Curations out
Who's taking you?
- Curation by: The Matrix
Who I Am & Where I Live
- Name: Catherine Bent
- City: Boston
- Country: United States
My Life
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Bio:
Constantly challenging and redrawing boundaries, cellist Catherine Bent has never fit easily into any category. Classically trained on cello and piano, conservatory trained in jazz, and professionally experienced in countless genres, Catherine built a career on the margins while patiently uncovering her unique artistic voice.
In graduate school Catherine started playing choro, the infectious Brazilian hybrid of European dance music and African rhythms. Following the initial interest, she dove deep into the tradition and went on to spend many months in Rio de Janeiro—building her repertoire in jam sessions and alongside masters—and took the choro scene by storm with her virtuosity on the cello and fluency in the style.
Of infinite interest to Catherine is the relationship of phrase—music carried on the breath—and groove—music felt in the body—which she explores in her musical projects and international collaborations. In Macayú Trio, Quebra Tudo, Trio Caxangá and the duo Elis & Catherine, she and her colleagues mix elements of jazz and Latin music with dynamic ensemble interplay and tight arrangements. When the music calls for it, the playing is highly refined; at other times exploratory and free.
In her newest—and first solo—album release, she presents ten original compositions, each paying tribute to a distinct Brazilian musical tradition. While choro is at the heart of the album, you will hear samba, forró, frevo, maracatú and xote, all enriched by the unique sonority of Catherine's cello and through the prism of her imagination.
My Media
- Website: http://catherinebent.com
Click to Listen on Spotify
- (album/podcast 1): http://open.spotify.com/album/2ywe4v1LmBMTSklZVuNgUR
- (album/podcast 2): http://open.spotify.com/album/3GhVS16L08dyCSQq3noMar
Sprawled across broad equatorial latitudes...
Stoked and steamed and sensual in the widest sense of the word...
Limned in cadenced song...
The Recôncavo is a smile inside an irony wrapped in a conundrum.
► The matrix originated as an extension of a record shop opened to divulge the little known music of the people of the Recôncavo and sertão of Bahia, Brazil (per this interview with David Dye for U.S. National Public Radio and hence a sugarcane cutter as our logo), along with other great Brazilian music.
► But in order to provide pathways from around the world to these largely unknown artists, the matrix has to do likewise for all artists everywhere.
