Join us for an online conversation about Brazilian jazz with talented guitarists and educators Geovane Santos and Richard Miller. They will play some solo pieces and talk about their journeys performing and teaching Brazilian jazz guitar.

About Geovane Santos:

Geovane Santos, a native Brazilian from the city of Belo Horizonte, is a guitarist, composer, arranger, vocalist, educator, and awardee of the 2017 Louis Armstrong Foundation Jazz Composer Award through ASCAP in association with the University of New Orleans (UNO). Currently a local presence in the New Orleans music scene, in his debut album “Jobim,” Santos pays tribute to one of Brazil’s greatest composers of all time: Antonio Carlos Jobim. In spite of being regarded as well rounded solo guitarist and improviser, Santos doesn’t have his solo guitar playing in the forefront at all. More as a collaborative effort, every song has a featured musician, either carrying the melody, singing, or improvising. The entire album consists of Santos’s impressions of Jobim’s music. There are numbers that reenact the classic Bossa-Nova sound such as in Corcovado, Once I Love, Chega de Saudade, Wave. and Só Danço Samba; jazzed up rendition of Triste; Caribbean sounds from Haiti and Jamaica on Água de Beber and Girl From Ipanema; Fusion rock on How Insensitive and O Morro Não tem Vez; and Dindi as a romantic ballad. The album is very diverse, not only for the genres chosen for each selection, but in terms of instrumentation, which mixes acoustic and electric instruments, and songs sung in English and Portuguese (a defining characteristic of Jobim’s music).

You can find Geovane Santos’ information at www.gpstheguitarist.com.

About Richard Miller:

Richard Miller explores the richly expressive sounds of the nylon string guitar (both 7 string and 6 string) with a repertoire that includes Brazilian styles (choro, samba, bossa nova, forró, etc.), American jazz, Latin American styles (salsa, bolero, tangos, etc.), and Classical guitar. He is also active as an educator, composer, and writer/presenter for academic publications and conferences. He earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Catholic University of America in 2006 and he has taught theory and guitar at Georgetown University. He holds a Master of Music degree in guitar performance from Manhattan School of Music. Richard Miller was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to an American father and a Brazilian mother and moved frequently in Brazil, United States and Puerto Rico (see “Treble is my middle name” under musings). He has become well known in the Washington, DC area for his performances of both classical guitar music and popular Brazilian and Latin-American music and has traveled extensively for concerts and recitals in United States and Latin America. A review of a recital by Richard at the State Department affirmed “Throughout his recital, he not only displayed impeccable technique but communicated his love of this beautiful music.” A review in the Washington City Paper by Joel Siegal of the duo of Richard Miller with Patrick de Santos (voice) stated “Patrick and Richard strike a remarkable balance between disciplined technique and otional abandon.”