Vera’s Heartbeat presents the first Los Angeles performance
of the Brazilian duo Pedro Martins and Michael Pipoquinha at Blue Whale in
downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, August 13 at 9 pm. The evening will include
the musicians performing classic choros, as well as their original songs paying
tribute to their roots. Pipoquinha will play traditional rhythms from northeast
Brazil, where he was born, while Pedro will offer a modern jazz take inspired
by his childhood heroes from the state of Minas Gerais.
This year they earned a "Música em Movimento"
(Music in Movement) grant from Petrobras Cultural which supports their upcoming
album release tour across six Brazilian cities.
Laureate of The 2015 Socar Guitar Competition at the 49th
Montreux Jazz Festival, Pedro Martins is a “multidimensional” [The Observer]
Brazilian multi-instrumentalist/guitarist and vocalist. Meanwhile, bass player
Pipoquinha draws from the musical foundation of his first instrument, the
guitar, to introduce a unique and gorgeous, Brazilian sound combining harmony
with the bass line.
Invited by producer Ivan Capucho to perform for the first
time as a duo at the 2016 Choro & Jazz Festival in Jericoacara, northeast
of Brazil, Pedro Martins and Michael Pipoquinha are musicians’ musicians who
perform with magnetism and mastery. Both young men draw on the full spectrum of
Brazilian rhythms, giving grace to their musical traditions with a delivery
that draws their own musical heroes to lean in (and often even sit in).
Martins was born in Gama, close to the Brazilian capital;
his father, master musician, Oscar Azevedo, taught him to play when he was
three. At age six he could play songs on the guitar by ear, by age eight he was
studying with Dib Francis, at Escola de Música de Brasília (EMB). At ten, he
joined the band Fator RH with Felipe Viegas, by age 18 he was already a solid
multi-instrumentalist, playing guitars (acoustic and electric), piano, bass and
drums.
Today Martins is known for his collaborations with Kurt
Rosenwinkel, Yaron Herman, David Binney, Jacob Collier, and Genevieve Artadi
(Knower), as well as jazz greats Hamilton de Holanda, Gabriel Grossi, and Léo
Gandelman. In February of this year, Martins released his second album VOX,
thirteen jazz-inflected Brazilian rock songs that were result of a
two-year-long recording and production process between Martins and legendary
jazz guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel (Heartcore Records).
On VOX, Martins showcases his multi-instrumental skills by
playing guitar, piano/synths, bass, drums, percussion, flute and singing in
falsetto, and is joined by an all-star cast of supporting musicians: Brad
Mehldau, Chris Potter, Kyle Crane, Federico Heliodoro, Antonio Loureiro, and his
father, Oscar Azevedo. “This album is like a book of stories that have happened
in my life,” says Martins in the album’s ‘press materials. “What you can hear
is actually my inner voice narrating those stories through the medium of
music.” “Writing songs is a way of
confessing something,” he says, “a way of conveying all the love I feel about
something. I try to write songs that really come from a genuine feeling,”
Martins said in an interview with Jazz Times. All About Jazz raved about VOX,
“In a mix of big stadium choruses and melancholically layered synth verses,
Martins hides an ocean of intricacies that can be explored over and over
again.”
Kurt Rosenwinkel had served on the jury which awarded
Martins his 2015 Socar Guitar Competition win, and the two artists formed a
partnership and friendship that continues to this day. Martins records and
tours as a featured member of Rosenwinkel’s Caipi Band and can be heard playing
guitar, keyboards, and singing on the 2017 Heartcore Records release Caipi. “When Martins and Rosenwinkel shared vocal
lines, they sang as if from a single source of inspiration.” – Howard Reich,
Chicago Tribune
In September of this year, Martins will perform at Eric
Clapton’s prestigious Crossroads Guitar Festival with Daniel Santiago. In 2015,
Martins and Santiago recorded the impromptu instrumental album Simbiose, and
Clapton was so impressed that he invited the duo to his festival, marking the
first time Brazilian-style music will be featured in its line-up.
Pipoquinha was born in Limoeiro do Norte, in the state of
Ceará, northeast Brasil and learned to play guitar and then bass from his
father and grandfather. At 13, Pipoquinha became a viral Youtube sensation when
he started posting his own homemade videos playing bass. His technique,
inspired by Brazilian northeastern rhythms and bass masters like Jaco Pastorius
and Nico Assumpção, was so sublime, he ended up being interviewed on one of the
biggest Brazilian TV shows, “Domingão do Faustão.”
In 2014 he recorded his first album, Cearensinho, a tribute
to his home state produced by one of his idols, bassist Arthur Maia. In 2015,
he went to Europe for the first time invited by the program “We’ve Got Talent,”
where he performed songs from his first album with the renowned Big Band WDR in
Germany.
Pipoquinha has shared the stage with many leading acts
around the world including Toninho Horta, Cainã Cavalcante, Nelio Costa, Felipe
Silveira, Arthur Maia, Sergio Groove, Jeferson Gonçalves, and Big Time
Orchestra. In 2017 he started his own tribute to the master Dominguinhos with
Mestrinho and Alex Buch called Trio Seu Domingos. In 2018, he garnered more
notoriety through his musical contributions to a tribute to Jaco with the
Latvian Radio Big Band at the festival Riga Jazz Stage.
Pipoquinha has just released his second album, Lua, produced
by Sergio Haick, with whom he recorded the Brazilian instrumental music album
Nosso Mundo. Lua features performances by Brazilian masters Toninho Horta, who
wrote a song for the album, as well as Yamandu Costa.
Pipoquinha has performed in leading festivals in Brazil and
around the world like Brazil Fortaleza Bass Festival, Guaramiranga Jazz &
Blues Festival, Rio das Ostras Festival, Diamantina Jazz Festival, Rigs Ritmi,
Gospel Jazz Festival, and Power Trio Festival, among others.
