Danilo Brito & Joao Luiz - Esquina De Sao Paulo (CD)

Release Date: 12/10/21

The guitar/mandolin duo present nine stunningly virtuosic choros - the unique, vibrant instrumental genre which had its origins in late 1800s Brazil.

When stars come together, an album like this is born.
João Luiz and Danilo Brito are both master musicians in their own rights, playing music at the highest level. A virtuoso of the popular music of his native Brazil, guitarist Luiz began playing professionally during his childhood and was later trained in classical guitar by his mentor, Henrique Pinto. He has collaborated with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito
D'Rivera, Sérgio Assad, Leo Brouwer, Egberto Gismonti, Bridget Kibbey,
and Clarice Assad. He's also an integral member of the New York
creative community, as the director of chamber music at CUNY
Hunter College.
Danilo Brito is a genius on the mandolin and an authority in Choro. He is also a celebrated composer and arranger. Choro has the same cultural parents as jazz and blues. European forms melded with African ideas to produce a family of fresh, new forms throughout the New World - marked by virtuosity, syncopation, counterpoints, and improvisation with an intense expression of feelings, from cheerful to melancholy.
João and Brito first met in 2004 at the Visa Music Award. Though it was a quick encounter, Brito's was able to 'see the brilliance of João's playing.' Brito continued, 'I realized that he had a sound of a classical guitarist but was full of Brazilian swing of popular music.' Years later, in 2017, they performed together at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. 'The energy was so good that we went on a tour the next year,' said Brito.
You can hear their energy and magnetism on Esquina de Sao Paulo ('Sao Paulo Street Corner'.) You can also hear their friendship. The repertoire came from options Brito showed João that came from that first performance in NY, when he was a featured guest, and the duo's tour the following year. Brito had made some home recordings and sent them to João. Of course, João was duly impressed and rendered them afresh with his arrangements.

Kabir Sehgal, producer, is a Multi Grammy & Latin Grammy Award winner.