Tag: Live Footage

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: John Finbury Teams Up with Bruna Black on Breezy and Soulful “Chão De Nuvem”

Andover, MA-based Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated drummer and composer John Finbury spent his teenaged years playing in rock bands at New York’s The Bitter End. Finbury went on to study classical piano, music theory and composition at the Longy School of Music at Bard College and at Boston University.

Back in 2014, the Andover-based musician and composer released The Green Flash, a four song EP of four original compositions of Brazilian jazz. All four songs received nominations for the 2015 American Songwriting Awards with “SambaDan” winning for Best Instrumental. Finbury followed The Green Flash EP with 2015’s 11-song Brazilian jazz effort Imaginário featuring vocalist Marcella Camargo and some of Boston’s best players, including Fernando Huergo, Mark Walker, Tim Ray, Claudio Ragazzi, Roberto Cassan and Ricardo Monzon. Finbury surprised the Latin music world when Imaginário track “A Chama Verde” received a Latin Grammy nomination for Song of the Year.

2017’s Pitanga was released to critical acclaim. Adding to a rapidly growing profile in the Latin music scene, Finbury’s third album, the Emilio D. Miler-produced Sorte!, which saw him collaborating with vocalist Thalma de Freitas and an All-Star band featuring Vitor Gonçalves, Chico Pinheiro, Duduka de Fonseca, John Patitucci, Rogerio Boccato and Airto Moreira received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz album.

2020 saw the release of two albums of originals: American Nocturnes: Final Days of July featured intimate chamber jazz compositions featuring arrangements for piano, cello, guitar, accordion and harmonica — and Quatro, a Latin jazz album featuring Lagos Herrera, Chano Domínguez, John Pattiucci and Antonio Sánchez.

During the pandemic, the Andover-based musician and composer collaborated with French jazz vocalist Camille Bertault. They recorded and released “Look at What a Mess You Made of Me,” which featured Christian McBride (bass) and “Boulevard,” which featured Larry Gouldings (organ) and Billy Martin (drums).

In 2021, following the death of the legendary Chick Correa, Finbury and de Freitas wrote and recorded “Ring The Bells” as a tribute to the man and his heavily influential work.

Las year, Finbury wrote and released three original Brazilian jazz compositions recorded in São Paulo by Mestrinho (accordion), Michael Pipoquinho (bass), Cainã Cavalcante (guitar), Celso de Almeida (drums) and Leo Rodrigues (percussion).

This year looks to be very busy year for Finbury: He continued an ongoing collaboration with Magos Herrera and recorded and released three original compositions of Chamber Jazz. The Andover-based musician and composer also continued his successful collaboration with Miler, who introduced him to rising São Paulo-based singer/songwriter Bruna Black.

Black wound up contributing vocals to Finbury’s forthcoming album — and wrote the lyrics to two of them, including the album’s latest single “Chão De Nuvem.” Featuring a soulful yet breezy arrangement of fluttering accordion, a supple bass line, shuffling percussion to create a song that effortlessly and gorgeously meshes elements of samba, jazz fusion and pop that serves as a perfect vehicle for Black’s languorous and soulful delivery.

The song describes the São Paulo-based artist describing her journey in music starting with her breakthrough appearance on Brazil’s The Voice, and her rapid rise to fame with AVUA — and her collaboration with Finbury and his All-Star cast of musicians that brought her to New York.

Look for the album in Spring 2024.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: WIND MILE Performs “Alone” in Berlin

 Berlin-based singer/songwriter, musician and photographer Antonin Côme is the creative mastermind behind the emerging indie rock project WIND MILE. Music allows the emerging Berlin-based artist to shut down the scientific/logical mind and follow his instincts.

Côme’s debut EP was written during a rather liminal period of his life: between Germany and France, and between his time as a student and adulthood. The EP’s material is rooted in the ambition to craft a coherent batch of songs that the listener can dive into repeatedly — built around guitar arpeggios, glistening synths and propulsive bass lines paired with dreamily delivered vocals.

The EP’s latest single, the dreamy ”Alone” is built around glistening guitar arpeggios, twinkling synths, the Berlin-based artist’s dreamy and plaintive delivery and enormous hooks. While sounding indebted to 80s pop, “Alone” is rooted in a lived-in earnestness — and is inspired by personal experience: The one was written between two different conversations with his six new roommates, who were — thankfully for him — becoming his friends. And as a result, the song is an ode to socializing and meeting new friends while reflecting his own need to be surrounded by people.

Recently, the emerging Berlin-based artist shared live footage of him and his backing band performing “Alone” in a gorgeous, sun-filled conference room with 50s-styled chandeliers. The live footage captures a group of young artists, who have developed an unmistakable simpatico.

“This live session came with the wish to capture a performance of us all together, firstly as a memory of the times we are spending creating something that belongs to us only,” Côme explains. “We are proud of it and wanted to be able to watch it when older.

“Additionally, we see it as a display of our craft and aesthetic ideas behind our music. We found this amazing location, the forum of an art school in Berlin, and managed to fully convince its owner after he attended one of our concerts. Restored in 2011, the design is from the 50’s, and the amazing wood walls and exceptionally high ceilings are a true gem and perfect complement our music that wishes to be polished, shiny, yet granular, spacious and soft. Finally, the warm and low-contrasty color palette of the place is fitting our sound ideas : we like to see it as an additional instrument for this session.

Accompanying us are five amazing friends that gathered forces to help us create this session, which made us quite emotional. Everyone in the band contributed to something they were the best at and seeing this synergy that was similar to the one we feel on stage was purely heartwarming. Not many of us actually come from art schools, and having the possibility to take part of a project like this one was a blessing and something we’ve secretly wished for a long time.”