Vera’s Heartbeat and Sam First present the reencounter of renowned Brazilian pianist, singer and composer, Marcos Ariel and Colombian reedman, clinician, composer and arranger, Justo Almario for a sweet night of Latin, Afro-Cuban, South American, funk and jazz music at Sam First.
Since the '70s, Marcos Ariel has dedicated himself to Brazilian instrumental music and jazz with the genuine warmth and zest for life of those born in Rio. Ariel has written over 200 pieces since he started composing, at age 16, and his unique musical phrasing combines classical techniques and popular Brazilian rhythms.
A multi-instrumentalist of the highest caliber, Almario has mastered the soprano and tenor saxophones, clarinet and flute and thoroughly engages his listeners with rhythmic, call-and-response interludes. John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bach, Bartok and Debussy are among Justo’s primary influences.
Ariel met Almario at the Baked Potato in 1989 and invited him to be part of his album “Hand Dance”, the first of many recordings they did together. “He plays my music as if he wrote it, with exactly the feeling that I had thought about,” says Ariel, “When we play together, it’s like one instrument.”
About Marcos Ariel
Born in February during the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Marcos Ariel has the typical “Carioca” soul, but at the same time he’s been passionate about classical and jazz music, encouraged by his father from a young age. While he studied masters like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin, he also developed an admiration for Brazilian composers like Tom Jobim and Hermeto Pascoal. His 2008 album “Alone with Jobim”, established him as one of the best interpreters of the Brazilian genius.
Ariel’s debut album, Bambu, was released in Brazil, England, and France, and awarded the Chiquinha Gonzaga prize in 1983. In 1986 and 87, Ariel participated in São Paulo's Free Jazz Festival and recorded the memorable album Banda Zil with Ricardo Silveira, Zé Renato, and others. He also backed up such Brazilian greats Master Cartola, Roberto Gnatalli, Johnny Alf, Banda Black and many others. But it was his fifth album Terra do Índio, (1988), that projected his career in the United States and made him move to Los Angeles. The album was considered one of the best Jazz albums of that year. “No question, Marcos Ariel is one of the finest Brazilian musicians of the decade. He reveals to us his ‘Carioca’ soul and will introduce you to another dimension of Brazilian Music”. (Talaya Trigueros, KTWV 94.7 The Wave).
His latest album “Wave Hunter”, released in 2019, is a collaboration with the incredible Dual Jazz, formed by guitarist and composer Enéas Marques and drummer, composer, producer and recording engineer, Roberto Alemão Marques. “Ariel’s 32nd album fuses classic, soul jazz, alternately easy flowing and percussively charged melodies and grooves and including adventurous vocalese, the collection is a musical love letter to the sea, created by three musicians who share a lifelong passion for the waves in Rio de Janeiro and on the California Coast.” (Smooth Jazz.com)
About Justo Amario
Born in Sincelejo and raised in Medellin, Almario comes from a family musical tradition, and started playing woodwind instruments from a young age. His father was a traditional Colombian music percussionist who was naturally influenced by the Cuban music, popular along the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and Almario studied wind instruments and theory in Barranquilla.
After a tour in the United States in 1967, he accepted an invitation to move to Miami and was offered a scholarship at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in 1969. Two years later, while still studying, he was discovered by legendary Mongo Santamaria, who invited him to join his band and later to be his musical director. Almario can be heard on several of his recordings, including Afro-Indio (1975, Fania).
Almario has performed with Patrice Rushen’s Grammy Awards Orchestra, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Ayers, George Duke, Tito Puente, Machito, Dave Grusin, Ndugu Chancler, Alex Acuna, Abraham Laboriel, TOLU, Donald Vega, Harold Land Jr. Al Mckibbon, Master P, Bebe Winans, Queen Latifah, Charles Mingus, Chaka Khan, Linda Rondstadt, Herb Alpert, Bobby Shew, John Heard, Lorca Hart, Billy Higgins, “Jose Rizo’s Jazz on the Latin Side All-Stars,” and many others.
Almario also has experience as an educator: he taught saxophone at Cal State Los Angeles from 2006-2008; he has taught in clinics throughout the United States, as well as in Sweden, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, and Puerto Rico; he taught at the Henry Mancini Institute, has mentored youth during workshops at the World Stage in Los Angeles, and has taught students privately for over 20 years. In 1992, while joining the ranks of Cedar Walton, Terrence Blanchard and Joe Lovano, Almario was an integral part of the Newport Jazz Festival Tour, produced by George Wein. Two years later, four of the recordings on which Justo was featured earned Grammy nominations while Andrae Crouch’s “Mercy,” and Cachao’s “Master Sessions, Vol. 1,” were Grammy winners. Justo’s latest CD, “Love Thy Neighbor,” features his quartet playing original compositions as well as rare standards. A man for all seasons, Justo was the featured soloist with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Hall’s season opener and also performed at the Christmas concert, “Celebrar,” at the same venue. Finally, Justo’s stellar career was recently celebrated during a segment of “World Stage Stories,” a comprehensive oral history series that chronicles the evolution of jazz. Almario currently lives in Los Angeles and continues to perform with his group.
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