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Mauricio Zottarelli

Brazilian born, New York City-based drummer/composer Mauricio Zottarelli has been on the forefront of the Jazz, Latin and Brazilian music scenes for many years. Called a “superb drummer” by JazzTimes magazine, Zottarelli comes from a musical family and was born in Santos, SP, Brazil, but grew up in Rio Claro, SP in a highly musical environment.

His first few years as a professional musician consisted of many performances throughout his native country as well as studio and session work with different artists and bands. At the same time, he pursued a degree in Computer Science, and concluded his studies in 1997. Mauricio moved to the U.S. in 1999 after winning a scholarship award to study at Berklee College of Music, in Boston, MA. He majored in Film Scoring, Performance and Arranging, and graduated from the prestigious college in 2002. Mauricio is a critically acclaimed and award-winning drummer and artist. Since his move to New York City in 2006, he has become one of the most sought after drummers on the scene. Zottarelli is credited in more than 70 albums so far in his career, and has worked and shared the stage with some of the most important and notable artists of today, crossing over many musical styles. 
Some of them are: Hiromi, Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson, Prasanna, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Esperanza Spalding, Keiko Matsui, Richard Bona, Paquito D’Rivera, Joe Lovano, Richard Galliano, Chico Pinheiro, Cláudio Roditi, Joe Locke, Geoffrey Keezer, Mike Pope, Eldar, Ivan Lins, Carmen Souza, Chuck Loeb, Rosa Passos, Dom Salvador, Jovino Santos Neto, Nilson Matta, Toninho Horta, Oriente Lopez, Filó Machado, Gustavo Assis Brasil, Hendrik Meurkens, and many others.

Also very active as a bandleader and composer/arranger, Mauricio co- leads and collaborates with several projects, such as the Dig Trio - with guitarist Gustavo Assis Brasil - which released its first CD in 2003 to great reviews from critics and audiences alike. In 2009, Mauricio released his first solo album, entitled 7 Lives, which includes several of his own compositions and it features a unique mix of Brazilian jazz, fusion, and jazz. The incredible artists performing on the album are: Gustavo Assis Brasil (guitars), Itaiguara Brandão (bass), Milene Corso (vocals), Brandi Disterheft (bass), Dom Salvador (piano), Oriente Lopez (piano, flutes), Esperanza Spalding (bass), Cidinho Teixeira (piano) and Rodrigo Ursaia (sax).

In 2011 Zottarelli released MOZIK - a collaboration with pianist Gilson Schachnik and also featuring Gustavo Assis Brasil, Fernando Huergo and Yulia Musayelyan. The album has garnered praises from many important jazz/music publications such as Downbeat magazine and All About Jazz. The prestigious Jazz Station Blog, written by journalist/producer Arnaldo deSouteiro, considered MOZIK the #1 new talent of 2011 and included the CD in their TOP 15 best of 2011. The blog also listed Mauricio in their Top 10 Drummers Of The Year list four years in a row, from 2011 to 2014.

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3
Album Review

Ivan Lins: My Heart Speaks

Read "My Heart Speaks" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Ivan Lins is a Brazilian music legend and multiple Latin Grammy Award winner who has consistently delivered a unique blend of bossa nova, jazz and pop throughout his career. In this first release in over ten years, entitled My Heart Speaks, Lins performs rare gems from his catalogue backed by the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra along with guest appearances from vocalists Dianne Reeves, Jane Monheit and newcomer Tawanda, as well as trumpeter Randy Brecker. The eleven songs ...

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Album Review

Luiz Millan: Brazilian Match

Read "Brazilian Match" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Brazilian Match is a tour-de-force of classic and contemporary Brazilian music written by and featuring singer-songwriter Luiz Millan. Millan's fifth album is a leader is his first for Jazz Station Records and Brazilian jazz impresario Arnaldo DeSouteiro, whose storied history includes working with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Eumir Deodato, Dom Um Romão, João Donato, and other legends, and who called Millan “a composer's composer." “A great melodist who also happens to be a great poet, a fabulous storyteller; a ...

3
Liner Notes

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

Read "Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana" reviewed by Howard Mandel


Everyone wants to go to Brazil, and one of the easiest, most pleasant ways of doing so is to listen to bassist Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage. The third album organized by Matta, a native of Sao Paolo who moved to Rio in 1970 and the U.S. in 1985, conjures the vistas and moods of a country that is idealized as a source of breezy airs and pulsing rhythms. That Brazil in fact even more than in myth generates ...

2
Album Review

Shiri Zorn: Into Another Land

Read "Into Another Land" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Into Another Land braids together the voices of percussionist Mauricio Zottarelli, guitarist George Muscatello and vocalist Shiri Zorn into music that has a much heavier impact than its light and bright, floating and breezy sound. Zorn studied music in her native Israel, steeping herself in the magic of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae, and then in London before moving to Albany, New York in 2010, where she met and has since been working with Muscatello. When ...

5
Album Review

Filtron M: Astoria Roots Live

Read "Astoria Roots Live" reviewed by James Nadal


In a genuine international collaborative effort, with sessions recorded in New York and Zurich, Astoria Roots Live showcases the eclectic sounds of Filtron M, performing in a live setting. Launched as a musicians' collective based out of New York under the direction of pianist/composer Manu Koch, this project has expanded into Europe and integrated musicians from around the world. Favorably compared to the work Joe Zawinul did with Weather Report and in his later recordings, Filtron M draws on that ...

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Extended Analysis

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

Read "Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose


How it is possible that bassist Nilson Matta is allowed to fly so low under the proverbial radar, with recognition coming mainly from his peers, is one of those mysteries that artists have to learn to live with. Meanwhile, Matta has been complementing the music of luminaries from singers Jo&#227o Gilberto, Johnny Alf and Chico Buarque do Holanda, and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, to saxophonist Joe Henderson and pianist Don Pullen, with grace and majesty.Matta's career has spanned decades ...

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Album Review

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

Read "Copacabana" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Brazilian music is given a shot of verve and vivacity by bassist Nilson Matta, as he succinctly captures the imperatives of the music through originals and standards. The music of his native land courses strongly through his veins, and his compositions blood that presence. He sets up several moods, encompassing them in arrangements that draw the nectar without forsaking the tang.

Matta turns on the seduction from the time he sets the tempo on bass for “Baden," a tribute to ...

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1

Performance / Tour

An Evening With A Superband: Mike Pope & The House Of Cardinals Featuring Mike Pope, Eldar Djangirov, Joe Locke, Bob Franceschini & Mauricio Zottarelli

An Evening With A Superband: Mike Pope & The House Of Cardinals Featuring Mike Pope, Eldar Djangirov, Joe Locke, Bob Franceschini & Mauricio Zottarelli

Source: Sue Auclair Promotions

Cambridge, MA: Cambridge's jazz hotspot—the Regattabar—will present An Evening with A Superband: Mike Pope & the House of Cardinals featuring acoustic and electric bassist and composer Mike Pope, pianist Eldar Djangirov, vibraphonist Joe Locke, saxophonist Bob Franceschini and drummer Mauricio Zottarelli on Tuesday, June 10, 2014, 7:30 PM. The Regattabar is located in the Charles Hotel, One Bennett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Tickets at $25.00 are on sale now at regattabarjazz.com or information and tickets are also available by calling ...

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Event

May 1st Drum Clinic at Sam Ash in Edison (NJ) for Make-A-Wish Foundation

May 1st Drum Clinic at Sam Ash in Edison (NJ) for Make-A-Wish Foundation

Source: Mauricio Zottarelli

Drummers Mike Donahue, Mauricio Zottarelli and percussionist Marcus Santos join forces on Tuesday May 1st, 2012 for an evening of music, drumming and to raise funds to a great cause Fellow artists Mike Donahue, Mauricio Zottarelli and Marcus Santos will join forces on May 1st, 2012 in a performance/drum clinic to raise funds for the NJ Make a Wish Foundation. The show will take place on May 1st at the Sam Ash music store in Edison (1831 Rt. 27 Edison, ...

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Performance / Tour

Mauricio Zottarelli returns to the Blue Note NYC with his Brazilian Jazz/Fusion Quintet

Mauricio Zottarelli returns to the Blue Note NYC with his Brazilian Jazz/Fusion Quintet

Source: Mauricio Zottarelli

Drummer/composer Mauricio Zottarelli performs with his critically acclaimed group on the world's most prestigious jazz stage On August 6th, the Brazilian drummer and composer Mauricio Zottarelli performs with his group at the prestigious Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. The band will be presenting his original music as well as some of his inventive arrangements. Zottarelli has been actively performing and contributing with some of the most preeminent artists in the Jazz, Latin/Brazilian and Fusion circles. Aside from ...

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Performance / Tour

Mauricio Zottarelli brings his brazilian jazz/fusion quintet to the Blue Note NYC

Mauricio Zottarelli brings his brazilian jazz/fusion quintet to the Blue Note NYC

Source: Mauricio Zottarelli

On November 13th, the brazilian drummer and composer Mauricio Zottarelli performs with his group at the Blue Note in New York City. The band will be presenting his original music as well as some of his inventive arrangements. Zottarelli has been actively performing and contributing with some of the most preeminent artists in the Jazz, Latin/Brazilian and Fusion circles. Aside from his recent collaborations and performances with brazilian legend Dom Salvador,jazz pianist Hiromi's group SonicBloom, and also jazz/brazilian pianist Eliane ...

92

Performance / Tour

Mauricio Zottarelli brings back his unique sound to the Zinc Bar

Mauricio Zottarelli brings back his unique sound to the Zinc Bar

Source: Mauricio Zottarelli

Drummer/composer Mauricio Zottarelli is performing with his quintet in NYC, celebrating Zinc Bar's annual “Brazilian Jazz Month" On August 26th, Mauricio Zottarelli returns to the Zinc Bar in New York City with his quintet, presenting his original music as well as some of his inventive arrangements. Zottarelli has been actively performing and contributing with some of the most preeminent artists in the Jazz, Latin/Brazilian and Fusion circles. Aside from his recent collaborations with jazz pianist Hiromi's group SonicBloom and jazz/brazilian ...

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Performance / Tour

Mauricio Zottarelli's Exclusive CD Release Show in NYC

Mauricio Zottarelli's Exclusive CD Release Show in NYC

Source: All About Jazz

Drummer/Composer Mauricio Zottarelli is performing live with his quintet in NYC, celebrating the release of his new CD “7 Lives".

Mauricio Zottarelli has been actively performing and contributing with some of the most preeminent artists in the Jazz, Latin/Brazilian and Fusion circles. Aside from his recent collaborations with pianist Hiromi's group SonicBloom and jazz/brazilian pianist Eliane Elias, he is also working on getting his own music heard. His new release, the CD entitled “7 Lives”, has been receiving great praise ...

“(…)the stupendous drummer Mauricio Zottarelli…” 
Grupo Notícias on-line (The News Group on-line) – Spain / Latino América Exterior (on-line) – Spain

“(…) Featuring Zottarelli’s many different rhythmic and compositional skills, this album is high-quality Brazilian jazz”. H.Sugita - Swing Journal – JAPAN - review of the CD “7 Lives”

“Outstanding – Much more than drums,cymbals, and drumsticks. 4 stars.” L. Nobile - Newspaper “O Estado de São Paulo”, Brazil - review of the CD “7 Lives”

“Ruzza is aided immensely throughout by her co producer, the superb Brazilian drummer Mauricio Zottarelli.” JazzTimes.com – review about Amanda Ruzza’s CD "This is what happened"

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Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Brazilian Match

Jazz Station Records
2023

buy

My Heart Speaks

Resonance Records
2023

buy

Into Another Land

Ia (independent Artists)
2022

buy

Transit Net

Filtron M
2021

buy

Astoria Roots Live

True Groove
2017

buy

Astoria Roots Live

True Groove
2017

buy

Andar Descalço (Barefoot) feat. Randy Brecker

From: Brazilian Match
By Mauricio Zottarelli

In the Grove of the Jacarandas

From: Brazilian Match
By Mauricio Zottarelli

Witch Touch

From: Into Another Land
By Mauricio Zottarelli

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