Always gathering her contemporary artists, singer-songwriter Dani Gurgel makes modern brazilian music. Elements from all over the world are joined to jazz language, sophisticated harmony and the untiring search of what's new. Her voice is an instrument, which brings together the popular lyrics of Brazilian songs with the precise diction of her saxophone player days. The influence of instrumentalist-singers is very strong in her voice, from the finesse of Esperanza Spalding to the sweet brazilian tone of Monica Salmaso. 2010 is a concert year for Dani. She is preparing to travel around Brazil and around other countries, visiting the cities requested by her own fans. She will bring the songs of her albums: 2007 EP “Dani Gurgel”, recorded during a series of concerts in São Paulo, 2008 “Nosso” (“Ours”), recorded live, with more jazz influenced arrangements, and the 2009 release “Agora” (“Now”), of which 22 other young Brazilian composers and musicians participated. Live, Dani performs with the same band that is featured in her recordings, including the producer and drummer Thiago Rabello and the arranger and pianist Debora Gurgel: since acoustic sets of voice and piano to her full band, a sextet. Repertoire is of songs recorded by Dani on her last works ” all composed by herself and young brazilian talents”, besides unreleased new songs and possible guest appearances by her partners.
After playing various musical instruments during 15 years, Dani Gurgel was able to find the one she loves best: her voice. Dani has done a little bit of everything. She played the tenor sax in Robert Sion’s big band, and the baritone and soprano with Zimbo Trio. When she began to write songs with lyrics, after 15 years deep in the instrumental universe, Dani discovered singing. Her past makes it easy to understand why in the album “Nosso” (2008) her voice is constantly used as a musical instrument, and vocal solos complete the ensemble with the musicians' improvisation.
With her eyes fixed straight ahead, but never forgetting to take a good look around, Dani strives to bring together musical talents with common goals” as was done by Elis Regina, who recorded songs by João Bosco, Gilberto Gil and Ivan Lins when they were still unknown. Dani organized a series of concerts in 2007, entitled “Dani Gurgel e Novos Compositores” (Dani Gurgel and the New Composers), which inspired her entire repertoire. This was also the theme to the concert with Tom Jobim Orchestra, in which she acted as curator and guest singer. American record label Artistshare™ was responsible for the recent worldwide release of her latest album “Agora”, which features 22 of her contemporary Brazilian composers.
As a singer-songwriter, Dani often writes lyrics to her partners' music. Her songs are already part of many albums by singers such as Joana Duáh “(Dá Licença”, the title song, was written by Dani, Debora Gurgel and Thiago Rabello), Tatiana Parra (“Depois”, by Dani and Tatiana) and Adriana Godoy (“Talvez Humana”, by Dani and Debora Gurgel). Last but certainly not least, are the unreleased lyrics entitled “Estrada Bela”, written by Dani for Maria Schneider ’s “The 'Pretty' Road”.
