Sandy Cressman & Homage to Brazil

Sandy Cressman is a San Francisco jazz vocalist, who has devoted the majority of her career to the study and performance of Brazilian music. This Saturday, Sandy will be appearing at Bake's Place along with the Jovino Santos Neto Trio, and together they will perform her Homage to Brazil- a “musical journey through the world of Brazilian jazz.” Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sandy about her career and about Brazilian music. She was warm and engaging and clearly very passionate about what she does. The following are excerpts from our conversation:

It is clear from your bio that you’ve had a natural affinity for Brazilian music almost your entire life. What about it resonates with you?

In knew the first time I heard it, there was something about the passionate nature of the music that was appealing. Performing it myself really suited my own personal expression. Early on in junior high, I heard a girl sing Sergio Mendes’s hit “Mas Que Nada” and it totally floored me. I didn’t know how to go out and seek the music at that time. But by the time I was into college and into jazz, I heard it again…..Tania Maria, Flora Purim….and was really excited. One time I was at a Pat Metheny concert, and the music that was playing on the break was so beautiful that I walked to the soundboard to find out who it was. It was Ivan Lins. I went out and bought as much as his music as I could.

Later, I was on touring Japan with a Japanese group. The guitarist for that group gave me recordings of Djavan to listen to. I was overwhelmed. When I got back from Japan, I bought all the Brazilian music I could find. At one point, the pianist Marco Silva sat in as a sub for Pastiche. He brought me cassettes of Brazilian music and fed my addiction further. In 1995, Marco asked me to come and sing Brazilian music with him. It was a little café duo gig. Each week we would bring in new tunes to try out. That was really the start for me.

Why do you think the popularity of Brazilian music is so enduring?

I think the rhythm is infectious. There’s a feeling of passion that’s very Brazilian yet not restricted to Brazil. A lot of people feel that passion. It makes you feel really good. It really takes you somewhere.

Tell me about putting together the music for “Homage to Brazil.”

Well, my first record was “Homenegem Brasileira”. I have known Jovino for fourteen years. We met at California-Brazil summer camp. He’s one of the rare pianists that can play the broad repertoire of Brazilian music that I like to sing with authenticity and freshness. The last time we played at Bake’s, it was Jobim’s 80th birthday. At that time, we decided to do a tribute to Jobim. This time, we decided to mix up composers. We came up with some songs that our quartet can explore and have fun with. Basic arrangements but not everything is planned.

Tell me a little bit about playing with Jovino.

Jovino is just a stellar musician. He knows his craft, knows Brazilian music and knows jazz. He has a certain openness to the unexpected and he’s non-judgmental, which makes it such a comfortable experience to play music together. I’m a guest on his soil. He respects the work that I’ve done to do it as well as I do. It feels like I’m being collaborated with and respected.

How do you think your approach to the music differs from other vocalists and musicians?

I’m not Brazilian but I try to be true to the spirit of the music. The musicians I use, the way I sing and phrase it. I typically sing to a non-Brazilian audience and I am able to give them a background on the tunes and why I like them. They get a history and exposure to things they might not have heard before.

To someone who is new to Brazilian music and wants some ideas as to what recordings to check out, what suggestions would you make?

Joao Guilberto. Also, I have a Brazilian music discography on the teaching page on my website.

What is playing on your i-Pod right now?

Chico Pinheiro. Really cool, modern Brazilian music.

For more information about Sandy, please visit http://www.cressmanmusic.com/.

Channeling Billie

Wow.

Last night, I saw one of the most beautiful and mesmerizing performances that I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know when I’ve been so moved or so completely transported to another place and time.

It’s hard to know where to jump in, so I’ll begin with the basics. The show was the Strawberry Theater Workshop’s production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, with Seattle actress Felicia Loud masterfully rocking the role of Billie Holiday. The setting was Emerson’s, a small Philadelphia jazz club. The time was the late 50’s, shortly before Holiday’s untimely death at age 44. The show is a journey back into time, with a front seat at a nightclub performance with the legendary Lady Day, as she was so nicknamed by her longtime musical cohort, saxophonist Lester Young. For a little over an hour, we sat at small cabaret tables (located right on the stage) and listened as Billie talked about her life and sang the songs that we all immediately identify as hers. It was a bit of a history lesson; She told stories about her difficult childhood, writing God Bless the Child for her mother, her days on the road with Artie Shaw and his band, her endless encounters with racism and injustice, her troubled relationship with Joe Guy, her pull into heroin use and the legal difficulties that ensued and even her dreams. And of course, there were the songs: God Bless the Child, Them There Eyes, What a Little Moonlight Can Do, Strange Fruit and more. I was stunned at how perfectly Loud was able to master Holiday’s gravely tone and very unique phrasing. It was as if she was channeling Lady Day herself. And that was only one part of it.

Loud’s entire performance was nothing short of brilliant. It was an endeavor crafted with enormous skill, nuance, keen observation, profound sensitivity and perhaps, a measure of pure magic. There is no question that Holiday was a tragic figure. Her life was full of hardship, pain and violations that started at a very early age. Yet Loud presented a fully-evolved Holiday, capturing all of the attendant complexities and contradictions of this very human icon. She held me completely. She charmed me and broke my heart in the same beat. I was taken by her grit and toughness but unsettled by her tender vulnerability. Loud’s Holiday was every bit a survivor but also a human train wreck, derailing right before our eyes. Throughout the course of the evening, Billie became increasingly altered, although it’s hard to say on exactly what. We witness her drinking on stage, but she also occasionally retreats to the back room of the club. To fix possibly? It’s unclear, but Loud handles this slow transformation with amazing subtlety and patience. The change crept in slowly, and bit by bit, the darker parts of Billie emerged as did her seemingly bottomless well of pain. By the end of it, Billie would leave us completely, transfixed in someplace far away and untethered to the world. I sat frozen and heartbroken as she closed the evening with the wrenching Deep Song. I wanted to grab her and pull her back to us, but she was long gone.

Loud was well-supported by her cast mates Ryan Shea Smith on piano and LeNard Jones on drums. And while I believe Felicia Loud could have easily delivered this amazing performance in a conference room under a fluorescent light, all the same, she was very well-served by the expert lighting design of Reed Nakayama, which added a fitting edge to some of the play’s more intense moments. Greg Carter also did a great job with the set design, and the idea of situating at least some of the audience on the stage was a very good one. For the hour or so that I sat there, I had no concept that I was anyplace but Emerson’s Bar and Grill.

I attended this performance with my dear friend and theater-going compadre Christine. After the show was over, we stayed in our seats and lingered in the theater for a good twenty minutes or so. We didn’t want to leave the space that Ms. Loud and crew had created. We were speechless and in some measure, shaken. Billie Holiday’s imprint on American musical history is undisputed, and the difficulties of her life are well documented. But it is an entirely different thing to bear witness firsthand. Thanks to Felicia Loud, we had that extraordinary opportunity. I am left with a renewed appreciation for the great Lady Day but also with a profound sense of loss and a deep sadness for the suffering that this amazing woman endured. I so wish the world had done better by Billie.

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill continues through October 12th. I strongly encourage you to see this show. For more information, go to www.strawshop.org.