Brazil, he started playing piano accordion as a child, taught by his father, and quickly became proficient on a variety of instruments.. His music career started in 1964 with appearances on several Brazilian recordings alongside relatively unknown groups. These albums and the musicians involved (Edu Lobo, Elis Regina, Cesar Camargo Mariano) were instrumental in creating new directions in post-bossa nova Brazilian jazz.
In 1966 he began a long collaboration with another Brazilian music legend, percussionist/drummer Airto Moreira. First in the Sambrassa Trio, then in Trio Novo who became Quarteto Novo in 1967 (Hermeto on flute). When that band broke up he joined the rock band Brazilian Octopus before releasing his debut self-titled album under his own name in 1970. In 1971, his international profile was boosted by a guest appearance on Miles Davis' "Live Evil" album, who he met with Airto on their first trip to the USA a few years earlier..
The 1970s saw some of his most famous releases including "Slaves Mass" (1977), "Trindade" (1977), "Zabumbê-bum-á" and "Ao vivo Montreux Jazz Festival" (both released in 1979). During the same decade, he also collaborated with many fellow legends of Brazilian music on their recordings - Sergio Mendes, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Edu Lobo, Elis Regina, Sivuca - and guested with many top US jazz musicians like Donald Byrd, Duke Pearson and Stone Alliance.
Known as "o Bruxo" (the Sorcerer), Pascoal is a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist playing keyboards, button/piano accordions, melodica, saxophones, guitars, flutes, brass instruments and various Brazilian folkloric instruments and percussion to the highest standard. He is renowned for using unconventional items as instruments, including household kitchen utensils (pots, pans, teapots, cutlery, cups), children's toys, furniture. As he once told The Guardian newspaper journalist John Fordham "The quantity of instruments is infinite because of me – wherever I am is an instrument. A chair is an instrument. A table is an instrument. There are so many instruments".
His musical tastes are equally as diverse, playing and loving all music around him - jazz, classical music, rock, popular Brazilian music, folkloric music, electronic music. In the same interview with Fordham he explained his view of music. "It comes from the universe, so that's why I call it "musica universal", it's an energy that never stops. It hovers over us wherever we are". And that's why Fergus and Gustavo have called this celebration of Hermeto's music "Música Universal" and named their band The Universal Music Ensemble.
The line up is :
Fergus Quill - bass, percussion, assorted objects
Gustavo Andrade - saxes, percussion, assorted objects
Ruben Maric (Plantfood) - keyboards, piano accordion, assorted objects
John Settle (Sueli Gil Band) - drums, percussion
Joe Redgrave (Tempo Feliz) - Latin/Brazilian percussion
Raquel Alvaro - vocals, assorted objects
This is a special project created by Fergus, Gustavo and DJ Lubi for Leeds Jazz Festival 2024. Whether you are a fan of Hermeto Pascoal and his music or just love concerts and music that are challenging and full of surprises, you need to be at this show. Just 150 capacity, get your tickets asap as this one will sell out.
Hyde Park Jazz Club will follow the concert upstairs in the bar at 9pm with a guest band and the usual jam session (free entry).