CURATION
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from this page:
by Title Holder
Network Node
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Name:
Luiz Simas
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City/Place:
New York City
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Country:
United States
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Hometown:
Rio de Janeiro
Current News
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What's Up?
“What a revelation — this is new, untapped talent, surprising us with exciting, authentic Brazilian music…I haven't heard such terrific musicians achieve the effortless Brazilian vibe since the advent of bossa nova!”
—Creed Taylor (re the Simas & Amorim Duo)
Life
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Bio:
Composer / singer / pianist Luiz Paulo Simas was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1948. He has performed and recorded with some of Brazil's greatest artists, and many of his original compositions have been recorded in Brazil and abroad. He has also recorded soundtracks for television and film productions.
Luiz studied classical piano until his teenage years, and was a founding member of the groups Agora-4 (bossa nova) and Modulo 1000 (psychedelic rock) in the late 60’s, and Vimana (progressive rock) in the 70’s.
Simas was the first musician in Rio to use a synthesizer. He composed and recorded sound effects for TV and radio, including the famous “Plim-Plim” trademark signal for Globo, Brazil’s largest television network.
Luiz moved to New York in 1989.
He has led original groups in festivals and clubs in the US, in Europe and in Brazil. HIs voice and music have warmed major venues including Birdland jazz club, the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Room and the Iridium in New York, the Gamle Logen Hall in Oslo, the Pheasantry in London, the Phillarmonia Hall in Odessa and Sala Cecilia Meirelles in Rio. He performed at universities and colleges including Rutgers University in New Jersey, Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, and the City University of New York.
He’s performed in jazz festivals including the Hartford Jazz Festival, the Oslo Jazz Festival (in Norway), the Odessa Jazz Festival and the Vinnitsia Jazz Festival (in the Ukraine), Sala Jazz (in Rio) and the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival (Colorado).
He was music director for Brazilian superstar Elza Soares when she performed at the Village Gate.
Beside his work as a musician, Luiz also acted while in Brazil, in Oswaldo Montenegro’s musical “Dança dos Signos”. Later in the US, Simas acted in the role of “Mozart” in the English version of Pushkin’s “Little Tragedies” (translated and adapted by Julian Lowenfeld) when it was performed at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.
His songs have been recorded by other artists including singer Ritchie Court, singer Ana Caram, mandolinist Marilynn Mair, singer Kenia, the Triangulo ensemble and harmonica player Hendrik Meurkens.
Simas has toured Europe every year since 2015.
His most recent project is the Simas & Amorim Duo, a piano and guitar duo with brilliant Brazilian guitarist Wesley Amorim. Their record “Deuce” was released with a concert at the Birdland Theater.
Simas' style is influenced by classical music, jazz, rock, choro, bossa nova and other genres of popular Brazilian music.
More
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Quotes, Notes & Etc.
I'm fundraising for a new video project...
Not too long ago I wrote a very unusual piece of music, the “Canção dos Povos Originários”, a song about the various indigenous peoples of Brazil. The music has a mantra-like atmosphere, and the lyrics simply a list of names of several indigenous Brazilian tribes. I recorded piano and keyboards here in New York, my daughter Julia Haughton and myself recorded all vocals also here in New York, and the superb musician Carlos Malta recorded his haunting, exquisite and magical flute in Rio de Janeiro. The song was mixed and mastered by Paulo Roberto Brandão in Porto Alegre, Brazil, who also recorded some of the keyboards in the intro. The song hasn’t been released yet.
Now to the best part: I knew that adding images to this tune would bring the project to a whole new level, so I invited master designer Leon Vilhena to prepare a beautiful video for the song. Leon Vilhena has received many awards for his work. He was art director, team leader and motion designer at Globosat (part of Brazil’s biggest tv network) for twelve years before starting his own company “Intermitente” together with Duda Asfora.
Up to the present time I have always produced my own recordings and videos while bearing all the costs. In the case of this video, though, it would be impossible for me to do it alone, so I started a GoFundMe project and I’m hoping all of you will help me bring it to fruition.
You can watch here a sample with the first ideas that Leon had for the video, using a short part of the song. I think you may become as excited as I am and want to be a part of it too!
My Recordings
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For Audio, Visual:
Luiz Simas participated as a sideman and studio musician in hundreds of recordings with other artists in Brazil and abroad. He recorded the following CDs in the USA as the main artist:
“DEUCE” - Recently released by the Simas & Amorim duo (with Luiz Simas on piano and Wesley Amorim on guitar), this CD comes with a repertoire of original songs and compositions by Egberto Gismonti, Radamés Gnatalli, Lennon & McCartney and Agustín Barrios.
“TRANSPARÊNCIAS” - Simas’ most recent solo piano CD. It was was chosen as the year’s best Jazz CD at the solopiano.com website.
“MATA ATLÂNTICA (ATLANTIC FOREST) PIANO SUITE ” - A solo piano suite in three movements composed by Luiz Simas in a Brazilian classic style with Impressionist touches. It was inspired by the endangered Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
“CAFUNÉ” - Released both in the US and in Brazil, this CD comes with 13 original tracks and lyrics in Portuguese. Luiz sang lead vocals, played piano, composed all the songs and wrote all the arrangements and lyrics (with the exception of “Apareci por Aqui”, which has lyrics written in partnership with Silvio Ferleite). This CD features many great Brazilian and American musicians and includes vocal and instrumental tracks in several Brazilian styles. According to Simas himself, this is the CD which best represents his work as a composer, singer, pianist and arranger.
“NEW CHORINHOS FROM BRAZIL” - A solo piano CD with 10 original choros, it received great reviews on Keyboard Magazine and in several music websites. Some of Simas’ chorinhos are more traditional, while others are quite modern and bold.
“RECIPE FOR RHYTHM” - A CD with Simas’ original compositions written in partnership with lyricist Ellen Schwartz. Luiz sings lead vocals and plays piano and keyboards, together with a large ensemble of exceptional musicians such as Romero Lubambo, Sérgio Brandão, Ricky Sebastian and others.
“IMPROMPTU” - A solo piano CD with original improvisations.
“LUIZ SIMAS LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY” - Recorded live in the Consulate of Poland in New York with a line-up of piano, flute, bassoon and percussion, and featuring original tunes and songs by Jobim, Nazareth and Villa-Lobos. It is the same program which had been presented on the previous week at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
My Instruction
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Lessons/Workshops:
Private Piano Lessons through Zoom:
1 hour - $100 per lesson or 45 minutes - $90 per lesson
All levels welcome, including beginners.
If you're a musician, I will focus on Brazilian styles.
Clips (more may be added)
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
Wolfram Mathematics
This technological matrix originating in Bahia, Brazil and positioning creators around the world within reach of each other and the entire planet is able to do so because it is small-world (see Wolfram).
Bahia itself, final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other place on earth throughout all of human history, refuge for Lusitanian Sephardim fleeing the Inquisition, Indigenous both apart and subsumed into a sociocultural matrix comprised of these three peoples and more, is small-world.
Human society, the billions of us, is small-world. Neural structures for human memory are small-world...
In small worlds great things are possible.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"I'm truly thankful ... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
—Nduduzo Makhathini (JOHANNESBURG): piano, Blue Note recording artist
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
Dear friends & colleagues,
Having arrived in Salvador 13 years earlier, I opened a record shop in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for Bahian musicians, many of them magisterial but unknown.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Bahians and other Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix (people who have passed are not removed), then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Recent access to this matrix and Bahia are from these places (a single marker can denote multiple accesses).
Across the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
For a complete list of everybody inside, tap TOTAL below:
TOTAL
Nduduzo Makhathini
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Matt Garrison
RÁDIO MATRIX