heloísa fernandes - press article

www.heloisafernandes.com

Heloisa Fernandespianist and composer

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Folha de São Paulo18 March 2005(Note: Folha de São Paulo is one of Brazil’s top four national newspapers.)

“FRUTO”The generous and daring paradise of Heloísa Fernandes

Arthur Nestrovski

Suddenly, without any warning, no change of the times, no particular herald, this disc arrives and puts the music of Heloísa Fernandes into the world, now richer and more beautiful, with the rest of us. A pianist and composer, she enters into our discography with impressive security and considerable daring, interpreting an instrumental repertoire in the company of partners such as percussionist Naná Vasconcelos and violinist Claudio Cruz – a contrast of names which, in itself, is a measure of originality.

The first track begins with a repeated pattern of four notes “dó,” in the middle of the keyboard, in 5/4 time. Two details: the syncopations, which shifts the melodic pattern immediately (which is not uncommon), and the accent on the last note, which is more rare and quickly defines the quality of Heloísa as an artist who is a craftsman with her music. It is not surprising that someone who attends to details such as this will then show virtuosic lines played at high speed, played in perfect unison with the flute of Teco Cardoso as if the two players were one.

One of her greatest virtues is an underlying impulse, a joy both sunny and sober, a contentment in the fun and freedom of making music, blended with the responsibility to play everything with meaning, even in the free improvisations (as in “Rosa” by Pixinguinha, played here in a duet with the master bassist Zeca Assumpção). The musical direction of Gil Jardim certainly has a part in this, and ensures a unity to the recording in both form and spirit.

In this context, the Fruto of the title has particular connotations. On one hand, the connotation of paradise and loss, gently internalized in the poetry of Cecília Meireles (1901-64), whose poem Desenho is cited in the booklet: “With Spring, I learned to allow myself to be cut and to return always whole.” Another is the idea of meanings that spring from themselves, to become new, even entirely changed. And yet another: a concrete expression for the music, in an allegory made from beautiful photographs of fruits, that make the booklet designed by Marcilio Godoi a visual complement to that which has no image.

An ex-student of Gilberto Tinetti, and finalist for the Visa award in 2001, Heloísa is a discrete presence in the relatively discrete scene of Brazilian instrumental music, which for many years has provided incredible fruits. She doesn’t give many performances, hardly appearing at all. But she cultivates her art with dedication and patience, the time required to ripen and mature. And then, this disc.


FrutoHeloisa Fernandes | Maritaca

By Matt Cibula

If Helo'isa Fernandes didn't exist, I think I

would have to invent her. Fernandes is a

Brazilian jazz pianist and composer who is

equally influenced by Bill Evans and forró; she

plays with great pointillist intricacy as easily as

she forms great sweeping legato phrases; she

sounds as confident doing her own

improvisational mini-portraits as she does

covering Caetano Veloso songs. Surely she

can't really be real.

And yet she is, and this disc is proof. She gives herself free reign to go

where she will, but somehow manages to imprint her style-of-many-

styles on the listener with no sense of contradiction or worry. In 49

minutes, Fernandes manages to form a unified musical personality, even

though the tracks range from “Voo,” where she lets flautist Teco Cardoso

blow sweetly over her Alan Broadbent-esque fills; to “Colheita,” where

vocal percussionist/madman Naná Vasconcelos does his beatboxing all

over the place; to the meditative “Jasmim,” which is funereal and

somber.

”Criança” is the prettiest, because it's the longest and because the

haunting melody is passed back and forth skillfully amongst Fernandes

and her accompanying string duo, Cláudio Cruz and Alceu Reis. This

melody mutates four or five times in nine minutes, but never really

strays too far from just being beautiful and intricate and meaningful.

Fernandes is not trying to be avant garde here, nor is she aiming for the

lowest common denominator. She is just being herself.

But the much more subdued title track, which comes right afterwards, is

just as deep, and just as important, in half the time. And the childlike

“Rosa,” an older song by folk singer Pixinguinha, manages to be playful

and simple even as it rambles all over the place. Fernandes' attack is

tight, but her fingers are loose, and her ears are wide open. And she

knows how to play with people, too: her interplay with bassist Zeca

Assumpção is probably not actually telepathic, but it must be very close,

as they always know right where to go before the other one makes a

move.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/review_print.php?id=19406

1 of 2 4/20/09 10:19 PM


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Heloisa FernandesHeloisa Fernandes | Maritaca

By Brian Gall

Brazilian pianist Heloisa Fernandes can tickle

both the hearts of those with a quieter, more

elegant classical palette and those whose

survival is reliant upon jazz. Even without a

team of dynamic percussionists and fine string

accompaniment, Fruto is a feat of arrangement

and composition.

Vocal beats in “Colheita” create an epic,

fundamental sound featuring piano and multiple musicians creating

choral rhythms together.

Bottomless, dark violin tones change the character of Fruto during the

fourth number, “Crianca.” Assuming the entire record will be set in a

cheerful scene becomes a fleeting thought as a string duo stabs away

with sorrow before Fernandes re-enters and stylishly brings spirits back

up as the piece interestingly spirals through its nine minutes.

Fernandes pounds her way along the keys and through the record's most

apocalyptic track on the Caetano Veloso-penned “Trilhos Urbanos,” one

of only two songs not written by the pianist. The piece lets loose and

devastates the quite casual sound of the album.

Two drummers, a percussionist and a guest percussionist (Nana

Vasconcelos) do get their rest time, allowing for Zeca Assumpcao

(contrabass) to guide the pianist to another level--one of a jazz duo.

After a challenging, genre-splitting ride, a 90 second finale called “Rita”

serves as a simple goodbye.

The seven-part “Suite das Meninas” moves quickly along through

entirely improvisational material and, juxtaposed against the creatively

crafted first half of the CD, begs for more to be heard.

On the strength of Heloisa Fernandes, hopefully a solo recording is in the

air. Alone, her arrangements stand-up strongly. With this group of

musicians behind her the sound is determined and complete, making for

magnificent Brazilian flavored modern music with jazz in its soul.


1 of 2 4/20/09 10:20 PM

www.popmatters.com POPMATTERS PICKS: THE BEST MUSIC OF 2005 Best Jazz Albums of 2005 by Matt Cibula 19 December 2005 Heloísa Fernandes, Fruto (Maritaca)

This pianist from Sao Paulo loves Bill Evans and old forró music and straight-ahead jazz and avant-garde jazz and classical music and life and love and chil-dren and peace and liberty and friendship, and it all comes across here on this stunning record. Her musical accomplice, Zeca Assumpçao, provides a great bottom end on bass, and guest Nana Vasconcelos does his funky vocal percus-sion thang on “Colheita”. But this is Fernandes’s show all the way. Her manic take on Caetano Veloso’s “Trilhos Urbanos” is like Vince Guaraldi’s undone score for “Charlie Brown Moves to Harlem,” and her chilled-out title tune is a frozen candy bar. But the most ambitious piece is the best one: Her double-tracked pointillist piano and harpsichord work on “Criança” plays nicely off the two cellists who bring this nine-minute piece into the mystic. Better wake up, American jazzos, Brazil is KILLING you right now.


Heloisa FernandesHeloisa Fernandes | Maritaca

By Brian Gall

Brazilian pianist Heloisa Fernandes can tickle

both the hearts of those with a quieter, more

elegant classical palette and those whose

survival is reliant upon jazz. Even without a

team of dynamic percussionists and fine string

accompaniment, Fruto is a feat of arrangement

and composition.

Vocal beats in “Colheita” create an epic,

fundamental sound featuring piano and multiple musicians creating

choral rhythms together.

Bottomless, dark violin tones change the character of Fruto during the

fourth number, “Crianca.” Assuming the entire record will be set in a

cheerful scene becomes a fleeting thought as a string duo stabs away

with sorrow before Fernandes re-enters and stylishly brings spirits back

up as the piece interestingly spirals through its nine minutes.

Fernandes pounds her way along the keys and through the record's most

apocalyptic track on the Caetano Veloso-penned “Trilhos Urbanos,” one

of only two songs not written by the pianist. The piece lets loose and

devastates the quite casual sound of the album.

Two drummers, a percussionist and a guest percussionist (Nana

Vasconcelos) do get their rest time, allowing for Zeca Assumpcao

(contrabass) to guide the pianist to another level--one of a jazz duo.

After a challenging, genre-splitting ride, a 90 second finale called “Rita”

serves as a simple goodbye.

The seven-part “Suite das Meninas” moves quickly along through

entirely improvisational material and, juxtaposed against the creatively

crafted first half of the CD, begs for more to be heard.

On the strength of Heloisa Fernandes, hopefully a solo recording is in the

air. Alone, her arrangements stand-up strongly. With this group of

musicians behind her the sound is determined and complete, making for

magnificent Brazilian flavored modern music with jazz in its soul.


1 of 2 4/20/09 10:20 PM


TRACKS:

All tracks by Heloísa Fernandes, except

where noted.

Vôo1.

Rosa (Pixinguinha)2.

Colheita3.

Criança4.

Fruto5.

Trilhos Urbanos (Caetano

Veloso)

6.

Jasmin7.

Suíte das Meninas

(improvisations)

Beatriz

Isabel

Maria

Laura

Inês

Rita

8.

Heloísa Fernandes

Fruto

Maritaca M1015 (2004)

Time: 48'15"

Fruitful Combinations

Reviewed by Kees Schoof Kees Schoof

April 2005

After listening to this album, Fruto, it is hard to understand how it is

possible that the name of Heloísa Fernandes is so unknown. She

is an incredible pianist, an outstanding jazz musician with a

marvelous taste for music.

It was her mother who guided her during her first contacts with the

piano, at age five, the beginning of a long road of studying and

perfecting skills. She completed her piano studies with distinction

at the Conservatório Dramático e Musical in São Paulo, followed

by studies in composition, harmony, orchestration and teaching at

the Centro Livre de Aprendizagem Musical. Heloísa participated in

various daring project. As part of a duo with percussionist Ari

Colares, she performed ethnic and religious music. Together with

pianist Benjamim Taubkin she performed in the project "Pianos em

Duo." Later she was invited by Ari Colares to join in with the

"Percussionistas" project. Meanwhile Heloísa was among the 5

finalists at the 2001 Prêmio Visa, Brazil's prestigious music award

(that year won by Yamandú). It is clear that the pianist/composer

knows her art very well. At this first album there is an impressive

proof of that. You can't help thinking about Eliane Elias when you

listen to Heloísa. Not because the two Brazilian pianists sound alike, but because you wonder how it's

possible that Eliane Elias is world wide known while only few people know Heloísa Fernandes. Heloísa is

most certainly a musician deserving wider recognition. On

the other hand we should be glad she decided to stay in

Brazil, a decision that makes her music sound much more

authentic, or, if you wish, personal.

On this cd the pianist can be heard in various strengths and

various musical styles. An important part is played by

bassist Zeca Assumpção, who gets a chance to show his

indisputable mastership. His sound is beautiful and his bass

lines are perfectly chosen. It seems like he and Heloísa

Heloísa Fernandes: Fruto file:///Users/user/Documents/Artists/Heloisa%20Fernandes/Curren...

1 of 2 7/30/09 9:31 PM


HOME BRAZILIAN MUSIC LINKS DISCOGRAPHIES REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS WEB RADIO WHO WE ARE

TRACKS:

All compositions by Heloísa Fernandes.

Rebuliço1.

Catirinha2.

Antoninho3.

Candeias4.

Praiás5.

Andarilho6.

In-Depth Reviews Since September 7, 2002

Heloísa Fernandes

Candeias

Independent (2009)

Time: 45'45"

Updating Roots

Reviewed by Kees Schoof

September 2009

Some four years ago I ended my review of Heloísa Fernandes' debut

album Fruto (2004) with an impatient curiosity about the pianist's next

project. It took a while, but the result even surpasses the high expectation

that I dared to cherish in my musical wishes.

The pianist/composer from São Paulo (for biographical notes, please visit

the review page of Fruto) didn't "just" record a follow-up. Heloísa

Fernandes managed to deliver a masterful piece of music that was

preceded by some serious research in Brazil's folkloric musical heritage.

On the album Fruto it was easy to notice that the pianist combines a very

personal style with warm influences from the rich Brazilian music tradition. It must be part of Heloísa Fernandes'

talent, since she sublimated her interest in the roots of Brazilian music by a year of intensive studying. The basis

of the study was the book "Melodias Registradas por Meios Não-Mecânicos" (Melodies Recorded by

non-Mechanical Devices) by anthropologist Mário de Andrade, published in 1946. In that book De Andrade and

his erudite research team transcribed during the period 1936-1938 no less than 570 folkloric songs from various

parts of Brazil, creating a valuable source of basic Batuque, Cateretê, Caboclinho, Praiá and other folkloric

rhythms and styles. The almost forgotten or unconventional conserved music was thus made available for further

exploration. And that's exactly what Heloísa Fernandes pursued in her linked up project "Melodias do Brasil:

Identidade e Transformação" in which she completely absorbed the anthropologic music and its historical

atmosphere. It all served as an inspiration for Heloísa's compositions that we hear on Candeias. The album

doesn't serve as a history class but more as a class in how history can form the basis of contemporary music.

Music connects to people and people connect to their ancestors. This CD is the reflection of that.


Público

Em tempo de Quaresma, Braga celebrou o jazz

17 March 2010

(Público is a Portuguese national daily newspaper and is widely regarded as Portugal's

newspaper of record.)

In the time of Lent, Braga celebrates Jazz

The music of Heloísa Fernandes is elegant, sophisticated and original

by Nuno Catarino

We're in Lent, a period that precedes Easter and that requires fasting and abstinence for

believers, a time experienced by the inhabitants of Braga with particular intensity.

However, in the city of archbishops these rules of fasting are not applied to jazz. Theatro

Circo was invaded by the BragaJazz Festival during two consecutive weekends in a

program dominated by projects led by women.

The second weekend of BragaJazz started on Friday night, April 12th, with the Heloísa

Fernandes Trio. The Brazilian pianist proved to be a very pleasant surprise, unfolding an

elegant, sophisticated and original music. Using the jazz language as a starting point and

evidence of an affinity for classical music, Fernandes began with an interesting blend of

sobriety and restraint at the piano, and then expressed a great intelligence in the

development of themes, constructing a highly structured music.

Evoking at times the inventiveness of Keith Jarrett, the piano of Heloisa Fernandes could

explore the tension of each theme, making the music grow smoothly and fluidly. The

pianist was accompanied by a great rhythmic duo: Zeca Assumpção on bass and Ari

Colares on percussion – whose unique kit filled with ethnic instruments was well utilized.

The concert was almost exclusively based on original compositions, inspired by Brazilian

folklore, and the trio played only one theme by another composer – Trilhos Urbanos, by

Caetano Veloso – and remained well clear of MPB’s clichés (Brazilian Popular Music).

This led to an original music that the public recognized with loud applause and a standing

ovation.


May 2010


CandeiasHeloisa Fernandes | Self Produced

By Raul d'Gama Rose

The pursuit of art is ceaseless, firstly because

the artist is--to use the Latin from whence it

came and it reads thus: poeta nascitur non fit.

Art is, as well, an exposition of life as it

tumbles upon the world, this way and that.

However, for the artist there is another raison

d'être. The impulse to adorn, to make

art--poetry, music, painting, and even

architecture--is first revealed in the soul. Its

nature is especially innate in the artist, so amorphous and elastic that it

is difficult to predict the outcome. The artist then becomes inspired to

channel the impulse and give his or her art form. This is quite a sojourn,

especially where cultures collide and. like meteors. must be left

sometimes to cool for hundreds of years.

Fortunately, artists and historians often are alter egos and sometimes

make strange bedfellows--even if they lived years apart. Pianist Heloísa

Fernandes lived almost five decades apart from Mario de Andrade, but

on Candeias their lives intersect, and the music they love and seek to

see comes alive in such a way as to preserve its history and origins, as

well as put it in the context of today. De Andrade is a genius

anthropologist, sociologist, poet and musician from Sao Paolo who led a

historic expedition in 1938 to document the music of Afro Brazil and the

Amerindians of Pernambuco, Parafba, Ceara, Piaui and Maranhao. Now

Heloisa has followed his example, albeit spiritually and figuratively as

well.

After immersing herself in De Andrade's documentation, for Candeias

Fernandes chose some of the traditional forms and gave them rebirth.

These musical forms--some of them worship songs and dances, others

profane expressions of love for the spirits--are carried in the souls of

Brazilian people. Fernandes gives them new life with superlative

interpretations all her own. De Andrade's amazing musical documents

formed the spirit of the songs so masterfully shape-shifted into a world

where time and space have become one.

On these songs, Fernandes is joined by the masterful bassist, Zeca

Assumpcao and the percussion colorist, Ari Colares. The musicians


1 of 2 10/6/09 8:56 AM


Estado de Minas

Brasil Profundo

21 August 2009

(Estado de Minas is the leading newspaper published in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the Brazilian

state of Minas Gerais).

Profound Brazil

Heloisa Fernandes releases CD inspired by popular culture

by Eduardo Tristão Girão

It's almost impossible not to remember Egberto Gismonti when listening to Candeias, the second CD

by pianist Heloísa Fernandes, born in São Paulo. This doesn’t happen by chance: both musicians

“drink” directly from the source in Brazil to develop their own language at the piano. Accompanied

by bassist Zeca Assumpção and percussionist Ari Colares, she performs tonight at Juvenal Dias,

showing her new instrumental repertoire inspired by folk melodies compiled by researchers of the

1930s.

The researchers, in this case, are Mário de Andrade, Oneyda Alvarenga, Martin Braunweiser and

Camargo Guarnieri, who collected 570 melodies in different regions of the country (including Minas

Gerais) between 1936 and 1938. It's all in the book A Register of Melodies Recorded via Non-

Mechanical Means, published in 1946. “Most striking is that the melodies were handwritten, because

at that time, audio recording was not available. Their work enchanted me,” said Heloisa, who began

the project's research two years ago. The album was recorded between April and June in São Paulo.

From this enchantment, six original compositions were created that comprise the album. Separately or

together, they clearly show the assimilation of these “ancestral melodies” into the pianist's music. “In

the work of Mário de Andrade, I found a visceral passion for Brazil’s culture. I identified with it. The

country has great richness and beautiful music with many influences, a great mixture,” she says.

The result shows us that, with talent, the appropriation of elements of popular Brazilian music opens

unlimited possibilities. Yes, she performs in a trio, but her music doesn’t have a close kinship to

traditional jazz trios. It’s closer to the unclassifiable work of the master Gismonti, which is hardly

ever described with such labels.

“Gismonti is my great musical passion,” confirms Heloísa. The song's names are suggestive:

Rebuliço, Catirinha, Antoninho, Candeias, Praiás, and Andarilho.

PATHS

Candeias succeeds Fruto (2005), Heloísa’s first album, released with Zeca Assumpção, Ari Colares,

Nana Vasconcelos, Teco Cardoso, Claudio Cruz and Alceu Reis, among others. “The language and

the way of playing on the two CDs are related. Fruto brings forth the Brazilian character that I

pursue, and that I realize more clearly in Candeias. Anyway, there is unity between them,” observes

the pianist.

The current tour, which began earlier this month, was awarded to Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Belo

Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo. After these performances, Heloísa plans to

release an album with harmonica player Gianluca Littera, and record another with American flutist

Keith Underwood.


Pianist plays from heart

Brazil native blends folk influence with energy of jazz

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A conversation between Heloísa Fernandes and Post and

Courier writer Adam Parker

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Guia da Folha

Candeias

25 September 2009

(Guia da Folha is a widely read weekly guide that appears in Folha de São Paulo, one of

Brazil's largest daily newspapers and published in São Paulo.)

Candeias

by Irineu Franco Perpetuo

Brazil has developed an interesting recent tradition of popular young pianists, who seem

to reflect the taste for the blended contexts of Egberto Gismonti, the refinement of Luiz

Eça, and the pure jazz of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.

Heloisa Fernandes is part of this generation and, with the support of Petrobras, decided

to dedicate herself to the folk research material collected and organized by Mário de

Andrade and his collaborators in the 1930s and published in the book "A Register of

Melodies Recorded via Non-Mechanical Means."

But just because folklore is the source, the result does not have to be noisy or dressed in

garish colors. Consisting of original compositions, drawn from popular sources,

Fernandes constructs an intimate and chamber music universe of sound in subtle dialogue

with the percussionist Ari Colares and Zeca Assumpção, and with an exquisiteness that is

found in all aspects of the CD, including the booklet and the high quality of the sound

recording.

heloísa fernandes - press article

Documents

music of helosa fernandes

quality of helosa

instrumental repertoire

discrete presence

considerable daring

repeated pattern

connotation of paradise

melodic pattern