the band: rio
hot samba night, cool bossa breeze
happened when jazz hit samba-- sophisticated chords, driving african rhythms; carnival energy, soft sweet spoken vocals. Poets, not lyricists, write the lyrics, and the Brazilian Portuguese breathes to a rhythm all its own. As a band, Rio strives to bring that original subtlety and grace to our own contemporary experience. Julia Yates sings the songs in both Portuguese and English, her phrasing light and quick, voice low and smoky. Tim Drackert's solos are all modern cool, while his rhythm guitar is traditional nylon-string syncopation. Under Dennis Unsworth's sensitive brush work you hear the echoes of a samba percussion chorus, while Rennan Rieke growls out the jazz feel only a standup bass can provide. So close your eyes and fly down to Rio; it's a cool ocean breeze on a hot samba night.
We play the great Jobim classics as well as some lesser known ones by Chico Buarque, Luis Bonfá, Paulo Valles, and Baden Powell. On gigs, we also play the great jazz standards of the 50s through the 90s--by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Henry Mancini, and Keith Jarrett--some instrumentally, others with Julia.
