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Duduka Da Fonseca

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Duduka began playing the drums at the age of thirteen. By fifteen, he was appearing on television, performing with the top musicians in Brazil. In 1975 Duduka moved to New York where he established numerous Brazilian jazz groups. One of these groups, Brazilian Express, appeared on a national PBS television special. The New York Samba Band performed at the Blue Note, Fat Tuesday's and the Village Gate. The Brazilian Jazz All Stars featured artists Bob Mintzer, Eliane Elias and Randy Brecker.

Duduka has performed and recorded with such artists as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Herbie Mann, Claudio Roditi, Joanne Brackeen, Eddie Gomez, John Scofield, Joe Henderson, Gerry Mulligan, Jorge Dalto, Dom Salvador, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Emily Remler, Nana Vasconcelos, Nancy Wilson, Slide Hampton, Kenny Barron, Tom Harrell, Wayne Shorter and many others.

Since 1984, he has been a member of the faculty at the Drummer's Collective where he conducts workshops and gives private lessons. Duduka also conducts workshops in the USA, Europe, Japan and Brazil. He is the author of an instructional book and tape set entitled Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset, published by Warner Brothers.

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Liner Notes

Trio Da Paz: 30

Read "Trio Da Paz: 30" reviewed by Howard Mandel


Only very special collaborations last 30 years, and rarely do they become more exciting and together over the decades. Trio da Paz, however, is one such long-lasting and still lightning band. The team of drummer Duduka Da Fonseca, guitarist Romero Lubambo and bassist Nilson Matta, all Brasilian jazzmen of New York City, is just as dashing today as when the three first met in 1985. So 30 , their seventh album, wastes no time glancing back. Rather, Trio ...

4
Album Review

Daniela Soledade: Pretty World

Read "Pretty World" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Brazilian singer and composer Daniela Soledade presents her sophomore release Pretty World continuing a family tradition of exploration into light bossa nova music. Recognized as a proponent for a new bossa nova sound, her unique hushed-styled vocals distinguish this singer from the other vocalists of the genre. Born in Rio de Janeiro where the album was recorded, Soledade co-wrote two originals ("Beijo No Arpoador" and “Nothing Compares") with guitarist and producer Nate Najar and sings lyrics in English and Portuguese. ...

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Album Review

Janis Mann & Kenny Werner: Dreams of Flying

Read "Dreams of Flying" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Janis Mann has quietly but steadily amassed an impressive body of work over the course of more than two decades. For this, the vocalist's eighth album, she brings studio and stage into beautiful alignment with different, intimate configurations hinging on the constant presence of pianist Kenny Werner. The majority of this music was recorded in 2016 at New York's Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, with key collaborator Werner and, more often than not, the rhythm combo of bassist Drew Gress and ...

3
Album Review

Roseanna Vitro: Listen Here

Read "Listen Here" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Roseanna Vitro is a singer's singer in the same way as Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. She is a studied practitioner of the jazz vocal arts, an interpreter, performer, educator. Her repertoire, taste, and vocal chops are beyond compare. Vitro's ability has evolved horizontally and vertically over 14 recordings and nearly 40 years. The singer's most recent release, Tell Me The Truth (Skyline, 2018), was thematically devoted to the rich music of the American South where Vitro capably migrates from ...

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Album Review

The Brazilian Trio: Águas Brasileiras

Read "Águas Brasileiras" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Brazilian waters beckon with their beauty and energies, and this trio serves as a perfect vessel to carry the ears across that aqua viva. Pianist Helio Alves, bassist Nilson Matta and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca--three Brazilian heavies long based in New York—have played together in different configurations and situations for decades. And when they first banded together under this appellation for Forests (Zoho Music, 2008), they quickly earned the respect they so richly deserve by netting a Latin Grammy nomination. ...

3
Album Review

Duduka Da Fonseca & Helio Alves featuring Maucha Adnet: Samba Jazz & Tom Jobim

Read "Samba Jazz & Tom Jobim" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Since 2007, drummer Duduka Da Fonseca, pianist Helio Alves and vocalist Maucha Adnet have been presenting the titular program at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center, and at other venues throughout the world. A concept set steeped in personalized history of varied sorts--Da Fonseca's, absorbing this hybridized style at the foot of the masters in Brazil; Adnet's and Da Fonseca's, working with the late Antonio Carlos Jobim; Alves' and Da Fonseca's, playing together in bands ...

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From Far and Wide

Back to Brazil: Part Two

Read "Back to Brazil: Part Two" reviewed by Mark Holston


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Part Two of this series on recent Brazilian-influenced releases continues with further discussion of the Samba Jazz genre. The style's heyday, from the early to mid-1960s, produced what Brazilian music critics consider to be landmark recordings. The early champions of the instrumental and more jazz-oriented version of Bossa Nova included such pioneers as pianist Sérgio Mendes and his Bossa Rio Septet; baritone saxophonist Moacir Santos; drummers Dom Um Romão, Milton ...

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Video / DVD

Duduka Da Fonseca: Tom Jobim

Duduka Da Fonseca: Tom Jobim

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Duduka Da Fonseca plays drums with a stirring, sensuality. It's like listening to crushed ice melt at the beach. His last album in 2018 was a loving tribute to Brazilian samba-funk pianist Dom Salvador, who I believe is still playing regularly at New York's River Café at age 81. Duduka's latest album is Samba Jazz & Tom Jobim (Sunnyside), with pianist Helio Alves and vocalist Maucha Adnet. Born in Brazil, Alves is a pianist and composer who now lives in ...

Recording

Duduka Da Fonseca: New Samba

Duduka Da Fonseca: New Samba

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Imagine a cat playing the drums with its whiskers and you'll have a sense of what makes Duduka Da Fonseca so special. When he plays bossa nova, it's not your standard-issue shuffle rhythm. Duduka is constantly trying new ways to approach the cool folk style. This is certainly the case on his new album: New Samba Jazz Directions (Zoho). Let me quote from Duduka's liner notes: “Samba and bossa nova (which originated from samba) have been at the heart of ...

Recording

Roni Ben-Hur & Santi Debriano - Our Thing Featuring Duduka Da Fonseca

Roni Ben-Hur & Santi Debriano - Our Thing Featuring Duduka Da Fonseca

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

A Sublime Musical Conversation Exploring Many Facets of the Jazz Diaspora, New CD from Motema on August 14, 2012 CD RELEASE CELEBRATION: September 11 @ The Jazz Standard Roni Ben-Hur & Santi Debriano Featuring Duduka Da Fonseca Performing music from Our Thing Sets @ 7:30 & 9:30 PM The idea and inspiration for Our Thing was born in the summer of 2011 within the walls of the beautiful Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Sardaigne, a 12th century church atop the tiny village of Saint ...

Interview

Duduka Da Fonseca: 'Samba Jazz'

Duduka Da Fonseca: 'Samba Jazz'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Duduka Da Fonseca has one of the most softly insistent touches on the drums, particularly when he's using brushes. As he whisks up a rhythm, the sound is like the wind swinging through long-limbed willow trees. You hear the steady rustle of the leaves but the force is gentle and coaxing rather than trunk-splitting. This combed sound gives your ear a chance to enter Duduka's space, to hear what he's doing rather than merely feel the time he's keeping. Since ...

Recording

Drummer/composer Duduka Da Fonseca Exhibits The Best Of Both Worlds On His Latest Samba - Jazz Exploration

Drummer/composer Duduka Da Fonseca Exhibits The Best Of Both Worlds On His Latest   Samba - Jazz Exploration

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

Featuring Anat Cohen, Helio Alves, Guilherme Monteiro, Leonardo Cioglia & Duduka Da Fonseca Anzic Records to Release Samba Jazz - Jazz Samba on July 17, 2012 “Drummer Da Fonseca perhaps the best Brazilian trap drummer of his generation, plays with an uncommon mix of finesse and drive" - Mark Holston, Jazziz Magazine Drummer/Composer Duduka Da Fonseca is a blender, set at high speed. The Brazilian drummer (born in Rio De Janeiro in 1951), who arrived in New York City in ...

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Recording

On March 9, 2010 - Motema Music Will Release Rufus Reid's out Front Featuring Steve Allee and Duduka Da Fonseca

On March 9, 2010 - Motema Music Will Release Rufus Reid's out Front Featuring Steve Allee and Duduka Da Fonseca

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

On March 9, 2010 - Motema Music will release RUFUS REID'S OUT FRONTFeaturing Steve Allee and Duduka Da Fonseca“Reid is the man to call for any musical situation that demands both the utmost skill and impeccable taste...his luscious sound and buoyant swing can levitate an ensemble clear off the bandstand." - The New Yorker-    “His work is a virtual catalog of modern bass technique, tempered by his infallible musicianship.  The man has taste...he consistently offers up ...

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Performance / Tour

Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet Samba Jazz and the Music of Jobim Friday and Saturday November 23-24 Sets: 9, 11 & 12:30am at Cachaa

Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet Samba Jazz and the Music of Jobim Friday and Saturday November 23-24 Sets: 9, 11 & 12:30am at Cachaa

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

DUDUKA DA FONSECA QUINTET SAMBA JAZZ AND THE MUSIC OF JOBIM

ANAT COHEN - Saxophones and Clarinet HELIO ALVES - Piano VIC JURIS - Guitar LEONARDO CIOGLIA - Bass DUDUKA DA FONSECA - Drums

Special Guest Vocalist - MAUCHA ADNET

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY November 23, 24 sets: 9, 11 & 12:30am

CACHAA 35 West 8th St., (bet. 5th & 6th Aves.) 212-388-9099

“Da Fonseca ...

122

Performance / Tour

Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet Samba Jazz And The Music Of Jobim Friday And Saturday November 17, 18 At Sweet Rhythm

Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet Samba Jazz And The Music Of Jobim Friday And Saturday November 17, 18 At Sweet Rhythm

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

DUDUKA DA FONSECA QUINTET SAMBA JAZZ AND THE MUSIC OF JOBIM

Featuring ANAT COHEN - Saxophones and Clarinet HELIO ALVES - Piano VIC JURIS - Guitar LEONARDO CIOGLIA - Bass DUDUKA DA FONSECA - Drums Special Guest Vocalist MAUCHA ADNET

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NOVEMBER 17, 18 8, 10 and Midnight SWEET RHYTHM 88 Seventh Ave. South ...

203

Performance / Tour

Samba Jazz & The Music of Jobim With Duduka Da Fonseca Sextet March 30-April 2 at the Iridium Jazz Club

Samba Jazz & The Music of Jobim With Duduka Da Fonseca Sextet March 30-April 2 at the Iridium Jazz Club

Source: All About Jazz

IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121 www.iridiumjazzclub.com Sets at 8 & 10PM Fri. & Sat. 3rd Sets 11:30PM

March 30-April 2 Samba Jazz & the Music of Jobim With Duduka Da Fonseca Sextet Featuring Maucha Adnet With: Anat Cohen - saxophones & clarinet ( March 30 & April 2nd only) ...

"Duduka has worked with me, and I love the way he plays." —Antonio Carlos Jobim

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Pretty World

Blue Line Music
2022

buy

Duduka Da Fonseca &...

Sunnyside Records
2022

buy

Celebration

Sunnyside Records
2022

buy

Listen Here

Skyline Records
2021

buy

Águas Brasileiras

Zoho Music
2020

buy

Dreams of Flying

Pancake Records
2020

buy

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