MZ Quintet Live at Blue Note NYC!

Hi friends!
I am very happy to announce that my group will be playing the Blue Note NYC again, this time in the middle of the summer 2011.
The show will be on August 6th, Saturday night (into Sunday), at 12:30am. It's their late show series, which means will be extra rocking so nobody falls sleep in the audience! HA!
Please come and support the group if you can and live in the area, and/or if you happen to be around NYC during this beautiful (and pretty hot so far!) summer season.
We will be playing the music from our record "7 Lives", and a few arrangements of cool Brazilian and jazz/fusion classics.
Check out a video below from our previous appearance at the Blue Note NYC, in Nov 2010. Also, feel free to share/repost/send this to anybody you think will like it. Thanks again for the loyal support and for reading the blog. See you on August 6th!!!

@ the Blue Note in November 2010:

MZ in the team of columnists of Modern Drummer Magazine Brazil

Hi friends!
Just a quick post to let you all know - and specially those of you that are/live in Brazil - that starting in May 2011, I am part of the team of columnists of the Modern Drummer Magazine in Brazil, together with Aquiles Priester, Azael Rodrigues, Daniel Oliveira, Pascoal Meirelles e Ramon Montagner. I am very happy and honored to be part of this great publication, and in such great company!
My first lesson - coming out on the May 2011 edition - talks about being creative beyond the conventional. It's an analysis of a bunch of African grooves, but also an in-depth look at how these grooves can sometimes be simple but very creative, and, most importantly, extremely effective to the song.
So, dig in, and check out some of these grooves I present. These are meant for you to play, practice, analyze.... and see the elements that make these grooves so cool and musical... It's an exercise on thinking outside the box, and I hope it inspires you to start coming up with your own parts and grooves!
here is the cover of the magazine...


I will post the lesson here at some point, for those of you that can't get the magazine and/or live outside Brazil.

thanks for the usual support, and see ya next time!

2011 - cool things part 2

Hi friends!
Continuing on my list of some of the cool things happening in 2011, I am proud to say that I signed with this great company from Brazil, FSA Cajons. I have been using their cajon (standard model, with 2 mics built-in, 2 XLR outputs) and it is pretty amazing.
Super easy to use - just bring the cajon and 2 cables, and you are done - it's ready to go.... just "plug and play"! The cajon is completely handmade, looks beautiful, and sounds fantastic.
Check out this video I did recently, while recording with the great bassist Amanda Ruzza.... hope you enjoy it!
www.FSACajons.com.br

2011 and some recent cool things, part 1: Dom Salvador

Hello friends!
First, I want to wish you all a fantastic 2011! Much happiness and great things to all of us!

It's been a while since my last post, so I want to talk about a few things I have been involved with....
(hence the "part 1" title.... part 2 coming in a few....)

I have been working with the legendary brazilian pianist/composer Dom Salvador.
I played a few shows with him this year, including a concert in São Paulo Brazil at the Bourbon Street Jazz Club in June, and more recently, at the Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio, as part of the CopaFest 2010. Needless to say, it's been an amazing experience. Salvador is without doubt one of the most important Brazilian musicians ever, and I believe that much of what we do today in music we owe to his incredible artistic vision and concept.
I also played drums on his latest recording, The Art of Samba Jazz, which features some of his classic compositions perfomed by trio, quartet and sextet. Definitely check it out! Here is the cover:



Here are some photos of the group, as well as a video from our show at Bourbon Street -

at Bourbon Street, SP, Brazil:



at CopaFest, RJ, Brazil:







these last two photos, courtesy of Henry Schroy. Thanks Henry!

Performing the classic "Gafieira" at the Bourbon Street, SP:




More to come, everybody... stay tuned, and thanks for visiting!

A day at the park

hello friends!
I just returned from a very nice trip to Brazil. Some great playing experiences, I will post some photos soon.
In the meantime, I want to share with you all this amazing artwork by artist Parker Gambino.
On July 16th I was playing a concert with the great harmonica player and composer Hendrik Meurkens at Pierson Park, in Tarrytown, NY, and Parker was hard at work during the show. As soon as we were done, he approached me with this, and needless to say, I was very impressed!



For those interested in the process, here it is in his own words -
"I create the images as my subjects are performing; when the performance ends, I am ready to close the book (except for getting autographs). Beyond annotating the event, ex post facto alterations are rare and minor, and I do not refer to photographs. Later I scan the images to prepare the JPEGs (sometimes with minimal photoshop cleanup)."

Parker is an incredibly talented guy and he does a lot of things, please check him out and support the art!
click here for Parker's website