We look forward to seeing you at our Bay Area concerts!
Primavera Band is a mix of talented musicians with diverse musical backgrounds. Playing together, they blend Afro-Cuban rhythms, Brazilian samba and classic American jazz into a unique musical tapestry, tastefully performed. Primavera’s infectious groove will capture your heart with their imaginative renditions of the standards of the Latin jazz and Brazilian repertoire including tunes by Duke Ellington, Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Horace Silver, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chick Corea and more. Vocalist Ana Nitmar adds spice to the mix, expressing lyrics soulfully in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and English.
The original band members that recorded the CD will be performing. Primavera's newest member, percussionist Jose Sierra, will also be joining us -- so there will be even more Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian rhythmic elements in the performance.
Jose Sierra – Bio:
Percussionist Jose Sierra got hooked on conga drums in the mid-1960's after hearing jam sessions at San Francisco's Aquatic Park. Further inspired by Cal Tjader and Santana, he dedicated himself to playing and began performing professionally at age 15. Mentors such as Santana's Raul Rekow and members of Viva Brasil helped Jose expand his knowledge of traditional Cuban and Brazilian music, as the teenager adopted additional percussion instruments and found musical role models such as Mongo Santamaria and Airto Moreira.
In the 1970's Jose worked in California, New York and Canada worked with recording artists from the jazz, Latin and Brazilian fields such as Coke Escovedo, Abel Zarate (Malo/Willie Bobo), Michael Formanek, Alfredo Cardim, Roger Glenn, Paul Vornhagen and Ricardo Silveira and shared the stage with Pete Escovedo, Armando Peraza, Ray Obiedo, Claudio Roditi, Paul Van Wageningen, and Tony Williams. Highlights of these years included TV appearances and a festival percussion jam with the Escovedo brothers that drew praise from legendary promoter Bill Graham.
Santana band members and others performed and recorded some of Jose's compositions, and Bahian master musician Jose Lorenzo tapped him to co-found Afro-Brazilian ensemble Batucaje. At age 21, Jose retired from music. He would perform only sporadically over the next 20 years, finding creative fulfillment in part-time jobs as a music journalist and a Buyer for Tower Records. Heeding calls from old musician friends, Jose emerged to play Latin and Brazilian jazz in the new millennium with recording acts Safari (with whom he recorded and toured Hawaii), Zarate Pollace Project and now Primavera Latin Jazz Band.
The following is a bit of biographical information about the original members of Primavera, who, coincidently, met each other at The Berkeley Jazz School for Music and Performance and La Peña Cultural Center. In an effort to learn more about the members of the band, I asked each of them a series of questions. To learn more, simply click on the person's name below:
Ana Nitmar-Vocals
Jane Lenoir-Flute
Jeff Becerra-Drums
Jeff McNish-Guitar
John Malmquist-Acoustic Bass
Lena Johnson-Piano
Phil Montalvo-Percussion
Jeff McNish, Primavera's talented guitarist sometimes puts down his guitar and sits in on bass for a few of the songs.
Jeff, how old were you when you first began playing an instrument?
I started playing guitar when I was five, and started playing upright bass when I was eleven.
What instruments do you play?
I play guitar, upright bass, ukulele, some trumpet, conga drums and piano.
What and who inspires you most, musically?
I've mostly been inspired musically by older musicians whom I've had the chance to know and play with. For instance, there was the father of a
high school friend who was from Arkansas who had played country music in local bands in the late 1940s. Another man, originally from Oklahoma, who
had played on radio before World War II and then who moved to California, studied jazz and ran a service station. Then there were friends of his who
were also music enthusiasts. I've played music with many people in the Caribbean while sailing around.
I've never pursued a specific style on guitar. I think I've learned and borrowed most of my licks second-hand, rather than transcribing from masters
like Wes Montgomery or Joe Pass. I'm usually looking for musical ideas that I'm comfortable with. I'm interested in the licks that
easily identify a style. Well known artists whom I have listened to seriously are Nat King Cole, Fats Waller, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass. I went
through a period of intense discovery of calypso music.
Oh, another inspiration to me, also local, was a SF Bay Area club in Alameda that was opened for about
three years called Kelly's run by a pianist named Kelly Park. I would play there two or three nights a week. That ended about three years ago. The musicians who played there were generally cynical pros who knew how to play and seemed to know that playing professionally meant playing within what you knew how to play. Their knowledge seemed very broad to me (they could transpose easily, they could read, they came up with intros and endings intuitively, they communicated in real time on the bandstand without train wrecks), so playing within what they knew how to play encompassed a great deal. They were very cool. I'd stay there till 2:00 am some nights and guys would come in after their paying gigs to play. Sitting in with them took my playing up a notch, largely just by example.
How do you view yourself as a musician, career wise?
I play as much as I can. I like to play with good players who bring something interesting to the mix. I also like to play
with musicians who are well-mannered, smart and musical. I have no career aspirations as a musician. I try to serve whatever music I'm playing at the
time and I try to make the music I play as alive and engaging as I can.
How did you become involved with Primavera Latin Jazz Band?
I became involved with the band when Lena asked me to play bass for a fund-raising gig. It's the gig that was the genesis of the band. Lena, Phil
and I were all playing Monday nights at the La Peña Josh Jones Latin Jazz Ensemble. Lena and Jane knew each other from some Berkeley Jazzschool
salsa class, I believe.
Can you share a few of your thoughts/feelings about the songs that Primavera Latin Jazz Band performs?
Primavera plays three kinds of song, I think. They play songs from the Afro-Cuban canon like Leyte and Philly Mambo which have certain arranged
sections or ideas. That stuff is new to me and is interesting.
The second kind of song Primavera plays
are standards. These can be jazz standards (Night and Day, My Little Suede Shoes) or Latin standards (Black Orpheus, Morning). That's the style I am
more familiar with where you play the song, not a specific arrangement of the song. For me, in those songs, the ideal is to make the song sound as interesting and happening and grooving with your own ideas and abilities. The tempos may vary, the
groove may vary. Those songs are sort of like texts that you can interpret. Right now what is interesting to me about those songs is how to
use the Afro-Cuban musical grammar (which none of the band are actually idiomatically familiar with) to inform the groove and the organization of a
particular song. How you get into and out of a drum solo, for instance, is different in Afro Cuban than it is in straight-ahead jazz. We're learning
that stuff little by little.
The third style we play are Marcos Silva arrangements of Brazilian tunes. That is less open to a broad interpretation and reorganization, except for the sections that are open for soloing.
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Jane Lenoir, Primavera's talented and lovely flautist...to say that Jane is talented is a gross understatement! - Morton
Jane, can you tell us a bit about your musci background?
After 8 years in music schools (Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigian and Oberlin College Conservatory), I moved to California and played in orchestras all over the Bay Area. I also became well known for my performances of contemporary music, and worked with some of the local musicians who were experimenting with styles and different composers, including John Duykers (featured tenor on John Adams "Nixon in China"), Thomasa Eckert, soprano, and others. I worked with Paul Dresher, Mel Graves, Mills College New Music Group, Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, and recorded and premiered many works by California composers and others. I never felt comfortable doing strictly classical orchestral gigs, as it didn't give me the opportunity to experience the level of freedom and spontaneity that I was looking for in music. I made quite a few recordings at 1750 Arch and KPFA.
What and who inspires you most, musically?
In the late 70's I started seriously listening to jazz and hanging out in clubs. I met some wonderful players in some of the shows I was playing, and one in particular, the late Hal Stein, took me on as a student. He was a very generous and supportive man, who passed away recently at the age of 81. Hal was a great swing player from New York who went to Juilliard with Phil Woods, and played in the tradition of the bebop and swing players from the east coast in the 50's. He had a great trio with the late Al Plank, another east coast transplant, who came out to California in the 70's to play at the Playboy Club. This was my lab, and I am forever grateful to these amazing musicians that they invited me to sit in. It has really been in the past 10-15 years that I started gigging regularly as a jazz musician, and I released my first CD in 2003 "Fluid" with Brad Buethe on guitar, John Wiitala, bass, and Chris Braun on drums.
How do you view yourself as a musician, career wise?
Musically, my main background in jazz had been in the bebop and post bebop idioms, but 6 years ago I became interested in Brazilian music through my exposure to the playing of Paulo Sergio Santos, clarinetist from Rio, and his recordings of choro. That led me to a basic overall interest in Latin flute styles. I have come to believe that this is really where I belong as a jazz player. The flute has a long tradition in these musical cultures and is an integral part of the sound.
Can you share a few of your thoughts/feelings about the songs that Primavera Latin Jazz Band performs?
Primavera has been a gift, and I am very grateful to the other band members for their willingness to rehearse and grow together. I feel we have all developed as an ensemble, and there is much love and dedication to the music we are playing, along with similar goals.
Thanks so much Morton for contributing your expertise as an engineer and producer to this project, which has helped us grow and contributed to our success.
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Beautiful songs such as Night & Day, Frenesi, Besame Mucho, Brigas Nuncas Mais call for a vocalist...and not just any vocalist! -Morton
At this time, I want to introduce you to Ana Nitmar, Primavera's talented and lovely vocalist:
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Ana, how old were you when you first began playing an instrument?
When I finished 5 th grade my parents sent me to boarding school in Guatemala. I was born in Guatemala.
I used to sing at family dinners every time my mother asked. I did not know how good I sounded until the choir teacher at the boarding school
stopped playing the piano, stood up, turned around and asked, "Is that your voice Nitmar?"
What instruments do you play?
I don't, I just sing.
What and who inspires you most, musically?
What inspires me is the beauty in lyrics, and the magic they create together with music. I love the romance languages. That is the reason why I
enjoy songs in Italian and Portuguese as much as in Spanish, my native language. My greatest thrill is to listen to a singer perform a Bossa-nova or
Samba in Brazilian Portuguese, you can call that a mystery.
I often think of how far back the lyrical traditions go. They go way back to ancient Egyptians and all the early biblical works and traditions
that inspired the earliest Greeks. It is very inspiring to think of how lyric poetry spoke of love, war and peace, nature and nostalgia, social
issues and all relationships. What I find fascinating is that these are the same subjects that feed every lyric-based music genre today.
How do you view yourself as a musician, career wise?
I see myself as someone who is always looking for a connection. As a singer, I look for a connection with beauty, greatness, joy and most of all
love. I want to use music as beautiful vehicle to bond with a lot of people. Also make it possible for people to get closer to each other. I want to
be able to maintain musical traditions alive.
How did you become involved with Primavera Latin Jazz Band?
I had the opportunity to meet Lena at a Brazilian Ensemble class at Jazzschool in Berkeley.
Can you share a few of your thoughts/feelings about the songs that Primavera Latin Jazz Band performs?
I love Primavera’s music repertoire. In short I can tell you it is smooth, comforting, transporting, day dreamy, tasteful and classy. That is why I love it!
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I don't know about you, but I tend to take percussion for granted. I believe it is because 'the really good players make it look so easy'. After an evening of listening to and watching one of Primavera's performances at Cafe Leila in Berkeley, I absolutely admire Phil Montalvo for his talent and passion. -Morton
At this time, I want to introduce you to Phil Montalvo, Primavera's percussionist:
Phil, how old were you when you first began playing an instrument?
I started at 17 when I finally had enough money to buy a Ludwig drum set and take lessons at Blue Bear School of Music.
What instruments do you play?
Afro-Cuban:
Congas, Bongo, Bongo Bell-Compana, Claves, and some Timbales Cajon
Brasilian:
Ago-go Bell, Tambourin, Triangle, Cuixa, Pandeiro
as well as some drum set rock and funk.
What and who inspires you most, musically?
Mostly Jazz and Brasilian influences: Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Bobby Hutcherson, McCoy Tyner, Airto, Jobim, and Carlos Santana.
How do you view yourself as a musician, career wise?
I became a professional musician late in life but I have always loved music and I intend to perform for the rest of my life.
How did you become involved with Primavera Latin Jazz Band?
I was a founding member and suggested the name for the band. I met Jane, and Lena at the Jazz school. I know Jeff McNish from the Josh Jones Salsa band
Can you share a few of your thoughts/feelings about the songs that Primavera Latin Jazz Band performs?
I love that we are able to play music that is diverse and musically sensuous...yet beautiful.
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Talk about 'making it look so easy'. As an audio engineer/producer, I have taken it upon myself to learn/know all I can about various instruments and the role each instrument plays in a particular performance. As I listen back to the performances in these recording sessions, I am constantly reminded of Jeff Becerra's creativity, sensitivity and passion. Thanks Jeff, I have learned a great deal working with you during these sessions! -Morton
At this time, I want to introduce you to Jeff Becerra, Primavera's drummer:
Jeff, how old were you when you first began playing an instrument?
I started around 9 or 10 years old.
What instruments do you play?
The drums are the only instrument I play.
What and who inspires you most, musically?
I was first inspired Buddy Rich and was fortunate enough to see him play at the Great American Music Hall when I was a kid. My dad is a big jazz fan and always had it on in the house, but I didn't start to appreciate the music until my early 20's. I'm most inspired by the post be-bop players of the 50s like Philly Joe Jones and Elvin Jones, but I also like current players like Jeff Hamilton and Brian Blade.
How do you view yourself as a musician, career wise?
Listening to lots of jazz got me into the Latin side of things, and I am wanting to learn more.
How did you become involved with Primavera Latin Jazz Band?
I took the Afro-Cuban class at the Jazz School. I met John and Lena in class, which is how I connected with Primavera.
Can you share a few of your thoughts/feelings about the songs that Primavera Latin Jazz Band performs?
I think Primavera has a nice combination of honoring the traditions of the music but also adding our own touches as well. Most importantly, the music is fun to listen to!
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I once heard Ray Brown tell an aspiring bassist, 'When you play bass, don't always be leaning on the drummer, because the drummer
has enough to do without having to support you too!' Ray went on to say, 'Create your groove, so that even if the drummer and percussionist fall out...you carry the
song with your groove...regardless. Create your goove; make it your own!' I will always remember that statement, and I must say that John Malmquist, in
my opinion, does a fine job of 'holding his own' and 'creates a very distinct groove'. -Morton
At this time, I want to introduce you to John Malmquist, Primavera's bass player.
What a majestic instrument!
John, how old were you when you first began playing an instrument?
I began playing trombone in 5th grade.
What instruments do you play?
I took the trombone pretty seriously through the end of high school and then switched to playing the electric bass. I played bass in various
situations for a number of years, but eventually stopped playing music altogether for an extended time. When I took-up music again a few years back,
I began playing the acoustic bass.
What and who inspires you most, musically?
I admire musicians who create a unique ensemble sound. I am more drawn to an interesting and original ensemble sound then I am to great blowing
or stretching-of-boundaries.
Inspiration sources change constantly, sometimes drastically, but currently I’m thinking about: Wayne Shorter, Weather Report, Tom Waits, Oregon, Rubén González, Joyce, Richard Bona. I’m also very attracted to just-plain-great musicians such as Lester Young, Stevie Wonder, Larry Vukovic. I also listen to lots of classical music and wide range of pop music. I love Nanci Griffith and confess to always totally, shamelessly loving Boston.
How do you view yourself as a musician, career wise?
I’ve discovered that keeping a good balance of music in my life is very helpful to me personally. Making music is a comfortable and natural way for me to connect with people ...both other musicians and listeners. Career?...!
How did you become involved with Primavera Latin Jazz Band?
I think that the entire band’s connection comes back to Lena, La Peña and/or the Jazzschool in Berkeley.
Can you share a few of your thoughts/feelings about the songs that Primavera Latin Jazz Band performs?
Primavera’s repertoire consists of “standards” or less known but high-quality tunes. It all comes down to doing justice to great songs.
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Lena Johnson: Yes, here is the 'Lena' that the other band members keep referring to. Now, let's find out why the other band members keep referring to her in their interviews! -Morton
Lena, how old were you when you first began playing an instrument?
I began piano lessons briefly in Berlin when I was 5. By the time I turned 6, my parents applied for immigration to America, and we lived in a relocation camp for almost a year, waiting for government approvals. My mom played Russian folk music on her 7-string guitar and accordion. A friend played klezmer violin. I remember get-togethers in the camp, when my mom and friends played music together. They would lay down the big white accordion, and an adult would pump it, while I tried to play the accordion’s keyboard like it was a piano. The accordion was too big for me to carry. Once we settled in New York, I missed the piano, and I begged my parents to get me a piano and let me take lessons again. On my eighth birthday, they gave me a piano, and I started taking lessons at the New York Schools of Music. My teacher was a kind older woman who was a talented and skilled classical pianist. I learned to read music and to play short piano pieces like Debussy’s “Claire de Lune” and McDowell’s “To a Water Lily”. I played Bach Preludes and Fugues, and Mozart Sonatas. I took lessons until I was about 11 or 12. I told my father that I wanted to become a musician. He was not pleased with this notion. The music was supposed to be a hobby, not a serious career. He viewed my beloved teacher as a bad influence. He stopped paying for piano lessons. The piano remained in my room. I would read through borrowed sheet music from the public library, and got really good at sight-reading. I did not study music formally again until I attended college.
What instruments do you play?
Piano is my main instrument. I played guitar and flute briefly, but never got very good at either. I can sing in tune, but do not have a great voice. I was in choruses for many years, and can sight-sing many of the great classical choral works. I also joined several “a capella” singing groups, and organized girl groups that sang rock/pop covers, just for the fun of it.
What and who inspires you most, musically?
My first home in America was a flat above a mom and pop corner grocery store in a Nuyorican neighborhood in the South Bronx. My room was directly over the stoop that was a neighborhood hang-out. I would peer out of my window to take in the active street life. I was fascinated by the colors, the language, the rhythms, and the music; especially on steamy summer evenings. When I was 11, my father moved us to Manhattan, this time to a Cuban neighborhood on the edge of Spanish Harlem. To the chagrin of my traditional Jewish father, I became friendly with the Cuban boys in the neighborhood. I loved listening to Cuban music in their homes. As a teenager, I obtained Fania label recordings, and listened to Johnny Pacheco, Bobby Valentin, Hector Lavoe, Willie Colon, Ray Barreto and others. I listened to the early Fantasy recordings of Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, and Clare Fischer. Later I especially loved recordings by Ruben Blades and Eddie Palmieri. Salsa and Latin Jazz are so full of life and passion. The music of the great Salsa and Latin Jazz bands continues to inspire me. However, it was not until about 5 years ago that I ever imagined that I would one day play this music.
I was never much into Rock ‘n Roll, until that memorable evening in 1963 when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. I became an instant fan of the Beatles and other British rock sensations, like Donovan, and the Who. It took me a while, but I got into the Rolling Stones as well.
I attended Barnard College on a Science scholarship, but as part of my youthful rebellion, I mostly attended music classes. I took every music course, up until composition. I studied music history and theory. I became intimate with the great works of classical composers including JS Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel. I especially loved listening to and analyzing, the massive choral oratorios like Bach’s passions and the B-Minor Mass. After my second year in college, just after I turned 18, I dropped out of school and left home.
For several years, I lived with a roommate in the upstairs flat of a brownstone in Spanish Harlem. I became friendly with a group of jazz musicians that rehearsed in a flat down the street. I was in awe of how these musicians, most of whom could not read music, created melodies and harmonies spontaneously, in the moment. I was amazed at how harmonious and dynamic they sounded when they played together. I started to learn jazz standards, and to emulate the way these musicians played. I sat in on piano, whenever they allowed. They liked having me around, because I could transcribe their tunes and create charts. I began listening to the music of Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, the MJQ, Lee Morgan, and others. Some of my favorite jazz pianists were McCoy Tyner, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Herbie Hancock and Oscar Peterson. During this period, I also got into soul and discovered Motown.
In 1965, I moved to California to get away from my authoritarian and narrow-minded father. I settled in the Bay Area and purchased a used Wurlitzer electronic keyboard. I tried joining a few rock bands, but that never went anywhere. I jammed with a lot of different musicians mostly playing covers of rock tunes by the Beatles, the Stones, the Doors, Sly Stone, and Jimi Hendrix. “Light My Fire” was a favorite, as was “The Thrill is Gone”. I also met a jazz piano player in Berkeley whose gigs I attended regularly. He taught me some interesting piano voicings. I longed to play in a jazz band, but life led me elsewhere for quite some time.
From the late 70s through the early 2000s, I focused on family and career. Piano playing, except for choir involvements, was on the back burner. I was still a music lover, I continued to collect albums and attend concerts, I followed Keith Jarrett, Eddie Palmieri, Herbie Hancock, and pop artists like Al Jarreau and Sting; but my dream of being a jazz piano player was on hold.
How do you view yourself as a musician, career wise?
About 5 years ago, I made the conscious decision to wind down my corporate career and find a way to make music the main focus of my life. I picked up the Carlos Campos instructional book: “Salsa and Afro-Cuban Montunos for Piano” and Rebecca Mauleon’s “101 Montunos”. Every morning, for a half hour, before I went to work, I played piano montunos to the percussion tracks provided on the CD that came with the Carlos Campos book. I practiced in a different key each day, for about two years. Doing this helped me get my piano chops back. I also got pretty good at playing Afro-Cuban montunos on the piano. I took a few Salsa piano lessons from Bob Karty, and worked up my confidence to audition for the Salsa performance ensemble at the Berkeley Jazz School, taught by David Belove. At the Jazz School, I enrolled in other performance ensembles. I met many musicians. I heard about a performance oriented Salsa Orchestra that meets Monday evenings at the La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, and I started attending that group as well. For the past year, I have been studying with Marcos Silva, the renowned Brazilian pianist who has played with Airto, Flora Purim, and many others. Marcos is introducing me to Brazilian rhythms and harmonies. In his ensemble classes, we play MPB (Musica Popular Brasiliera) tunes that Marcos has arranged for a small jazz ensemble. The songbooks of Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Moacir Santos, Djavan, and Hermeto Pascoal are a rich source of material for Latin jazz interpretation. I am just beginning to explore the many wonderful recordings of these songs performed by renowned Brazilian artists.
On February 25, 2009, I officially retired from Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, where I had spent 22 years as a computer professional. “Spent” is the perfect word for these years. I was ready to start living, not just surviving. I vowed to dedicate the rest of my life to developing myself as a jazz musician, and to share my passion for music and jazz with everyone I meet. I try to practice the piano every day. I practice scales, chord voicings, rhythms, and licks that I have heard, learned or transcribed. I practice tunes and learn their melodies and harmonic form. Things I have practiced become a part of my musical vocabulary, so to speak. I want to keep expanding that vocabulary, and become more skilled and versatile as a jazz musician. I enjoy practicing by myself, but I don’t like performing solo. I want to co-create in real time with other musicians. That is what inspires me.
When I play with other musicians, I try to abandon what I have learned and just stay in the moment. When I comp, I listen and try to play in a rhythm and style that compliments what the soloist is doing, responding to where the soloist is taking the music. When it is time for me to solo, I try to let the music flow through me, without analysis, connecting with something higher than my sense of self. I don’t practice soloing, because I want each solo to be fresh and new – not planned out. This is sometimes a bit scary, because I am in uncharted territory. I’m not sure if what comes out is pleasing or even musically correct. Sometimes I play it safe, and other times I take more risks. I don’t view being a musician as a career, but more as a vocation, a “calling”. It is an opportunity to evolve creatively, and spiritually as a human being. It is an opportunity to connect with fellow musicians, with students that I teach, and with those who listen to my music. I work at organizing and promoting the Primavera Band so that I can continue to have other musicians around me that I love to play with and grow with. If we get gigs and make some money, well that keeps it going. It’s the process that I love. There is no specific goal or endpoint.
How did you become involved with Primavera Latin Jazz Band?
I was attending the Monday evening Afro-Cuban Orchestra, led by Josh Jones, when the group was offered a gig playing for a Salsa dance party, a benefit being held at the Gaia Center in Berkeley on May 3, 2009. The gig called for several Salsa bands, and I volunteered to organize a Latin jazz combo that would be the warm-up band. I put together a 5 piece combo with volunteers from the Josh Jones Orchestra and Jane Lenoir, who was in my Afro-Cuban Jazz ensemble during the Spring 2009 semester at the Berkeley Jazz School. We had 3 rehearsals during which we practiced half a dozen Salsa tunes. The performance was a big success, and lots of fun.
We continued to meet to play together, and then started getting local gigs. Four members of that original group are still members of the Primavera Band – Jeff McNish, Jane Lenoir, Phil Montalvo and me.
I met John Malmquist and Jeff Becerra at the Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble that I attended during the Winter Semester 2009 at the Berkeley Jazz School. I enjoyed playing with them so much that I invited then to join Primavera. I met Ana Nitmar in the Marcos Silva Brazilian Ensemble during the Spring 2010 semester. I invited her to sing with Primavera at our debut performance at Savanna Jazz Club in San Francisco on May 29, 2010. Ever since that performance, she has been featured frequently as a guest vocalist with Primavera Band.
Can you share a few of your thoughts/feelings about the songs that Primavera Latin Jazz Band performs?
Most of the core Band members studied together in the Josh Jones Afro-Cuban Orchestra at La Pena in Berkeley. We used detailed Salsa arrangements and were often emulating a particular recording. In Primavera Band, we began by playing Salsa tunes, mostly arrangements published in the Latin Real Book. Salsa arrangements are often detailed with horn parts and sometimes the piano montunos written out. There is limited space for improvisation. “Philly Mambo” is a Salsa tune of this type, but we include a 12-bar D minor blues section, that each instrumentalist solos over. In addition to studying Afro-Cuban forms, Primavera Band has engaged Marcos Silva to come and coach the Band. Marcos plays many instruments. He completely embodies Brazilian music, and communicates his knowledge well. With his influence, we are beginning to add MPB tunes to our repertoire. Tom Jobim’s “Brigas Nunca Mais” is one of these tunes. Like the Josh Jones Salsa arrangements, the MPB tunes are carefully arranged, with just small sections of the song left “open” for instrumental solos.
In every performance, Primavera likes to include tunes that our audience can relate to. In addition to the Salsa and MBP tunes, we play timeless jazz standards that were made famous by great jazz bandleaders that first fused Latin styles with jazz. Included on the CD are:
“Caravan” (Duke Ellington, 1937)
“Frenesi” (Artie Shaw, 1940)
“My Little Suede Shoes” (Charlie Parker, 1951)
“Recordame” (Joe Henderson, 1963)
“Song for My Father” (Horace Silver, 1966)
“Sea Journey” (Chick Corea, 1972)
“ Leyte” (Cal Tjader, 1972)
We also integrate Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythms into jazz and pop standards such as “Sunny” and Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”.
I have a philosophy that I believe is shared by many of the Primavera Band members. I want to ground my Latin playing in the authentic Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythms and forms. That is why I study the traditional forms of this music. Once I have gained experience with the traditional forms, I want to take what I have learned and fuse it into something of my own. I consider myself primarily a jazz musician, and as such, spontaneity, that quality of creating in the moment, is the key element. In our performance repertoire, I believe that the Band is gravitating toward tunes that give us the most opportunities to improvise freely. I also believe that, as a band, we have developed a unique sound, a Band personality, so to speak. Over time, as we play together, we are co-creating together. We often work on arrangement ideas together during our rehearsals. Something magical happens and what we play together is greater than the sum of our individual talents.
For the vocal arrangements, we like to feature Ana Nitmar’s expressive vocal interpretations, we minimize instrumental solos in these songs. The MPB songs, like “Brigas Nunca Mais”, and popular Latin tunes like “Besame Mucho”, are excellent vehicles for Ana, because she is a native Spanish speaker and also sings beautifully in Portuguese.
With my involvement in the Primavera Band, I am fulfilling a life-long dream. I am surrounded by fine jazz musicians that enjoy playing together. I feel truly blessed. The feeling that I experience when the Band is really “on” while playing together is a natural high. I feel connected to the source of love and light in the universe. It is indescribable in words. I only hope that at those times our audience can share a bit of that feeling.
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Make it a great day: Live with God's Power, Prosperity and Wisdom.
-Morton Davis
