Paulo Morello

Guitarist Paulo Morello and his three equally talented co-musicians merge jazzy bop and the variety of rhythms, forms and moods of Brazilian music into something new and beautiful. Paulo Morello has put together an exquisite band for 'Sambop', Lula Galvão (born 1962), is the star guest from Brazil on the acoustic guitar and one of the masters of his profession, who has played with Caetano Veloso, Rosa Passos, Ivan Lins and Guinga. The rhythmic drive is provided by Eduardo "Dudu" Penz on electric bass and Mauro Martins on drums - two Brazilians living in Switzerland, for Paulo Morello "the best Brazilian rhythm section in all of Europe".

The two guitarists Catherine and Morello met in 2010 at the Burghausen Jazz Festival know and appreciate. In 2017, the two guitar virtuosos together with bassist Sven Faller founded an intimate and grooving trio. Now her first album "Manoir de mes Rêves" is released - named after a composition by European jazz pioneer Django Reinhardt. Much of the repertoire comes from the Paris of the 1950s and 60s, including compositions by Georges Brassens, Henri Salvador and Eddy Louiss, Philip admired since his youth. Even more recent material from the repertoire of the legendary Belgian singer Maurane or the famous bossa nova "Recado" offer an ideal springboard for the filigree interaction of the three individualists.

Guitar greats Philip Catherine and Paulo Morello got to know and appreciate each other in 2010 jamming together at the Burghausen Jazz Festival. In 2017 they teamed up with bassist Sven Faller to start a real collaboration. The chemistry of this trio turned out to be just right and lead to a number of well-received concerts. After successfully continuing their tour in 2018 they decided it was time to document their efforts in a recording.

Equally concise and straight forward is the title of his latest album. Sambop is a fusion of two terms - the latter associating the core style of modern jazz, while the first alludes to the most important form and the most influential rhythm of Brazilian music - standing for the musical and artistic concept of the present album: the encounter of Samba and Bop, or rather: Morello and his three musical peers merging Bop jazz and the diversity of rhythms, forms, and voices of Brazilian music into a whole, into something new and beautiful, as if Samba and Choro had always been played on the semiacoustic jazz guitar; or as if Duke Ellington had first designed his "I'm Just a Lucky So and So" as a funky Baião". If they choose a jazz standard it becomes "brazilianized", and if they decide in favor of a Choro like "Nosso Amigo Esmé" Morello's soloing comes out to be just as jazzy and bop-style, as if Brazilian Choros have always been a part of the jazz repertoires and influences of role models like Wes Montgomery, George Benson, and Pat Martino.

Guitarist Paulo Morello and his three equally talented co-musicians merge jazzy bop and the variety of rhythms, forms and moods of Brazilian music into something new and beautiful. Paulo Morello has put together an exquisite band for 'Sambop', Lula Galvão (born 1962), is the star guest from Brazil on the acoustic guitar and one of the masters of his profession, who has played with Caetano Veloso, Rosa Passos, Ivan Lins and Guinga. The rhythmic drive is provided by Eduardo "Dudu" Penz on electric bass and Mauro Martins on drums - two Brazilians living in Switzerland, for Paulo Morello "the best Brazilian rhythm section in all of Europe".

When guitarist Paulo Morello and saxophonist Kim Barth temporarily moved into an apartment on the Rua Nascimento Silva in Ipanema three years ago they never would have thought that this would effect their musical lives in such a great way. In search of local musicians to jam with they were lucky to find artists that regularly play with the most prominent names of the Brazilian Música Popular like Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento. The incredible virtuosity and the cordial atmosphere that bass player Lúcio Nascimento, drummer Adriano de Oliveira, pianist João Carlos Coutinho and their German pals engendered has already been captured on the release “Fim De Semana Em Eldorado” (Weekend In Eldorado) that you still may remember very well. It also featured two of the legendary names of Bossa Nova’s heyday: Johnny Alf who is considered the true father of the genre, influencing even the early Jobim, as well as his close friend Alaíde Costa, revered as the “Billie Holiday of Brazil” who was at the very heart of the new movement during the late 1950s.

This album features Jermaine Landsberger, Paul Morello and Christoph Huber on a special mission to revive the distinctive sound of the legendary Hammond-B3 plus guitar.For this new production, the three musicians expanded the rhythms of their musical language, incorporating jazzrock and funk. While, on their first album, they presented modern, swinging Hammond jazz, here they are juggling with odd and straight meters (“Back In The Pan”) and are overlapping rhythms deriving from encounters with jazz improvisation and the funky rhythmic intensity of hot rock.

Philip Catherine – guitar; Paulo Morello – guitar; Sven Faller – bass
"Pourquoi" is a composition by Philip Catherine lending its name to the second studio encounter with his guitar confrere Paul Morello and Sven Faller on bass. A "Pourquoi" which - yes, you read this right - is doing quite well without the question mark - a word- and title play through which the jazz guitar doyen Philip Catherine (b. 1942 is outing himself as a witty prankster and a joker in life and on stage; a living, young- at-heart jazz legend, turning eighty in 2022; a great musician, appreciated as a national hero in Belgium, the small country with the great jazz scene.

Three friends, and at the same time three outstanding exponents of the European jazz and world scene, have joined forces for this album. Guitarist Paulo Morello has played with Paul Kuhn, Billy Cobham, Philip Catherine and Airto Moreira, among others, while Mulo Francel is best known as the frontman of Quadro Nuevo. Bassist Sven Faller has played with Larry Coryell or Konstantin Wecker, among others, and rounds out the trio. This absolute focal point will find many fans.

Three friends, and at the same time three outstanding exponents of the European jazz and world scene, have joined forces for this album. Guitarist Paulo Morello has played with Paul Kuhn, Billy Cobham, Philip Catherine and Airto Moreira, among others, while Mulo Francel is best known as the frontman of Quadro Nuevo. Bassist Sven Faller has played with Larry Coryell or Konstantin Wecker, among others, and rounds out the trio. This absolute focal point will find many fans.