Joao Selva Maré Vai Subir

Notable guitarist, songwriter, Composer and producer Steve Vai, who has worked with Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, and a rich catalog of solo material garnering 3 Grammy wins, 15 nominations, myriad world wide awards and over 15 million career record sales, is releasing the second volume of his project Piano Reductions, after 14 years. Vai teamed up with the extremely talented professional Japanese pianist Miho Arai, who has idolized Steve for years, to recreate piano versions of 12 of his songs, including "Burning Rain," "Lucky Charms" and "Dying For Your Love" and many more. Her virtuosity is breathtaking. Vai fans responded very well to Piano Reductions Vol I, and he is now releasing Vol II.

Joao Bosco is the greatest civil engineer turned singer/songwriter in the history of Brazilian popular music. He graduated with his degree in 1972 but since then has been concentrating on becoming one of Brazil's most formidable songwriters. For most of his early career he supplied Elis Regina with some of her best material, indeed it could be said that each one made the other's career, but since her death, Bosco has stepped into the performance limelight with a great degree of authority and has been one of the more compelling figures in Brazilian music for the last 25 years.

Chamber music has always formed the heart of Maria Joao Pires musicianship. Indeed, she has often commented that she is happier working with others than performing on her own. Not sharing a stage is very difficult for me, she once remarked (in an interview for ArtsJournal in 2012). You are apart from the group, apart from community, apart from everything. You become different and special. And, if you become different and special, youre alone.

A very exotic number masterfully mixing jazz, folk and classical elements. Laginha's virtuoso phrasing on the piano has classical roots, as do Muthspiel's acoustic guitar arpeggios, and both players obviously speak fluent jazz.
Gurtu's cymbal polyrhythms derive from his Indian background and from American drummers, but his tabla adds a clearly oriental color. As for João's voice, it is simply out of this world. Upbeat staccato scat singing, timbre and inflections that conjure up an animal cry, a baby's moan, an old man's grunt she is everything and anything she wants to be, and we can't help falling under her spell.