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Every year I go out to buy material to wrap Christmas presents: paper, bags, ribbons. I return home, open the drawer where the remains of what I bought the previous year are, and only then I remember that there were enough leftovers.

In a sort of déjà vu experience, I also remember that last year I had promised myself to check that drawer before buying anything. And the year before that. Some people call it the magic of Christmas. I believe the technical name is Christmas amnesia.

I know that reactions to the end of the year and the holiday season are diverse: some people love it, some people hate it, but the real difficult thing is to remain indifferent to all the turmoil around us. Ever tried? I try every year and fail. Miserably.

The commitments seem to multiply, and they may turn into a source of anxiety and stress, but sometimes they hold a truly “Christmas spirit”. This year, one of them brought me immense joy. My mother had insisted on having a pre-Christmas gathering at her house, so that she could show off the Christmas home decorations created by my sister. Despite the heat wave, it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Among the many subjects discussed and left along the way, one story stood out: we talked about the period of the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1984), a dark period that we have not yet overcome. At this point, my mother said that my father, at the time a high-ranking state civil servant, was given the task of denouncing possible opponents to the regime.

There was no way out: if he refused, he would himself be considered an opponent of the system (which at the time meant possible arrest, imprisonment, torture and death or, at best, exile); if he accepted, he would be forced to inform on colleagues. How to get out of this moral impasse?

With pride, my mother recounted the ingenious solution found by my father: in all cases he wrote after the nema of the employee: “to date, nothing has been found to be discreditable about this person”. The task was accomplished and, at the same time, no one was denounced. Including the term “to date” also saved him in case of any future problems.

My father died when I was nine years old, after a two-year long period of degenerative illness. As you can imagine, I did not have much time to hear his stories in person, but knowing that he was an unlikely hero in a period of terror was a great emotion. In fact, it was like being able to hug him again.

I know this is often the season of hoping for the future and exchanging presents, but sometimes the best gift is in the past. Feliz Natal!

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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Nouvelle Cuisine is the name of a culinary movement born in France in the 1970s. Among its characteristics are the appreciation of freshness, lightness and delicacy of dishes. The “new kitchen” is based on the concept of exploring the natural flavors of each ingredient.

Preserving the “signature” element of the food to the maximum and equally careful about the visual presentation of the dishes, the nouvelle cuisine appealed for the senses to reach the soul of the gastronomic experience. The movement also lent its name and its concept to a very interesting and often unmentioned chapter in the history of Brazilian jazz in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1987, when rock and roll was the hegemonic rhythm in the Brazilian music scene, five musicians formed a… jazz group. The artistically daring act, in itself, would be worthy of note, but Nouvelle Cuisine, the quintet was much more than that, especially thanks to its vocalist Carlos Fernando.

Accompanied by Guga Stroeter (vibraphone and drums), Flávio Mancini Jr. (double bass), Luca Raele (piano and clarinet) and Maurício Tagliari (guitar), Carlos Fernando imprinted good taste and refined technique in a scene marked by excesses. I remember the strong impression the group made on me when I first saw them live.

Extreme care and good taste was present in each and evry element on stage, from the sober costumes of the musicians, to the lighting; from the repertoire to the minimalistic arrangements and, above all, the velvety, singing of Carlos Fernando.

I would achieve the same musical enchantment years later, attending a performance by the group Madredeus, and listening to Tereza Salgueiro and her divine vocals. The feeling of being in front of a special voice is not easily forgotten.

By the time I saw the Nouvelle Cuisine on stage, I was living in the city of Campinas, in the country side of São Paulo, studying History, and in charge of the vocals in a music band whose repertoire was mostly formed by Brazilian Jazz. I remember how excited we got, when the quintet came to town, and we all went to the concert. It was like facing a possible future for our quartet.

We were innocent, I know, but in our defense I might add that, at the time, Nouvelle Cuisine was at the height of its fame. They had just released a second album by Warner Music (which is, amazingly, still not fully available for streaming), and being treated by the mainstream media like stars. For us, all that buzz was like a sign that the jazz scene was definitely consolidated. Big mistake.

Nouvelle Cuisine recorded only three albums and Carlos Fernando recorded also a couple of solo albums. Certainly much less than this remarkable composer and performer would deserve. What happened? I dare to say, Nouvelle Cuisine was the right band in the wrong time.

While the fin-de-siècle scene created great expectations, the 2000s took a completely different path and there was no place for the good taste that Nouvelle Cuisine represented.

For those of you who want a taste of this delicatessen, there are tracks and compilations to be found on Youtube and Spotify. I leave here the link to my favorite one, a bossa-nova reinterpretation of the song by Stevie Wonder: Flower Power. Bon appétit.

Be seeing you!

G. F.

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Heaven has been particularly jazzy lately. In addition to the arrival of João Donato and Tony Bennett last week, this week they needed singers there and Leny Andrade e Dóris Monteiro, two muses who had already beautifully fulfilled their missions on this plan, went to shine from high above, like the true real stars they are.

I had the pleasure of seeing them both on stage and such experiences are worth a lesson in singing and devotion to art. Both were demanding performers and profound music connoisseurs. Leny was a classic painist and Doris had also a successful career in movies.

In addition to that, they had in common the precision of singing, accurate sense for the new (they were, for example, pioneers in what we know today as concept albums) and the impeccable good taste in choosing songs to their repertoires. They understood plenty how powerful voices can be.

Leny was known as the “singer of the musicians” and, in that sense, she is very similar to another diva, Ella Fitzgerald, with whom she also shared talent for scats. Doris, in turn, played an imporant part i: the golden age of the “chanchadas”, back in the 1950s. Chanchadas were Brazilian musicals, whose light narrative thread was sewn by performances of the most famous radio stars of the period.

Doris and Leny helped immensily in the construction of MPB (Brazilian popular music), a genre formed by the different nuances of what internationally became known as Brazilian Jazz, including but not limited to Bossa Nova and there is certainly much more to say about these wonderful women, but I would rather leave you with a couple of suggestions, in case you are not already familiar with their very special voices. Here ist goes:

Leny Andrade: I recommend the album that introduced me to the diva: Nós (Us, 1993). The piano (played by Cesar Camargo Mariano) and voice format gives Leny all the freedom to do what she likes best: improvise and enchant us with her vocal resources and her unmistakable timbre.

Doris Monteiro: Released in 1971, “Doris” is one of those albums that do not age as years go by. Its repertoire, ranging from Pixinguinha to Tom Jobim, and its modern visual conception, in the best “Doris style” remain thought-provoking and up-to-date.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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I am determined to follow through with my resolution from the end of last year. I promised myself that every victory would be celebrated, every step taken, every milestone. I strongly believe that when we do that, we not only boost our self-esteem, but also our productive capacity. In other words, the victory of today is the fuel that keeps the engine running towards the victory of tomorrow.

Therefore, to be faithful to this self commitment, today I would like to talk about a very special event that took place exactly five years ago: the release of my traditional jazz vocal EP called So Now. The title and intro of the song that gives name to the album both refer to So What, the first theme from the iconic 1959 album A Kind of Blue.

Miles is a character in the song and is even quoted in the lyrics of the story that reports in a mocking and humorous way a date that did not work out very well. After hearing Miles “for quite a long time”, the protagonist wonders if it might not be the right time to order a taxi back home and call it a night.

The launch concert represents, in itself, a milestone in my career, as it was held in a traditional jazz club in the city of Eugene, in the State of Oregon, U.S.A.: The Jazz Station.

The club, set as in the classics of the golden age of jazz has with tables adorned with natural flower arrangements and an extremely polite audience, used to high-level performances conducted by students and professors at the University of Oregon.

Of course there were little problems before (musicians late for rehearsal, for example) and during the show (some technical problems and minor mistakes), but what I really remember is a magical night, with a full house, people stopping at the street to listen, great merch sale and lots of nice comments on my presence book.

I know that memory is a movie set, but in the movie of my memories, So Now started off on the right foot. I will tell you more about this dream-concert on the following post. For now, I would like to invite you to listen to So Now on your favourite platform.

Are you the kind who likes to listen to songs paying a lot of attention to the lyrics? Then you got to check out this playlist.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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Miss Suéter is one of my favourite songs by João Bosco and Aldir Blanc. The song was immortalized in the voice of the great singer Angela Maria. Its bears the signature of the lyricist Aldir:”Fake blondes fascinate me (oh, the black lingerie)/ With freckles, penciled eyebrows and Coty perfume“.

In her mouth, this attractive lady holds “two pivots so graceful/ among natural jewels” and her eyes resemble “tiny fishbowls/ Of tropical minnows“. Ingenious, bittersweet, totally Aldir!

I hummed the song in my head as I went through a preliminary dental procedure, which (now I realize) will turn myself a bit like the song character, for I will also have two graceful pivots among my natural jewels.

Any alteration in the mouth affetcs directly the way the air moves inside it when we articulate. Therefore, the slightest change may affect the voice. Maybe this explains why I was so worried about the procedure, until I found a professional who knew how to clearly explain all the phases of the treatment.

I felt safe and in good hands and that made things a lot easier. And painless! My face did not get swollen and I did not even need to take the prescribed painkillersis. It is reallly amazing how information is able to assuage our fears and move our lives forward!

Well informed and in the hands of a competent professional, the whole process was much easier than I imagined, which made me think how many times we fail to make the right decisions simply because we are not aware of all the possible options.

How many times do we procrastinate on important decisions because we mistakenly think we will not be able to handle all the implications?

Sure, each challenge in life demands a tailored reaction. Sometimes patience is the secret, sometimes boldness is the best, but the essential ingredient is always the same: information.

Unforeseen events will happen, accidents may occur, but the ability of bodies and ideas to regenerate garantees that the magic will go on.

Be seeing you!

G.F.