Piano is in Helio Alves’s DNA. Playing since age 6, the Jazz and Bossa Nova veteran will treat New York City audiences Aug. 11 at the Zinc Bar.

Alves was born in Sao Paulo in 1966 and gravitated to jazz in his teens. He moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music and received his degree in 1990. In Boston he would meet trumpeter Claudio Roditi, who advised the 24-year old pianist to move to New York – which he did in 1993.

Since then, the pianist and composer has been praised as a sideman with Joe Henderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito D’Rivera, Gato Barbieri, Dave Samuels, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, Oscar Castro-Neves, and more. He has also recorded two albums with Roditi, ‘Samba Manhattan Style’ (1995) and ‘Double Standards’ (1997).

From 1995-97, Alves toured with Joe Henderson’s DoubleRainbow Quartet, celebrating the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and was featured in the Grammy-winning release, ‘Joe Henderson’s Big Band’ (Verve, 1996). Alves was the pianist on Grammy-winning releases by Yo-Yo Ma (‘Obrigado Brazil,’ 2003) and Paquito D’Rivera (‘Brazilian Dreams,’ 2002), and on the Grammy-nominated ‘Samba Jazz Fantasia’ (Malandro Records, 2002), by Duduka Da Fonseca, and ‘Forests’ (Zoho Music 2008) by the Brazilian Trio, his band with Da Fonseca and bassist Nilson Matta. His playing has also appeared on albums by Rosa Passos, Joyce, Herbie Mann, Gal Costa, and many others.

Alves will be playing three shows at The Zinc Bar, located at 
82 West Third Street. For tickets or more information, click here.

Suavemente! That is the term once used to describe the sound of New York-based French vocalist, song stylist, and poet Pascalito. And the performer brings his show and his band to The Metropolitan Room in New York City on Aug. 11 at 7 p.m.

Pascalito was born Pascal Sabattier, in Paris, to a musical family of Mediterranean Jewish roots. 
He grew up listening to an eclectic mix of singers from Charles Aznavour, Claude Nougaro, Henri Salvador, Chet Baker, and Caetano Veloso. His voice and charismatic stage presence have made him a rising talent on the New York jazz and world music scene. Two original songs from his debut album ‘Le Blues d’Orphée’, released in 2007, were featured in the hit TV shows “Burn Notice” (USA) and “Damages” (FX).
His new album ‘Neostalgia’ was recorded in New York with a cast of international musicians from Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Texas. It was co-produced, recorded and mixed by Swiss producer/arranger Thomas Foyer and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Alan Silverman.

Through lyrical songs with poetic narratives and rich instrumentation, ‘Neostalgia’ takes listeners on an atmospheric journey at the crossroads of different cultures and generations, blending the influences of Latin Jazz, Bossa Nova, French Chanson, Blues, and Pop to create a colorful signature sound. Pascolito’s band features: Sarina Suno (violin); Luca Hara Garacci (guitar); José Moura (bass); and Mike Ramsey (percussion).

The Metropolitan Room is located at 34 West 22d Street. For tickets or more information call 212-206-0440 or click here.

Sergio Mendes has been getting nice reviews for his new album and the artist recently sat down with L.A. Weekly to talk about his five decades in Brazilian music. The artist also touched on his recording history with some of the greatest names in jazz and Brazilian sound, his life in the United States, and his music-making process.

Here is a bit on his life in the U.S. and the beginnings of his career:

• L.A. WEEKLY: You’ve been living in L.A. for many, many years. Do you consider your music Brazilian, international or part of the West Coast sound?

• I’ve been in the U.S. since 1964, but I go back every year to Brazil, spend time with the family. When I first came to L.A., I liked the weather and I played some clubs here and I met Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert. [Their] A&M Records was just starting. I like it here. I came to New York first with the bossa nova festival at Carnegie Hall with Stan Getz, then I went back to Brazil, and after that L.A. has been my second home.

• The songs that made me famous were most of them Brazilian songs. “Mais que Nada” was my first hit: It became internationally famous. I was living in Glendale, rehearsing, and that’s when I met Jerry and Herb and things started happening. Of course living here, the sun and everything else affected a lot. Also the great musicians that are here, that I’ve had the chance to work with.

• It’s a little different than if I decided to go to Wyoming, but the music is basically Brazilian music. That’s why I called it Brazil ’66.

What are your thoughts on Sergio Mendes and his stellar career?

Updating our earlier post on Kenia’s show in New York and her new album, Mosaic Brazil has learned the Brazilian artist will be performing several shows in Pennsylvania in the next few months.

Kenia’s blend of Brazilian sounds and jazz helped define the smooth jazz “Wave” sound over the last few decades, and her new album, Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi, was released in April. Here is a full list of her upcoming shows.

• Aug. 3 – Pittsburgh, JazzLive at Katz Plaza.

• Aug 17 – Pittsburgh, Riverview Park/Observatory Hill.

• Aug. 15 – Pittsburgh, The Reservoir Of Jazz, Highland Park.

• Aug. 20 – Zelienople, Penn., JazZee at The Strand Theatre.

• Aug. 21 – Eagles Mere, Penn., Performing with Salsamba.

• Sept. 2 – Pittsburgh, Duo in the Park.

• Sept. 6 – Lancasster, Penn., Mark’s Place,

• Oct. 2 – Pittsburgh, Little E’s.

• Nov. 16 – Pittsburgh, Backstage Bar.

The artist’s reps say she will also be in Brazil in November. We will let you know if she adds shows outside Pennsylvania. For more information on her tours, visit Kenia’s official site. For more on Kenia or to purchase her albums, visit Connect Brazil.

Highly-respected Brazilian jazz singer Leny Andrade brings a bit of Bossa and Bolero for a series of five nights of shows Aug. 31 to Sept. 4 at the historic Birdland jazz club in New York City.

The show promises to take Brazilian jazz fans on a journey with sounds of Bossa Nova to her love of Boleros from her years living in Mexico, all with a Jazz flavor. The singer, who grew up in Brazil, has just released a new album, Alma Mia, focusing on her interest in boleros. The multi-talented vocalist is known as the Queen of Bossa Nova. Music reviewer Stephen Holden of The New York Times had this to say about Andrade:

“To describe Ms. Andrade as both the Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald of Bossa Nova only goes so far in evoking a performer whose voice seems to contain the body and soul of Brazil … like everything else she performs, it seems to well up from the center of the earth.”

Joining her onstage will be: Klaus Mueller on piano; Sergio Brandao on bass; and Helio Schiavo on drums.

The series will feature two shows each night. For more information on the show or tickets, visit the Birdland website.

Fresh off a July 15 show in New York City, smooth jazz and Brazilian sensation Kenia has returned with a new album celebrating the music of Dorival Caymmi.

Her new album Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi, released in April, is her first album since Simply Kenia in 2008 and The Ivan Lins Project, released in 2005. The album became somewhat of a family affair like Simply Kenia with her jazz trombonist and percussionist ex-husband Jay Ashby lending his talents to the disc and their 19-year-old son Lucas, a cellist, drummer, and percussionist, also playing percussion. Klaus Mueller provides piano and keyboards, and
 Leo Traversa plays bass.

The daughter of a Bank of Brazil treasurer, Kenia grew up in Copacabana, and first traveled to the U.S. in 1975 as an exchange student. She would eventually graduate from high school in Massachusetts. During Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-85), she returned in 1980 to work as a bilingual secretary. Frustrated with the conditions in her homeland after experiencing democracy, she returned to New York City in 1980. She also had plans to start a music career. She soon met Ashby, who toured with Astrud Gilberto. Kenia and Ashby eventually became musical partners in L.A. in 1987 and later married. Her album Initial Thrill rode the smooth jazz wave and establisher her as one of the early favorites of the genre.

“That was the beginning of smooth jazz. She was one of the first artists. In fact, she kind of helped launch that whole KWAV [KWAV-FM, also known as The Wave] format,” Ashby told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2008. “She had her own voice. She had a unique timbre and texture to her voice, kind of an exotic energy, color to her voice. But I guess what always attracted me the most was her sense of rhythm. She really can swing.”

Another upcoming show has also been announced:

• Aug 17 – Pittsburgh, Riverview Park/Observatory Hill, 412-255-2391.

No word on more tour dates yet, but Mosaic Brazil will let you know as soon as we hear something. For more on Kenia or to purchase her albums, visit Connect Brazil.

Brazilian grooves mamixed with country twang make for the perfect sound for the New York-based band Nation Beat.

The band was profiled this week by NJ.com, and the band spoke about their unique take on Brazilian music. Group founder Scott Kettner says it took the band a while to find the right mix, but through the years has perfected a mix of American country and Brazilian foró, a Brazilian style of music built around an accordion, triangle, and zabumba bass drum, a Brazilian instrument in which the player stands up and strikes both sides of the drums using the hands. The band’s sound has led to some interesting gigs – including playing Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid. NJ.com offered the following on the band’s founding:

The idea for the band began to form when Kettner was studying with the esteemed jazz drummer Billy Hart. After both explored bossa nova and samba, Hart suggested the lesser-known rhythms of the Brazilian northeast, though he was not familiar with them. Kettner began investigating those styles, which were not even well-known in other parts of Brazil.

Kettner found some New York musicians who were similarly open-minded, and they brought in their various influences. While recording in the Brazilian city of Recife, band members met backup singer (Liliana) Araújo and invited her to join them in New York as lead singer, which she did in 2007.

In 2008, the band released “Legends of the Preacher,” which playfully brings together the rural sounds of two different hemispheres. The band adapted the Hank Williams weeper “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” giving it a peppy Pernambuco-inspired percussion track. The band also went further, adding funk and touches of Southern rock, and even collaborating with the Klezmatics on three songs.

Brazil, it seems, offers something for everyone and every taste. T listen to some of their sounds, watch them here at Mosaic TV.

Fresh off the success of her album Tide, São Paulo singer Luciana Souza has added more shows to her U.S. tour and may be coming to a city near you beginning this fall.

Tide has been well-received by critics and she has been on tour since January. The following is a list of her shows for the remainder of 2010 beginning this fall:

• Sept. 25 – Los Angeles, Calif., Royce Hall

• Oct. 23 – Kalamazoo, Mich., Dalton Recial Hall

• Oct. 25 – Austin, Texas, Hogg Memorial Auditorium

• Nov. 11 – Appleton, Wis., Lawrence Memorial Chapel

Click here for more on Souza and her recent Grammy nomination. For more on Luciana Souza and to purchase her albums, visit Connect Brazil.

Famed Brazilian guitarist, singer, and composer Oscar Castro-Neves has several upcoming concert appearances.

Castro-Neves is known for his unique guitar playing and has worked with some of the biggest names in Brazilian music. While most are outside the United States, he will be making one stateside appearance in November that includes a music class as part of the appearance.

• July 10 – Belgium, Ghent Jazz Festival (with Toots Thielemans and Kenny Werner)

• July 21 – Turin, Italy (with Toots Thielemans and Kenny Werner)

• Aug. 14 – Marina del Rey, Calif., Burton Chase Park (with entire band)

• Nov. 5-7 – Nashville, concert and Master Class

If you make to one of the shows, let us know what you think!

Cue the projectionist – Brazilian film is coming to London as part of Barbican Film’s Cinema of Brazil – Music and Rhythm.

The events began today with the showing of:

• The Ballroom (Chega de Saudade) – Focuses on a day in the life of a ballroom in São Paulo, where the audience follows the dramas and joys of five characters who take to the dance floor. (July 1)

• Two Sons of Francisco (Dois Filhos de Francisco) – A multi-award winning story of Francisco Camargo, a humble laborer from Goiás who dreams of turning two of his sons into famous country musicians. (July 1)

• Wandering Heart (Coração Vagabundo) – Much more than a music documentary, this behind the scenes glimpse of global superstar Caetano Veloso is also a revealing exploration of personal identity through music. (July 3)

The event is part of the annual City of London Festival, which “brings the city’s unique buildings and outdoor spaces to life with an extensive artistic program of music, visual arts, film, walks and talks.” The festival was begun in 1962 to revitalize London cultural life and has become one of the UK’s leading arts events.