Pianist/Vocalist Tania Maria & Bassist Eddie Gomez

TANIA MARIA’S NEW CD, “TEMPO”

(WITH BASSIST EDDIE GOMEZ)
TO BE RELEASED BY
NAXOS OF AMERICA & FRANCE’S NAIVE RECORDS
JANUARY 31 U.S. RELEASE DATE

Tempo, the new duo album by pianist/vocalist Tania Maria and bassist Eddie Gomez, feels like a terrific late set at a small jazz club in Rio, Paris, or New York. Tania and Eddie have recorded together before, and their intuitive interplay makes Tempo a special session.

Internationally renowned for her exhilarating vocals and keyboard artistry, Tania Maria’s music is a stylish combination of jazz, funk, Afro-Cuban elements, and the popular music of her native Brazil. She has created an eclectic fusion that is her own unique brand of jazz and appeals to audiences around the world. Maria’s raw alto has set her apart in the jazz world, her voice sounding sometimes bossa songstress, sometimes Brazilian soul singer.

Tania Maria was born in Sao Luis in the north of Brazil, in the heart of a family who practiced music with great enthusiasm. She quickly became sensitive to Brazilian tempos and rhythms. Beginning on the piano at the age of seven, within six years she was the leader of a band that won first prize in a local contest. She developed her own masterful synthesis of what she heard — an effervescent style of piano work and vocals in arrangements that fuse Brazilian rhythms and Caribbean salsa with the improvised expression that is the heart of American jazz.

Although six years of classical study underlie her solid piano technique, Tania’s highly praised vocal skills came naturally, “I’m Brazilian”, she says, “and singing is the greatest tradition we have”. Well known for ebullient scat singing, she identifies herself primarily as a pianist. “I play percussion on my piano”, she explains, rather than smooth runs up and down scales. And she often scats in unison or harmony with the notes that flow from her touch, soaring beyond the constraints of words.

Tania’s first album, Olha Quem Chega, was released in Brazil in 1971, but it was a move to France in the late 1970’s that enabled her to explode onto the international jazz scene. At a concert in Australia, her formidable musical precision and freewheeling spirit caught the attention of guitarist Charlie Byrd, who recommended her to Carl Jefferson, founder of Concord Records.

A move to New York followed, and in 1983, she released the album Come with Me on Concord Records. The title track became a huge international smash hit, and is still played on the radio and in clubs all over Europe, Japan, and America.

Well established as an international veteran, with over 25 albums out as leader, Tania has moved into a particularly productive period in her career, as evidenced on 2000’s Viva Brazil, 2002’s Live At The Blue Note, and 2003’s Outrageously Wild.

Those records were for Concord, but in the years since she has recorded with other labels. Tania’s most recent release is Tempo, on the French label Naïve, and features bassist Eddie Gomez. It’s the work of a mature, talented artist who’s been around long enough to know how to make everything she does sound near perfect.