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Havana Carbo

HAVANA CARBO BIO © 2010 • “Your singing is truly exquisite! Bravo!!!” Gabriel Yared, January 2010

Havana born, US raised, Cuban-American singer/composer HAVANA CARBO, née Gladys Lourdes Margarita Carbo Ramiro Garcia y de la Torre, received her MFA in Music Theatre composition from TSOA/M/T at NYU (‘93) and is a Yip Harburg Fellow. Formerly recorded on Soul Note, later CAP. Carbo now records on MODLmusic, her own label since 1985. At 3 she took to the piano and at 8 began formal lessons in Havana, where she was raised in an environment that celebrated music but viewed “nightclub” performing as inappropriate for a young lady. Jazz established residence in her soul during her NY high school years, but parental scrutiny prevailed, and a brief marriage to a Cuban Economics major she met while at Villanova University in pre-Castro Havana dealt the final blow to her musical pursuits. Twenty odd years, a revolution, three marriages, several moves and four fabulous children later, with life’s experiences as bonus, she created “Havana Midnight”, a successful latin/jazz group in the Berkshires devoted to her arrangements of Latin American classics from her past. A self-produced EP (Another Summer) led to a Soul Note contract, “Street Cries” (1991) with Gene Bertoncini, Michael Moore, Marvin Stamm and John Sauer. Acceptance at NYU’s prestigious Music Theatre Masters program allowed her two wonderful creative years followed by an unsolicited divorce that coincided with her Masters degree. The divorce turned out to be an invaluable gift and the defining moment that prompted her permanent move to New York City to pursue her passion. Her introduction to American popular song and jazz came via Chet Baker, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Frank Sinatra, June Christy, Mel Tormé, and later Shirley Horn, Maysa, Elis Regina, João Gilberto, Edu Lobo, Ivan Lins and Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim. Fascinated by the directness of Brazilian lyrics, incomparable melodies and harmonies, Carbo taught herself Portuguese to better understand the culture, and to do justice to the song. As luck would have it, while searching for lyrics to a song she heard sung by Gilberto called, “Retrato em Branco e Preto,” she was put in contact with its composer, the legendary Jobim, who gave generously of his time on the telephone by clarifying, translating, and answering her questions. Carbo believes that greatness inspires acts of great generosity, most recently displayed by the Oscar winning composer Gabriel Yared, when, as his huge fan she sent him a simple note thanking him for his extraordinary music.

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244
Album Review

Havana Carbo: Phantoms of Love

Read "Phantoms of Love" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


On “Tarde Triste," the opening track of Phantoms of Love, the Cuban-American vocalist sounds as relaxed, genuine, and comfortable in her own skin as can be. The singer's search for beauty and tranquility is worn on her sleeve, as it was on her Luna De Varadero (CAP, 2004). This set is crafted to perfection with spare and gentle arrangements, augmented by understated string productions that add to the lilting and reflective quality of this, Carbo's fifth recording. “Poinciana" ...

188
Album Review

Havana Carbo: Luna De Varadero

Read "Luna De Varadero" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


New York-based vocalist Havana Carbo sings about love on her latest set, Luna De Varadero, featuring boleros, bossas, ballads, and “...songs I dug up." The sounds of Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Cuba and the American Songbook, sung in Spanish, Portuguese and English, make their appearances here in a lovely mix. Carbo's voice has a rich timbre combined with a directness and a remarkable feeling of intimacy and restrained passion. Like Astrud Gilberto's ("The Girl From Ipanema") singing, Carbo's voice seems as ...

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• Best Female Jazz Vocalist of 2007

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