Bossabrasil Festival 2013 with Dori Caymmi and Joyce

I've made the annual pilgrimage to Birdland for the Bossabrasil Festival for five out of the eight years it's been running.  Every Spring, producers Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta bring bossa nova musicians from Brazil to play at this legendary New York City jazz club that is not strongly associated with Brazilian music.  The event has produced some memorable shows with artists such as Emilio Santiago, Marcos Valle, Paula Morelenbaum, and Wanda Sá.  This year's event took place last week, and saw the return of Dori Caymmi to the stage, along with singer and composer Joyce Moreno (formerly known to the world simply as "Joyce") as special guest.

Dori Caymmi is the son of the late Dorival Caymmi, who would have turned 99 years old this year, and whose composition "O que é o que a bahiana tem?" helped launch the career of luminary Carmen Miranda. Dori, who also played the festival in 2009, has produced eighteen albums, and has worked with many other artists, including Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughn, and Tom Jobim, the man who co-created bossa nova with Joao Gilberto.  Joyce is a Brazilian MPB singer-songwriter, composer, and arranger who got her start in the late 1960s, but whose career really took off in 1980 with the release of her album "Feminina".  Two of the tracks from that album were highly successful commercial hits, and put her on the map internationally.

Caymmi and Joyce were accompanied by Rodolfo Stroeter on bass, Dario Eskenazi on piano, and Joyce's husband and collaborator Tutty Moreno on drums.  It was a delightful mix of original music and beloved standards by Jobim, the elder Caymmi, Noel Rosa, and others.  Caymmi started off the evening with two of his father's compositions, "Voçê já foi a Bahia?" and "Lá vem a bahiana".  Joyce then took the stage to do "O que é o que a bahiana tem?", and from there they moved into a series of duets and solos.  There were a few surprises, such as an unannounced appearance by jazz harmonica player Hendrik Meurkens, who sat in on several numbers, and a medley that combined "Desafinado" with the famous Ary Barroso tune "Aquarela do Brasil".  Joyce also sang "Puro Ouro" an original tune that pays homage to the younger generation of samba musicians.  Other highlights included Caymmi's performance, in English, of "O Cantador", known in English as "Like A Lover", and a cover of Baden Powell's "Berimbau".

It was a great show that brought us all closer to the work of these two very talented bossa artists, and left us all looking forward to what lies in store next year.