brazilian bass

the evolution

of Brazilian samba groove a brief overview Tiê Fernandes Pereira Latin Bass - Codarts Conservatorium Rotterdam 2012

the evolution of Brazilian

samba groove a brief overview

Tiê Fernandes Pereira Latin Bass - Codarts Conservatorium Counselor - Oscar Van Dillen Rotterdam 2012

Table of contents 1. Introduction 2. Samba 2.1 Origins 2.2 Samba Performance and Important Accents 3. The Bass within Brazilian Music 3.1 The early days - From the 20's to the 50's 3.2 Bossa Nova 3.3 The Brazilian Jazz From the 50's to the 70's 3.4 Elis Regina and Luizão Maia 3.5 Djavan: Luizão Maia and Sizão Machado 3.6 The 80's Nico Assunção, Arthur Maia and the Brazilian Fusion 3.6.1 Nico Assumpção 3.6.2 Arthur Maia 3.7 The 90's Stagnation and the arising of the Commercial Samba 3.8 Nowadays Ney Conceição/Thiago do Espirito Santo Influences and

Tendencies

4. Conclusion 5. Appendix 5.1 Selected Discography 5.2 Proposed Studies 5.3 Sources 5.4 Acknowledgments

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1. Introduction Since the beginning of my bass studies one particular music gender has always been present in my daily practice routine, the samba. Due to the fact of my musical background, almost all my studies (regarding harmony, rhythm and melody) passed through this particular Brazilian style of music which is the most remarkable of its kind inside and outside Brazil. Since the 19th century until nowadays the samba developed in many aspects; in terms of arrangement, instrumentation, harmony, melody and of course in terms of playing. When I started to research more profoundly for different ways to approach the way of play this music through the bass, I was amazed by the amount of good bass players that in some point or some period have made a turning point in terms of approaching this style. With this research, I want to show the development of samba, starting by the early double bass players from the 30 and the 40's, the bass players that were responsible to create a unique way to play the samba from the bossa nova approach in the 50's, up to the fast fusion grooves in the E-Bass nowadays. With a strong influence especially from the U.S. music in the second decade of the XXI century (jazz, funk, fusion), the Brazilian bass players achieved a high level of Samba playing, which became a musical reference worldwide. Nowadays it's commonly seen that bass players around the world incorporate the groove figures of different types of samba within their vocabulary, due the rich rhythmical approach that this style can provide. I want to emphasize the fact during this research I will not discuss matters on the different samba styles like: samba funk, samba enredo, samba reggae and others. Instead I refer to the samba as a style in general.

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For the following research, I had used some books and internet sources related to the Brazilian music history (especially samba and bossa nova) and some bass books and methods published in Brazil. There is a lot of books on the market about how to play brazilian bass but none about the historical development of it. Most of the information I present in my thesis comes from my own knowledge, witch I gained and acquired from almost 10 years playing experience in Brazilian music. Since a very young age i was in contact with this music as a consequence of having a father who is a musician speciallized in Brazilian music. Other information especially about the bass players mentioned here I acquired in informal conversations with then in workshops and courses that i participated back in Brazil.

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2. Samba 2.1 Origins To understand the evolution of the bass playing within Brazilian music we should go back to the origins of the gender itself. Samba is a gender of music that comes from an African dance and was brought to Brazil by African slaves in the colonial period (1500 - 1530). A strong characteristic in the samba is the “accompaniment of the dance by short melodic phrases and refrains”. (André Diniz: 2006). These are the roots of the samba de roda created in Bahia, which in the late XIX century moved to the capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. The samba de roda from Bahia built the root of the carioca samba, the samba style that became popular later on. Even existing in different parts of Brazil, under different names, forms and dances, the samba as a music gender is mostly understood as an urban expression from Rio de Janeiro where it developed. It was in Rio de Janeiro that this dance got in contact with other musical genders that have already been played in the city. A representative example therefore is the French polka and maxixe. They were performed by the Royal family and members of the Portuguese aristocracy, who incorporated those dances within their festivity routine, admiring and emphasizing French culture and art at that time. The same way the urban carioca samba gained more popularity and became a symbol of national identity during the first half of the XX century. Remarkable for the history of the samba is the year 1917, when the ”first samba recording was made in Rio de Janeiro with the song called Pelo Telefone”. (André Diniz: 2006). From this moment on the gender of samba begins to spread throughout the whole country, firstly being associated with the carnival festivities and later as a propper style with its own place within the music market.

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2.2 Samba Performance and Important accents To understand the relation between the bass and the samba it is important to understand the gender first. As in many music genders that derived from African roots, the understanding of the samba is directly connected with the understanding of the percussion playing executed within it. Just to give a short example: to understand and play some Cuban rhythms like the son, bolero, mambo or rumba, the bass player should know how to lock his bass lines with the percussion (in this case the congas) and how to phrase within the Cuban clave. In the samba it will not be different: the bass player should understand the pulse, where the strong accents within the percussion are and how they are played within the musical context. The samba rhythm is executed in a binary measure in 2/4. One of its most important characteristics is the strong accent on the second beat. The instrument responsible for this accent is called Surdo and the bass being a low sounding instrument and as part of the rhythmic section, will reproduce the sound of the surdo with its accents within an ensemble situation. The surdo instrument has a “large, cylindrical body and is deep and low in sound. This type of bass drum is traditionally used in the samba schools, each school averaging from 25 to 35 instrument units”. (In: http://www.percussionista.com.br/instrumentos/surdo.html ). Its main function in the samba is to mark the tempo and the main pulses of the music. In a samba school there are 3 types of Surdos existent. The biggest one it called Surdo de Primeira or Surdo de Marcação (Pulse Surdo). It is the lowest one in terms of sound and it will be the one providing the elementary pulse to all the other musicians. In the binary compass of the samba, the Surdo de Marcação plays always on the second and the stronger beat. The second surdo (smaller and with a less low sound than the Surdo de Marcação) it called Surdo de Segunda or Response Surdo and is played in the first beat of the compass. The smallest one is called Surdo de Terceira or Cortador (cutter). It is responsible to make rhythmical variations over the other two surdos. The combination of the 3 surdos provides the basic rhythmic

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Surdos

Surdo de Primeira

Surdo de Segunda

Surdo de Terceira and some variations

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3 The bass within Brazilian music 3.1 The early days From the 20's to the 50's In the beginning of the XX century, in Rio de Janeiro the most popular rhythms played by great musicians such as the piano player Chiquinha Gonzaga, Ernesto Nazareth and Pixinguinha was the maxixe, choro, marcha rancho and carnival music. This particular musical movement called chorões was formed generally by acoustic guitars, flutes, cavaquinhos, banjos, bandolins and percussion such as pandeiro, ganzas, caxixis, bumbos and many others. At the time the bass was not integrated into these groups. Years later the famous group formed by saxophonist Pixinguinha, Os Oito Batutas started to use the 7 string guitar and sometimes the tuba to execute the bass parts. 's

In the 20 there were developed new technologies in terms of radio and communication in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The equipment was still very primary, even though the radio became the major way for contributing mass media in that time. The composer and conductor “Radamés Gnattalli, with his classical formation, started to use the double bass in his group to play in the cinemas of Rio de Janeiro and later at the National Radio”. (In: http://www.jorgepescara.com.br/) After this period Brazilian music was getting strongly influenced by the North nd American music, especially during and after the 2 World War. With formation of 's the jazz big bands in the 50 a movement arose to preserve and to rescue the Brazilian music. In Rio de Janeiro there were many clubs and bars for dancing with live music and at that time all the groups had already integrated the double bass within their formation. Unfortunately the bass players at that time could not have a good performance due the fact that the ways to capture the sound of double bass very poorly developed. Only studio and radio bass players such as Pedro Vidal, Oswaldo Alves and Juvenal could have access to a good equipment to have a better and clearer sound.

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3.2 Bossa Nova The term bossa nova originally referred to a way of singing and playing. Later this term became a synonym for one of Brazil's most internationally well known musical genders. Implementing a new way of playing samba, the bossa nova was criticized for being strongly influenced by North American Music. Those influences were reflected in dissonant chords common to the jazz language. In 1957 the great musicians Carlos Lyra (guitar player and singer), Ronaldo Boscoli, piano player Luiz Eça and the singer Sylvia Telle performed a remarkable concert in Rio de Janeiro, “announcing themselves as the Grupo Bossa Nova Presenting Modern Sambas”. (Rui Castro:1990). The bossa nova movement started actually with the spontaneous meetings between musicians from the middle and upper class of Rio de Janeiro. The meetings took place in the apartment of the singer Nara Leão, were the musicians were free to compose and play sambas with a more sophisticated and jazzy harmony with a lighter and more unattached lyrics than the traditional sambas from that time. This can be well exemplified in the expression “O amor, o sorriso e a Flor (the love, the smile and the flower) contained in the song Meditação from Tom Jobim and Newton Mendonça”. (In: http://www.dicionariompb.com.br/). The official birth of the bossa nova style took place in the year of 1958 with the record of the album Canção do Amor Demais composed by the duo of Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes sung by Elizeth Cardoso and accompanied by the inventor of this style on the acoustic guitar, João Gilberto. With the musical impact of João Gilberto, the modern songs of Tom Jobim and the interpretation of singers such as Nara Leão, Elizeth Cardoso and others, the bossa nova started to get attention worldwide especially from jazz musicians from the U.S that got particular interest in this New Harmony. On the other hand Brazilian musicians got interested in the jazz language of improvisation. This mutual interest and influence on those music styles has consequently led to the development of another important movement within Brazilian music: the Brazilian jazz.

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3.3 The Brazilian Jazz From the 50's to the 70's In April of 1953 the Brazilian acoustic guitar player “Laurindo Almeida and the jazz saxophonist Bud Shank recorded the album Braziliance in Los Angeles”. (In: http://buziosbossablog.blogspot.com/2010/11/historia-do-samba-jazz.html) In this experimental record, they presented a revolutionary idea: the solos of Shank over a Brazilian repertoire. In an organic way, Shank could adapt the language of jazz improvisation in the Brazilian music really well, which made that album the starting point for a new movement that developed in Brazil called samba jazz. One of the most important groups that started that movement in Brazil (playing Brazilian instrumental music with solos in it) was the revolutionary group Turma da Gafieira with Altamiro Carrilho (flute), Zé Bodega e Maestro Cipó (saxophone), Raul de Souza (trombone), Sivuca (accordion), Baden Powell (guitar), José Marinho (bass) and Edson Machado (drums). It is worth mentioning that the majority of the Brazilian instrumentalists at that time were strongly influenced by North American jazz music. This was actually a two- way influence that started with the recording of a Brazilian guitar player together with an American jazz saxophonist, as mentioned above. In a later period another similar influences were given for example by the recording of the album Getz/Gilberto (1964) with the inventor of bossa nova pattern on the acustic guitar, João Gilberto and with one of the jazz giants of that time, saxophonist Stan Getz or the remarkable bossa nova concert in the Carnegie Hall, one of the most important music halls of the United States in New York (1962) with many brazilian artists involved, as well as the Jazz Festival in Rio de Janeiro (1961) with U.S. musicians (American Jazz Festival, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Zoot Sims and many others).

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In this context a particular place in Rio de Janeiro was the melting pot for this fusion between the two music worlds. The legendary street called Beco das Garrafas in Copacabana was the place where four important bars with live music were situated: Bottles Bar, Ma Griffe, Baccarat and Little Club. The bars were crowded throughout the week with an audience eager to enjoy this new music movent. In this sense the Beco das Garrafas could be associated with the 52 street in New York, that in the 40's was the melting pot of jazz in the United States. It was in that period and especially in the ambience of Beco das Garrafas that the piano-double bassdrums trios began to take form and consolidate the brazilian jazz. Among the many groups its important to mention the Tamba Trio with Luiz Eça piano, Bebeto Castilho double bass and Helcio Milito drums, Sambalanço Trio (formed in Sao Paulo) with Cesar Camargo Mariano piano, Humberto Claiber double bass and Airto Moreira drums, Milton Banana Trio with many formations with one of the most important consisting in João Donato on piano and Tião Neto on bass. Milton Banana was considered the inventor of the bossa nova on drums. Another very important group from that time was formed in São Paulo, the Zimbo trio, which is still active until nowadays. The group originally consisted of Amilton Godoy piano, Luiz Chaves double bass and Rubinho drums.

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3.4 Elis Regina and Luizão Maia The combination Elis Regina and Luizão Maia can be considered as a turning point in terms of how to approach the samba/bossa nova on bass playing. Its important to mention here about the singer Elis Regina that in 1960 she was hired by Radio Gaucho (a radio from the state where she was born, Rio Grande do Sul). In 1960 she travelled to Rio de Janeiro where she recorded her first albun: Viva a Brotolandia. In 1964, a year with a “busy schedule of shows in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, she signed a contract with the Rio TV program to participate in the Rio Nights Gala”. (Regina Echeverria: 1994). Later she was asked by the drummer Dom Um Romão to sing in the famous bar of Beco das Garrafas where she probably met the revolutionary bass player Luizão Maia. About Luizão Maia: his carrer began in 1964 playing the double bass in the Rio Samba Trio. At that time, he accompanied artists such as Tania Maria and Nelson Ukulele and had a steady job as a studio musician despite his young age (he was 15 years old in 1964). Luizão switched later to the electric bass as his main instrument in 1966 when he joined the group Formula 7. In 1968, he made part of the band A Brazuca with whom he performed in many concerts and music festivals. (In: http://www.dicionariompb.com.br) In demand as a studio musician, he was invited to accompany Elis Regina with whom had played for 13 years.

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Together with piano player Cesar Camargo Mariano and drummer Paulo Braga, they formed one of the most innovative rhythm section in brazilian music. With the electric bass, Luizão Maia gave a whole new approach to the samba groove. Until Luizão Maia, the bass players generally would construct the bass lines using the root of the chord in the first beat and the lower 5th in the second and stronger beat, given the bass line, the surdo felling. With the electric bass Luizão Maia starts to add a ghost note in the last 16th of the first beat and strongly laying the 5th on the second beat. This would give even a more heavy accent on this second beat. Luizão Maia also would give this second beat a more layed back felling consequently given the groove a fatter sound. Another important feature of Luizão Maia was the adding of the rhythmical figures of the surdo de terceira in his bass lines. As explained in chapter 2.2 the “surdo de primeira” figure can be related with the second note that the bass player would play, the lower 5th of the chord, which acts as the stronger beat. The surdo de segunda figure would relate to the root of the chord, played in the first beat. On top of that Luizão would eventually add some sincopations in his lines that could be related to the surdo de terceira figure, the one that cuts the other two and is responsible for filling the empty spaces in between the two surdos. For this particular reason Luizão was the turning point for the brazilian samba groove for the bass.

Luizão Maia groove in the song Na Boca do Beco - Djavan (1976) In the bar 5 we can notice the use of ghost notes in the line In the bar 8 we have a variation on the beat 1. related to the Surdo de Terceira

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During the 70 Luizão continued to record and play with many artists such as Tom Jobim, Elizeth Cardoso, Cartola, Luiz Gonzaga, Nara Leão, Gal Costa, Maria Bethania, Gilberto Gil, João Bosco, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Rosa Passos, and also international artists as Lee Ritenour, Toots Thielemans, George Benson, Wayne Shorter, Janis Joplin and many others. Luizão also was responsible for the foundation of an important brazilian jazz's 's fusion group in the late 80 , the band Banzai with Paulo Braga on drums. In the 90 he moved to Japan were he had a serious healthy problem that made the movement of his right arm impossible. Even with his arm paralyzed, he continues to play using a right hand tapping technique. Unfortunatly, Luizão Maia died in 2005, January, 28, from a stroke at the age of 55. He was so representative for the history of brazilian bass as Jaco Pastorius was for the history of the modern electric bass.

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3.5 Djavan Luizão Maia, Sizão Machado Another important impact for the approach of bass playing within the samba was Sururu de Capote, the band that accompanied the singer Djavan. Djavan was born in a poor family at january 27th 1949 in Maceió, Alagoas. In the age of 18 he formed the group Luz, Som, Dimensão and started to play in night clubs of his city. Autodidact, Djavan moves to Rio de Janeiro to try his life as a musician recording songs of other artists (Dorival Caymmi, Toquinho, Vinícius de Moraes and others) for television novels. (In: http://www.dicionariompb.com.br). In 1976 he recorded his first album with originals: A voz, o violão e a arte de Djavan. In the year after he signed a contract with EMI-Odeon where he recorded three important albums: Djavan (1978), Alumbramento (1980) and Seduzir (1981). In his first CD Luizão Maia was responsible for all the bass lines in the songs. It is interesting to listen here that Maia's bass lines have a more funk-approach, as noticible in the song Nereci. From the album Seduzir, Djavan is accompanied by another innovative rhythm section; the band called Sururu de Capote formed by drummer Téo Lima, piano player Luis Avellar and perhaps the most important electric bass player in terms of brazilian grooves after Luizão Maia, Sizão Machado. Strongly influenced by the afro-american music from the 70's, especially the funk, the compositions of Djavan could give musicians a lot of space for improvised lines full of syncopations and cross rhythms like samba funk, partido alto, samba de morro and many more. In this context Sizão Machado would add some “new colors” to the samba bass lines: harmonics, double stops, slap and the use of a greater extension of the bass guitar to create some counter-melodies and fills during the groove, and of course the use of ghost notes as created by Luizão Maia. This can be clearly heard especially in the first song of the album Alumbramento: Tem boi na Linha; and the song Pedro Brasil in the Seduzir album. Another great inovation that Sizão Machado brought to this groove was the use of the 5 string bass. With the lower B string, Sizão could give an even fatter sound to the groove by playing that string as the 5th of a particular chord in the second beat.

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Sizão Machado - bass line in the song Tem Boi na Linha We can notice here a much more complex bass line than the previous bass player, Luizão Maia. In almost every bar Sizão use variations related to the surdo de terceira and many fills going to the righ register of the instrument as we can verify in the bars 3 and 18. The groove gets more uniform from the bar 25 but still with some fills relatead to the Surdo de Terceira.

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3.6 The 80

's

Nico Assunção, Arthur Maia and the Brazilian Fusion

From the end of the 70's and during the 80's, the brazilian music got strongly influenced by the north american music again, specially from styles like the funk and the jazz fusion. In a certain way the 80's was a decade that brought the jazz music into a broader perspective (for example larger festivals and a bigger audience). In terms of bass playing, Jaco Pastorius with Weather Report, began to lead a world revolution that would change the direction of the bass instrument for ever, through his virtuous playing and his solos. His playing influenced especially two remarkable Brazilian bassists; Nico Assumpção and Arthur Maia. They were integrated members in two of the most important Brazilian fusion groups from the 80's; High Life and Cama de Gato. 3.6.1 Nico Assumpção Antonio Alvaro Neto Assumpção was born in the city of São Paulo in August 13th, 1954. His father, a middle-class industrial and jazz lover, played acoustic bass as a amateur musician. In the home of his family, music has always been present, being jazz the major passion of Nico's father, who used to buy imported records. At the age of nine, Nico has learned to play guitar through lessons he took with the musician Paulinho Nogueira. At the age of 13 he switched from the guitar to the electric and acoustic bass and started his studies with Luiz Chaves from Zimbo Trio. Some time later, Nico was invited to give lessons for both instruments in the same school he had attended. (In: http://www.nicoassumpcao.com.br/). In 1976, age 22, he moved to New York to get more in contact with the jazz music scene. He joined the group of the piano player Don Salvador and saxophonist Charlie Rouse which gave him the opportunity to play with important jazz musicians such as Fred Hersh, Steve Slagle, Victor Lewis, Billy Cobhan, Joe Diorio, Eliane Elias, Pat Metheny, Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz and others, later on. Back in Brazil in 1981 Nico was the first Brazilian bassist to record a solo CD (Nico Assumpção Independent Label).

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In 1982, while living in Rio de Janeiro, he had become the most demanded bass player of the scene. In 1985 he formed the group High Life, which became one of the 's most successful Brazilian fusion groups of the 80 , with its members Ricardo Silveira (guitar), the drummer Carlos Bala, piano player Luiz Avellar and north american saxophonist Steve Slagle. Even though they just recorded one album, this group and its songs had an important impact and is still a strong reference point in terms of bass playing nowadays. With fast and clean licks, melodical solos and a strong groove combining the solidity of Luizão Maia and with the ghost/sixteen/funk of Jaco Pastorius approach, Nico Assumpção is still considered nowdays as the most virtuous player that Brazil ever had and one of the greatest in the world, on the electric and the double bass. On top of that, Nico Assumpção was the first Brazilian bassist to adopt the 6 string bass guitar playing breathless solos, fills and using very often the bass as a guitar, playing chords to accompany other musicians (this can be clearly observed in the great duo album with guitar player Marco Pereira Duo Brasil). Nico was a well know and very active bass player in the movement of Brazilian fusion and jazz, but it was with the singer song-writter João Bosco that he achieved the high point of his carrier as a bass player. With a great variety of rhythms in his songs, João Bosco gave Nico Assumpção the liberty to play the way he wanted which gave the bass player the opportunity to create historical bass lines in the brazilian music. Two good examples of this can be listened clearly in the album Zona de Fronteira in the songs Trem Bala and Holofotes. 's

's

During the 80 and 90 Nico Assumpção recorded in more than 400 albums and his bass lines can be heard in the songs of almost all the important names of Brazilian music in this period: Toninho Horta, Léo Gandelman, César Camargo Mariano, Nelson Faria, Edu Lobo, Elis Regina, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania, Simone, Ivan Lins, just to name a few. th Unfortunatly Nico Assumpção died at the young age of 47 at january, the 20 ,2001 as a victim of cancer.

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3.6.2 Arthur Maia Arthur Maia was born in Rio de Janeiro, April 9th, 1963. He is the nephew of the great Luizão Maia with whom he had learned the basics of the electric bass. (In: http://www.dicionariompb.com.br/). Together with Nico Assumpção, Arthur Maia was one of the inovators for bass playing in the Brazilian fusion movement. He was a member of a very important band during the 80's, the group Cama de Gato together with drummer Paschoal Meirelles, piano player Rique Pantoja and saxophonist Mauro Senise. The group is still active until nowdays but with different musicians. Similar to Nico Assumpção, Arthur Maia (also influenced by Jaco Pastorius) used the bass as a front-soloist instrument in the brazilian music and he was the pioneer in using the fretless bass in Brazil. Even being a great soloist and very advanced technically, Arthur didn't bring the exection of the instrument to it “limits” as Nico Assumpção did. He developed what we could call a more pop vein in his playing witch gave him the opportunity to record with artists of different styles. Arthur developed a unique approach in Brazilian music mixing many influences like samba-rock and pop. This is especially noticiable in his second solo album called Planeta Musica (2002), which represents a sintesis of his bass-playing. During his career until nowadays, Arhur Maia can be listened in albums from artists like: Luiz Melodia, Gal Costa, Jorge Ben, Lulu Santos, Djavan, Ana Carolina, Marisa Monte, Roberto Carlos, Seu Jorge, George Benson and many others.

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3.7 The 90 Stagnation and the arising of the Commercial Samba From the 50's until the end of the 80's, Brazil had a rich experience in terms of making music as we could see so far. From the bossa nova period until the fusion groups, the level of technique and execution of Brazilian music (and more specific, the samba) was evolving in an incredible way. During almost the whole period of the 90's, unfortunatly, the Brazilian music got in some way, stucked. The boom of the Brazilian fusion movement with all the great instrumental bands lasted until the beginning of the 90's when a particular music gender exploded, opening the door for other more commercial oriented music. The Lambada; actually a Caribbean rhythm that was sucessful in France with the group Kaoma (who was french) and Sidney Magal (Brazilian pop singer) the Brazilian representative of this style. In the year of 1990, Magal composed the lambada Me Chama que eu Vou which became a huge success by being the opening theme of the television novel Rainha da Sucata. The commercial success of lambada made records companies invest more in commercial artists. It is interesting what Darcio Fragoso wrote about this particular situation in his web-site about history of Brazilian Music: “In the 90's we had an […] affirmation of corny music, depicting the social and cultural decay of our people, manipulated by the dictatorship of the vast chain of radio stations owned most of all by deputies and senators across the country, as it is evidently much easier to manipulate and gain votes from ignorant people, and the music has contributed to it; prevail the groups of Brega and Sertanejo selling millions of records, eluding culturally the people and giving huge profits to record labels and owners of radios and TV's. Trying to improve the cultural level of people, only a few tv's and radios tried to maintain a reasonable level of programming but with no success. […] the media is more concerned with showing the gossip of artists, exploring their love lives and showing sexy photos of them. Prevail auditorium programs are exploiting their misfortunes and encouraging playful feelings of our people.

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Our schools at all levels, continued to increase in number and declining in quality. All this dishonesty of our political class, culturally, educationally and socially has a high price being paid by all of us. Talent and creativity continued to exist but prevailed in the media and commercial interests of record companies, directing all marketing effort for music of easy consumption. The few composers and singers with a good level were massacred by the vast majority of mediocre artists. (…) in the 's 90 , came groups of pagode formed by young people from less affluent classes, without decent means of survival, with a very little musical culture and whose aims were only commercial success. The authentic brazilian artists had very little 's space in the 90 .” (In: http://www.paixaoeromance.com/90decada/aber90/haber90.htm). Even with a quite radical point of view, Fragoso could give a clear overview about 's the music situation in 90 . In fact, great artists such as João Bosco, Chico Buarque, Djavan, Maria Bethania and many others continued to record albums, but without great exposure in the media. This had a direct reflection in the development of bass playing within brazilian music. In some way the situation got stucked. The bass 's 's 's players from the 60 , 70 and 80 continued to work with the great artistis, but there was no much room to develop new approaches. During this period, Arthur Maia was working regularly with Gilberto Gil, Nico Assumpção with João Bosco, Luizão Maia had gone already to Japan and Sizão Machado continued to record with Djavan and other artists. In the mean time other important bass players emerged in the Brazilian music 's scene: Marcelo Mariano, also known for his recordings with Djavan in the late 90 , Adriano Giffoni, Zeca Assumpção (double bass), Jorge Helder (mainly with his work with singer Chico Buarque), Celso Pixinga and many others. Even without a lot of popularity, the Brazilian jazz musicians continued to produce excellent records and in this field we can give some attention to Arismar do Espirito Santo. Multi-instrumentalist, Arismar plays besides bass; drums, guitar and piano. Arismar is a bass player that mixed in his playing lots of influence, from Luizão Maia to Nico Assumpção. Arismar is also responsible to develop the tapping technic in the Brazilian music. A good and clear sintesis of his work can be listened in his record from 1993: Arismar do Espirito Santo 10 Anos, especially in the track Samba Novo.

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But the 90 were mainly dominated by the lambada (first half) and then by the pagode romantico groups. Wrongly named as pagode, because actually this word means generally the place where the people used to get together to listen to samba, eat and drink, the pagode word was adopted by the samba groups with a more commercial direction. To clarify the term, pagode groups can be associated to the 's North American boy bands from the end of the 90 . Generally formed by a good look musicians and singers in the front line, the pagode groups would sing songs about broken love and other amenities from daily life, that is how the style received its nomination of Romantic Pagode. In this field its worth it mentioning a bass player that was (and still is) really important for this movement: Wilson Prateado. Besides being an excelent bass player, who gave a more pop approach to this style, 's Prateado was responsible for the production of the main pagode groups in the 90 until nowdays. In terms of bass playing there were no mayor developments occurring for the bass in this style. The only difference is that with this commercial pop approach, the bass players could play more freely inside the samba rhythm but this was nothing new as we already have listened in the recordings of Sizão Machado with Djavan for example. The romantic pagode also generated a sub-gender of samba that is nowadays very popular in Brazil, the pagode universitário or translated into english: university pagode. It is named like this because it was a samba that developed in the middleupper class from the society. This style has in the group Jeito Moleque one of its greatest representative. It is important to notice that in groups like this, the pop approach got even stronger and the mix of rhythms is sometimes so complex (from samba, to bossa, reggae, funk, pop, hip hop) that a closer look to the bass lines of this group can be interesting. Again, the bass playing in this style its just a crossover of many techniques and different approaches but nothing of that was not being used before. A good example of bass playing in this style can be listened in the album Jeito Moleque ao Vivo Me Faz Feliz from 2005, especially the track 13 Teu Sorriso played by the session bass player Alan Daniel.

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Alan Daniel in the song Teu Sorriso from Jeito Moleque ao Vivo (2005) Together with all the variations that we already verify in Luizão Maia and Sizão Machado, bass players from the pagode and samba bands from the 90’s would add in their lines empty spaces just with small fills as we can notice from the bar 13 to 29. Also they would play more freely inside the groove as we can notice in the refrain of the song from bar 5 (second page).

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3.8 Nowadays Ney Conceição/Thiago do Espirito Santo Influences and Tendencies From the 90's until nowadays, the approach to play the samba music didn't have many changes. What can be noticed in the Brazilian bassists from the new generation is that they are following a particular tendency in terms of playing. In one side we have the Nico Assumpção followers, reflected in the playing of Ney Conceição (João Bosco bassist) and André Neiva (bassist of the Cama de Gato group, the same one from Arthur Maia). Ney Conceição is a bass player that got an unique international recognition nowadays mainly because of his great work with João Bosco and also with Nosso Trio, the brazilian fusion project of guitar player Nelson Farias. In the playing of Ney Conceição, the influence of Nico Assumpção can be clearly heard especially by the use of the 6 strings bass guitar, the fast licks and solos and use of chords to accompany a particular soloist. A singular difference that can be noticed in his playing is the influence from another very well know bass player: Richard Bona. This can be noticed in the exceeding use of sixteen ghost notes in his groove. A good example of this can be listened in the Nosso Trio Album Vento Bravo from 2005.

Ney Patterns - From the studio recording of the Song Estamos Ai We can verify here the clear influence from bass players like Jaco Pastorius and Richard Bona by the restless use of 16ths notes in his groove.

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Another Brazilian bass player that is getting a huge projection not only in Brazil but also abroad, especially in the U.S is the son of Arismar do Espirito Santo; Thiago do Espirito Santo. Thiago is since a very young age playing with the best musicians in the Brazilian jazz music scene of São Paulo and in 2005 he released his first album, mainly with originals. Thiago is one of the few Brazilian bass players from nowadays that brought the level of improvisation in this instrument a step further. Strongly influenced by the improvisation language of the U.S jazz and by the fretless bass playing of Jaco Pastorius, Thiago is creating a interesting movement in terms of approach the bass in the Brazilian instrumental music combining many different techniques from chords to harmonics, passing through double stops tapping techniques and virtuous solos. Perhaps the best example to listen to it is his first solo CD Thiago do Espirito Santo from 2005. This year, 2012, Thiago has released another album, which is a tribute to the U.S jazz, called The Jazz Tradition, that was recorded in United States and with the participation of North American jazz musicians. In the São Paulo music scene there are two bass players that are gaining certain notoriety: Paulo Paulelli and Marcelo Mariano. Both of them are getting big recognition (even being in the music scene for already sometime) for their recordings especially with the guitar player and composer Chico Pinheiro. Chico is one of the representatives of the new generation of the Brazilian jazz and is gaining a lot of success inside Brazil and also in Europe, Asia and in the U.S. Combining many elements of the brazilian music with pop, funk and jazz, the songs of Chico Pinheiro gave the room for his two bass players to mix many influences in their playing. It is interesting to notice the difference in the playing between the two bass players. Marcelo Mariano has a more funky and pop approach in the songs featuring the electric bass and Paulo Paulelli has a more jazzy approach in the songs featuring the double bass. A good example to be listened is the last album of Chico Pinheiro, released in 2011 There is A Storm Inside featuring both bass players.

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In some tracks they are even playing simultaneously as in the song Boca de Siri. Besides Chico Pinheiro, Marcelo Mariano was already performing in some Djavan 's records from the 90 like Novena and others. Paulo Paulelli worked for many years with another great Brazilian singer, Rosa Passos. He also was a member of one of the most important Brazilian jazz groups from nowadays: Trio Corrente together with drummer Edu Ribeiro and piano player Fabio Torres, both also members of Chico Pinheiro group. In the instrumental scene of Rio de Janeiro the bass player André Vasconcellos is getting more and more notoriety. He is member of one of the most innovative Brazilian jazz from the new generation Brasilianos, led by mandolin player Hamilton de Holanda. Also living in Rio de Janeiro but from the south of Brazil is Guto Wirtt, a double bass player from the new generation that is getting some notoriety due his partnership with the virtuous guitar player Yamandu Costa. The list of good bass players that is nowadays in intensively active in Brazil is huge. With the arrival of new technologies and the easier access to information, more and more people are taking music seriously and going deeper in the studies of their instruments. Further it is important to mention that the focus on this chapter was the bass players who lived in the two major centres of the Brazilian music: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but taking the South to the North into account, many other bass players could have entered in this list. Remarkable is the fact that even if the technical level of playing from the bassists of nowadays has been increasing, there wasn't any breakthrough in terms of approaching the Brazilian samba groove as it happened with Luizão Maia, Sizão Machado or Nico 's Assumpção since the mid 90 .

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4 Conclusion As the name of this thesis proposed, this was a brief overview of a history which is constantly changing. Right now in Brazil, new artists, new composers and specially a new generation of good instrumentalists is going out to the music scene to make history as well. But whats is the purpose of writing a thesis about it? Might be better if I explain and talk about my own experience as a musician to make it clear. As many bass players of my generation, the first thing that had blow my mind when I started to study brazilian rhythms was the fast and breathless grooves from players such as Nico Assumpção and Ney Conceição. Nothing wrong with that, nothing at all actually, but later on I found out the importance to understand from where this players came from, from where they got the inspiration to create such amazing bass lines in the brazilian samba groove, then I discovered Sizão Machado and then Luizão Maia and on and on. Its comparable to get interest in study funk bass lines starting with Jaco Pastorius licks without know something about James Jammerson first (and the bass players that are reading this conclusion knows what im talking about). Music somehow for me is pretty much like food; you can eat something and just conclude for your self that is delicious or not just by the taste, you don't need to know what you are eating, but for sure you will taste it better if you know what is made of, where it comes from and you can even learn how to cook yourself or perhaps make your own recipe out of the same ingredients. In the music happens the same, to know the tradition, the roots of something that you are doing it will give you some permision to play with that, to mix, to cook, to change, to adapt for your own taste, having in mind of course the main goal of the thing that you are doing; in this case make the groove of the samba flows, feels good and organic. Ney Conceição perhaps is a good example nowadays when is about samba groove.

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Listening some of his recordings (specially the live ones with João Bosco for example) we can notice an excess of information and for my particular taste; sometimes too much. It's a lot of information, influencies, tendencies coming out from a single bass line; Jaco licks, Richard Bona sound, Nico Assunpção virtuosity, ghost notes, chords and the list goes on. However, if we notice and pay attention to the most important element of the groove (witch is to reproduce the Surdo pattern), is always present in his bass lines. Some years ago I was talking with Ney Conceição after a concert and he told me that he had learned to play samba with João Donato (brazilian piano player from the generation of the brazilian jazz trios) playing almost nothing (in terms of notes). Later on he also got into the studying/transcribing Nico Assumpção material period, but he told me that what caught his attention were not the virtuous solos or fills, but the heavy groove that Nico executed. Ney understood the point. He dived into the tradition (he had fortunatly the opportunity to play with artists that made and are still making the history of samba itself) of the samba groove and consequently he turned himself as a point of reference nowadays in terms of brazilian bass playing. I already had the opportunity to participate in many workshops of great brazilian bass players; Ney Conceição, André Neiva, Arthur Maia, Sizão Machado, just to name a few. Generally they talk a lot about concepts in terms of improvisation but never about the groove. Maybe because of the fact that being Brazilian; this (samba groove) is something that we grow up used to listen in our houses, parties, in the streets, so we are connect with is (somehow), we don't need to “study it”. I found out that this is a mistake and that's why sometimes we take too long to go back to the roots of the samba rhythm and understand better the function of the bass in the Brazilian samba. This thesis for me was a good way to organize cronologically how the development of bass in Brazilian music became what it is nowadays and also for any bass player interested in the Brazilian samba, a good starting for explore more . Enjoy!

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5. Appendix 5.1 Selected Discography In this chapter it is present the most significant records of bass players appointed in this thesis since the “brazilian-jazz” period in the 50's 60's until now days. It's interesting to listen to some early choro recordings such as Os Oito Batutas from the great Pixinguinha to understand specially the “pulse” of the 16th notes in the Brazilian music and how it is phrasing in the music context. It's important to register here that this is just a list of recordings with the bass players that was considered the “most innovative” or the ones that at certain point of the Brazilian music history would add a “new flavour” to the samba groove creating new directions follow by other bass players. Also important to mention that all of these records in the list can be easily downloaded from the website: http://umquetenha.org/uqt/. Brazilian Jazz trios: -

Tamba Trio Tamba Trio (1962) (bass player: Bebeto Castilho) Zimbo Trio Zimbo Trio (1964) (bass player: Luíz Chaves) Milton Banana Trio Vê (1965) (bass player: Guara) Sambalanço Trio Sambalanço Trio (1965) (bass player: Humberto Claiber)

Samba/Bossa Nova:

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Elis Regina Em Pleno Verão (1970) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Elis Regina Elis (1973) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Elis Regina e Tom Jobim Elis e Tom (1974) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Nara Leão - E que tudo mais vá pro inferno (1978) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Gal Costa Água Viva (1978) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Elis Regina Essa Mulher (1979) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Toquinho and Vinicios de Moraes 10 anos de Toquinho e Vinicios (1979) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Elis Regina 13th Montreux Jazz Festival (1982) (bass player: Luizão Maia)

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-

João Bosco Caça a Raposa (1975) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Djavan Djavan (1978) (bass player: Luizão Maia) João Bosco Linha de Passe (1979) (bass player: Luizão Maia) Djavan Alumbramento (1980) (bass player: Sizão Machado) Djavan Seduzir (1981) (bass player: Sizão Machado) Batacoto Batacoto (1993) (bass player: Sizão Machado)

Brazilian Jazz/Fusion -

Banda Black Rio Maria Fumaça (1977) (bass player: Jamil Joanes) Banda Black Rio Gafieira Universal (1978) (bass player: Jamil Joanes) Grupo Azymuth Light as a Feather (1979) (bass player: Alex Malheiros) Nico Assumpção Nico Assumpção (1981) (bass player: Nico Assumpção) Hélio Delmiro Chama (1984) (bass player: Nico Assumpção) High Life High Life (1985) (bass player: Nico Assumpção) Cama de Gato Cama de Gato (1986) (bass player: Arthur Maia) Ricardo Silveira Long Distance (1987) (bass player: Nico Assumpção) Cama de Gato Guerra Fria (1988) (bass player: Arthur Maia) Marco Pereira e Nico Assumpção Duo Brasil (1990) (bass player: Nico Assumpção) Gilson Peranzzetta e Mauro Senise Vera Cruz (1992) (bass player: Arthur Maia)

90's until Nowdays -

João Bosco Bosco (1989) (bass player: Nico Assumpção) João Bosco Zona de Fronteira (1991) (bass player: Nico Assumpção) Gal Costa Gal (1992) (bass player: Marcelo Mariano) Edu Lobo Corrupião (1993) (bass player: Nico Assumpção) Djavan Novena (1994) (bass player: Marcelo Mariano) Arthur Maia Sonora (1996) (bass player: Arthur Maia)

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-

Arthur Maia Planeta Musica (2002) (bass player: Arthur Maia) Arismar do Espirito Santo Dez Anos (2004) (bass player: Arismar do Espirito Santo) Arismar do Espirito Santo Foto Do Satelite (2005) (bass player: Thiago do Espirito Santo) Thiago do Espirito Santo Thiago (2005) (bass player: Thiago do Espirito Santo) Yamandu Costa Lida (2007) (bass player: Guto Wirtti) Hamilton de Holanda Quinteto Brasilianos 2 (2008) (bass player: André Vasconcellos) Chico Pinheiro Meia Noite Meio Dia (2003) (bass players: Marcelo Mariano, Paulo Paulelli) Trio Corrente Corrente (2006) (bass player: Paulo Paulelli) Nosso Trio Vento Bravo (2006) (bass player: Ney Conceição) João Bosco Obrigado Gente Ao Vivo (2006) (bass player: Ney Conceição) Chico Pinheiro There is A Storm Inside (2010) (bass players: Marcelo Mariano, Paulo Paulelli) Rosa Passos É Luxo Só (2011) (bass player: Paulo Paulelli)

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5.2 Proposed Studies In this section you will find some examples of samba bass lines constructed from an easier to a complex rhythmic cell. All of these examples are in the chord of Cmaj7 and can be executed in any tempo. It is important to notice how this notes works in relation to the surdo as explained in the chapter 2.2. The variations and fills must be used carefully without break the drive of the groove. The primary goal of the bass in the samba is to function as the Surdo the Primeira, so all the other notes that you play around it its just to give some extra spice for the groove. Have fun!

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5.3 Sources Books: Giffoni, Adriano - Musica Brasileira para Contrabaixo: demonstrações e exercícios com ritmos brasileiros/Adriano Giffoni: coordenação de Luciano Alves. São Paulo: Irmãos Vitale, 1997 Giffoni, Adriano - Musica Brasileira para Contrabaixo II/Adriano Giffoni: coordenação de Almir Chediak. Rio de Janeiro: Lumiar Editora, 2002 Seve, Mario - Vocabulário do Choro/Mario Seve: coordenação de Almir Chediak. Rio de Janeiro: Lumiar Editora, 1999 Diniz, André - Almanaque do Samba/André Diniz. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Editor, 2006 Castro, Rui - Chega de Saudade: A Historia e as histórias da Bossa Nova. Rui Castro. Rio de Janeiro: Companhia de Bolso, 1990 Echevaria, Regina - Furacão Elis. Regina Echevaria. São Paulo: Editora Globo S.A, 1994 Internet: http://www.jorgepescara.com.br/ http://www.suapesquisa.com/samba/ http://buziosbossablog.blogspot.com/2010/11/historia-do-samba-jazz.html http://www.nicoassumpcao.com.br/ http://www.paixaoeromance.com/90decada/aber90/haber90.htm Http://www.percussionista.com.br/instrumentos/surdo.html http://www.dicionariompb.com.br/

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5.4 Acknowledgments I would like to thanks my parents for the inspiration, my girlfriend Helene for the help with english corrections and for you that had the interest to read this tesis. quebra tudo! beijo grande no coração e tudo de bom sempre! Tiê Pereira, Rotterdam 2012

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