Posted on February 14, 2008

One on One with Felipe Salles
South American Suite (Curare Records 2007)

By Danilo Navas

“Many people throughout my years in the US have told me never to forget my heritage. Eventually that started making more and more sense, as I strived to find my personal voice. I believe that that voice is a product of my musical journey. I am a result of all the influential and decisive musical elements in my life.”
–Felipe Salles

Biography

Felipe Salles is a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, who currently lives and performs in New York City. His group, The Felipe Salles Quintet is the result of this cultural fusion, a blend of elements from two of the richest musical traditions in the world: Brazilian/Latin music and Jazz.

Before coming to the United States, Felipe was active in numerous combos and bands as a saxophonist, composer and arranger. He played with such bands as Octeto de Musica Brasileira, Zerro Santos Big Band, Banda Farinha Seca, Zydeco Band, Santa Gafieira, Sampa Crew, Savoy Quartet, and the Axel Fisch Group, and has performed with Brazilian artists such as Daniela Mercury, Paulo Moura and Wagner Tiso. He has also appeared on the same bill as many prominent American artists, including Betty Carter, at Bourbon Street Club, in São Paulo, Brazil.

Felipe Salles has been an active musician in the US since 1995, leading his own group, the Felipe Salles Quintet. Performance venues include the extinct Willow Jazz Club and Connolly’s Jazz Club, The Knitting Factory, The Big Easy, Hybernia, Acton Jazz Cafe, Sandrina’s, Ryles Jazz Club, The Middle East, Natick Center for the Arts, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Boston’s Symphony Hall and the Regattabar. As a sideman, Felipe Salles has worked and recorded with various jazz, Latin and Pop groups including Mango Blue, Either/Orchestra, Bellevue Cadillac, La Timba Loca, Mozamba, Bevan Manson, The Daddys, Dead Cat Bounce, Quizamba, Grand Unified Theory, The Touch, Big and Phat Jazz Orchestra, Black Tie Affair Orchestra, Charles Brown Organization and Soul City.

Felipe Salles has had the opportunity to work and record with prominent jazz artists like George Russell, Gunther Schuller, Sam Rivers, Herb Pomeroy, Jerry Bergonzi, Tony Lujan, Luciana Souza, Bob Moses and Fernando Brandão. In addition, Felipe Salles has studied with such world-renowned musicians as David Liebman, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Charlie Banacos and Kenny Werner.

Felipe Salles is a 2005-2006 winner of the Chamber Music America New Works: Creation and Presentation Grant Program, a component of the Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project, Sponsored by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. He has also been awarded First Place in the Concurso SGAE de Jazz “TETE MONTOLIU”, 2001, with the composition “The Return of The Chromo Sapiens”, and Fifth Place at the III Premio SGAE Iberoamericano de Jazz Latino, with the composition “Freudian Slip”, 2002. He has also been awarded the Boston Jazz Society Scholarship Award for the year of 1997, and was a featured performer at the Boston Jazz Society 22nd annual Jazz Festival in 1998, where he opened for and performed with Stanley  Turrentine, as well as an act at the BJS 23rd annual Jazz Festival for the year of 1999, leading his quintet, featuring Bob Moses, John Lockwood, Alain Mallet and Tony D’Aveni.

Recently recorded CDs include the acclaimed Latin band Mango  Blue’s “Immigrant Blues”, the Avant-Garde/ Free group Grand Unified Theory’s CD of the same name, and Dead Cat Bounce’s (Boston Phoenix’s 2001 and 2002 Best jazz group of the year) two releases, “Legends of the Nar” and “Lucky by Association”, a guest appearance on pianist Nando Michelin’s CD “When Einstein Dreams”, featuring Jerry Bergonzi on tenor sax, Fernando Huergo on bass, and Jeff  Ballard on drums; the “Nando Michelin Brazilian Project Live at the Acton Jazz Café” CD featuring internationally acclaimed Brazilian singer Giana (both for the DoubleTime Jazz label), Sherisse Rogers’s Project Uprising CD “Sleight of Hand”, as well as Argentinean singer Katie Viqueira’s new release “Amores Torcidos”.

Felipe Salles’ first solo CD, “Further South”, on the Spanish Label Fresh Sound/New Talent has received critical acclaim, and features Bob Moses on drums, John Lockwood on Bass, Alain Mallet piano, and Tony D’Aveni on trumpet. His acclaimed second CD “Mind Motions”, on the same label, features Tony D’Aveni on trumpet, Joel Yennior on Trombone, Nando Michelin on Piano, Bertram Lehmann on Drums and Rick McLaughlin on Bass.

Felipe Salles holds a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Studies from New England Conservatory and is the first candidate ever to graduate with a Doctoral Degree in Jazz Advancement from Manhattan School of Music. He is currently on faculty at Manhattan School of Music Precollege Jazz Division and Five Towns College.

Interview

Felipe Salles performing with the Jovino Santos Neto Trio as special guest, during the 35th Annual IAJE Conference, in Toronto.

DN: Hi Felipe, congratulations on this fantastic project you entitled "South American Suite." It was a pleasure to meet you in Toronto, during the recently passed 35th Conference of the International
Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE). It was also great to see you performing (as a special guest) with the Jovino Santos Neto Trio.

Some musicians come from musical families, kind of inherit the music in their genes -so to speak. Others get exposed to music in different ways. Music speaks to them in such a powerful manner that they cannot resist the attraction, and develop their lives around it. In your case, how did Music speak to you?

FS: Hi Danilo. First of all, thank you for the interview, it was great seeing you at the IAJE.

To answer your question, I have to say that my encounter with music was not a product of inheritance. My father is not a musician, nor is my mother, but I grew up in a very musical environment since my dad has always been a jazz fanatic. I was exposed to classical music, jazz and especially Brazilian music since birth and remember playing on the floor of my dad’s studio while he played the same record over and over again before going to the next newly purchased one. Considering that he has a collection of over three thousand LPs and one thousand CDs, I was lucky to be around it. To this day I feel a very intimate connection to a lot of music I seem to have never heard before… I guess maybe I did sometime in my childhood.

My dad put my sister and me to learn piano at age 8 but it was not my thing back then. I did not rediscover music until I was 13 when I wanted to join a band my classmates had, and one of them suggested I would get a saxophone. Ironically I thought it was a great idea, because in my mind nobody else played the sax! So I made my mission to convince my dad to buy me one, and the moment I put my hands on it and got the first sound out, it was love at first sight (or should I say note?). By age 16 I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.

DN: Your Suite delves into the soul of the South American subcontinent, and more specifically, into the soul of Brazil. Is this a project you had in mind since long ago?

FS: Not really... Not until recently had I felt the urge to go back to my roots. I came to America to learn how to play jazz and even stopped playing Brazilian music for several years. My way back into Brazilian music was slow. First I started playing with some Afro-Cuban projects, then other Latin American cross-overs with jazz, like Argentinean and Venezuelan music, until Brazilian music seemed to have become a necessity in my quest to express myself again.

DN: You have said that "South American Suite" is a journey through your influences. In a way, it is also the creative culmination of a long journey of learning and experimentation in your artistic career. Can you expand on this idea?

FS: Sure. My formative years in Brazil were about learning the basics of my craft at first, and my professional experience was playing Brazilian instrumental music such as bossa nova, choro and some jazz. Having been in America since 1995, my schooling was focussed on jazz tradition at first, then it branched out onto orchestration, composition, and arranging. Many people throughout my years in the US have told me never to forget my heritage. Eventually that started making more and more sense, as I strived to find my personal voice. I believe that that voice is a product of my musical journey. I am a result of all the influential and decisive musical elements in my life. I am a Brazilian, who lives in New York and has studied the history and tradition of jazz, has been born in the tradition of Brazilian music, has experienced Afro-Cuban and Latin American musical enrichment, and has delved into the harmonic and melodic chromatic journeys of contemporary classical music. As much as I love all these traditions, my music is not in itself traditional. I believe, as Hermeto Pascoal once put it, in universal music. We should pursue the music that we love. Brazilian music found its way back into my music maybe because New York has this amazing way of taking care of us musicians by showing us our strenghts over time.

DN: Jazz and Chamber Music. A match indeed made in heaven. What are some of the challenges you face as a composer, and then as a performer, while working with these two musical art forms?

FS: Yes indeed, they are the perfect match, at least in my music. As a composer and performer I do not find a challenge to write and perform in this setting. On the contrary, I find it inspiring and refreshing. My music is very dense and complex, as I hear a lot of contrapuntal lines, sometimes even two melodies at the same time, as well as superimposed rhythms and odd meters. The two greatest challenges I see in writing and performing this kind of music are having the budget to compensate the great musicians, who are such a vital element, and finding an open-minded audience, as I step onto less traditional ground.

DN: The world has become such a small village. This is specially true when we talk about music and artistic influences. Jazz is truly a universal language, and it is fascinating to see the idiom getting enriched with so many rhythms. Samba, Choro, Baião, Maracatu, Frevo, Xote, are all branches of the huge Brazilian musical tree, rhythms that you seamlessly blend with Jazz and Chamber Music in "South American Suite." I'd like to hear from you how this "melting pot" does take place.

FS: Having played a lot of those rhythms all my life, I feel that I have an intimate relationship with them, and that I understand their essential elements enough, to ask for permission to “mess around” with them. Nothing starts before the rhythm is clear in my mind; I start with the rhythmic frame of the piece. Melodies, harmonies, counterpoint and bass lines all derive from that rhythmic frame.  Naturally they are all important and independent entities, but the rhythm is the glue. I believe that the groove has to feel right first. If it feels right, it allows you to be free to experiment with melody, harmony, counterpoint, dissonance, orchestration, etc. The result will still grab people’s ears because they can relate to it in the most basic level, which is the groove.  The “melting pot” is the result of this essential combination of elements.  Although it is great that we have all this information in our disposal at the touch of a button, it is important to remember to be a serious musician and research the tradition of all the music you want to incorporate in your work, so your artistic vision is deep. Understanding the tradition does not mean being a traditionalist, but being able to go beyond what others have done, hopefully.

DN: Jacam Manricks on woodwinds; Nando Michelin on piano; Fernando Huergo on bass and Bertram Lehmann on drums. This is obviously your "Dream Team." Was it difficult to find such a talented team? Is it difficult to keep it together?

FS: Let’s not forget Rogerio Boccato on percussion, Joel Yennior on trombone and Laura Arpiainen on violin. Even though they do not constitute the core of the Felipe Salles Group, “South American Suite” would not be possible without their great playing. In relation to the “Dream Team”, I have to say that I am a very lucky man. Some people go through life trying to find musicians who are deeply committed to their music, who are amazingly talented in playing it and well versed in the many idioms required by the style. I have found these musicians at the right time and quite quickly. I am very fortunate that they are incredibly patient in learning my music, as crazy as it ends up being. Some of the most successful partnerships in the history of jazz and Brazilian music depended on this kind of commitment. I have to say that the partnership has also affected my writing, now that I have in mind the players I am writing for, their styles and strengths, their almost unlimited resources. Keeping it together is rather difficult since we are all scattered around the New England area, but as I said, the commitment to the music is bigger than the geographical inconveniences.

DN: Do you mean the New England Conservatory, Boston area?

FS: Not only Boston, but the region between Boston and New York. Bertram and Fernando teach at Berklee, and Nando teaches at Tufts University, so they live in Boston. Rogerio teaches at Hart so he lives close to the border of Connecticut. Jacam, Laura and I are in New York.

DN: Let's talk about the seven compositions in South American Suite.

FS: I can give you a brief description of the pieces:

Seven Days
This was the first piece I wrote for this project. It is a journey of a simple folk-like motive through many rhythmic and harmonic settings. The groove frame is inspired by two Brazilian Northeastern rhythms: Baião and Maracatu.

DN: I just noticed your suite is structured around seven pieces, and the first one is entitled Seven Days. Is it pure coincidence?

FS: The name comes from the fact that the piece explores the Baião and Maracatu, which originally are in 2/4 and 4/4, in a new meter setting: 7/4. I did not know how many pieces I was going to write when I started but I imagined a number between six and eight. I tend to end up with odd numbers more often than even ones. I also did not intend for the name to sound so biblical; it took me more than seven days to write all this music.

Unborn Choro
Choro a Brazilian style from the early 20th century that uses rhythms such as samba and maxixe as the basis to a very contrapuntal way of playing. Much like New Orleans Jazz, the counterpoint is improvised around the main melody. This is a choro written in the form of a four part counterpoint with an exact retrograde interlude. Usually choros are in rondo form: AABBACCA.

DN: I was recently reading about choro. It’s fascinating how it came to existence, being a fusion of different rhythms. You mention maxixe, which is occasionally known as Brazilian tango, I also found references to xote (from schottische: Scottish dance) and lundu (African rhythm). Why the title of this track? Is this a choro that couldn’t be?

FS: Maxixe developed due to the fusion of lundu and European ballroom dances. The habanera, which also influenced jazz and tango, was present in Brazil and influenced the creation of the term Brazilian tango. But to answer your question, the name has two meanings: this choro is dedicated to my old friend and choro expert Nonato Mendes, whose name in Latin means the unborn; and I also think that the piece is unorthodox as a choro, so the title fits.

Family Ties
This is the darkest piece in the record. Inspired by Ravel’s Bolero, it talks about how childhood can be perceived differently by siblings growing up in the same family, and how that affects their adult life and relationship with each other. The second part is based on a Brazilian rhythm called afoxé.

Somewhat Frevo
Frevo is a beautiful rhythm from the Northeast, normally played during the carnaval. It is in 4/4 or 2/4 but not in this case. Frevo is played at a medium to fast tempo, often with linear melody. In this frevo the melody is challenged by angularity and counterpoint.

Xote Manco
Xote is a relative of baião, but it is played at a slower tempo and it “swings” a bit like jazz. This piece is inspired by Hermeto Pascoal and alters between three Brazilian rhythms: xote, rasta-pé and guarania, all of them with my odd-metered twist...

DN: Hermeto Pascoal is an inspiration not only for Brazilians, but for many musicians around the world. Do you consider him as one of your influences? What artists do you consider have influenced your music the most?

FS: Absolutely. I have loved Hermeto’s music since I was a kid. I grew up hearing his music while my father listened to his records. Once I was able to perform them technically, I started to learn some of my favorite Hermeto tunes. During my doctoral studies, my lecture recital was on the compositional style of Hermeto Pascoal. His music has been a great inspiration and his presence is certainly strong in “South American Suite”. There are many artists that have influenced me. To name a few, Bartok, Stravinsky, Jobim, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Egberto Gismonti, Astor Piazzola and Coltrane.

Crayon
I wrote this piece a long time ago for my father. Recently rediscovered and rewritten, it turned into a tango thanks to Nando, Fernando and Bertram.

Three Views
Three Views explores different ways of playing samba: samba-choro, partido alto and a Samba in three.

DN: It seems possible to fuse samba with every other rhythm. There are so many variants: samba-choro, samba-canção, samba-reggae, samba de partido alto, samba de terreiro, samba-enredo, sambalanço, samba de breque…

FS: Samba has certain syncopated figures that can be used differently depending on the context. Samba is to Brazilian music what swing is to jazz.

DN: It's always interesting the interaction between the artists and their audience. In that sense, performing live is the most rewarding experience for musicians, and I'm sure you get lots of feedback from your public, and the press as well. When you compose, do you have in mind the listener? Do you think how your production is going to be perceived?

FS: Like I said before, I believe in making the connection with the listener through the groove, but I try not to think about how my music is going to be received, because I do not want this kind of thought to get in the way of my artistic vision. Hopefully people will continue to receive my work well, but if that ever changes I can’t see myself changing paths because of that. If that was the way to go, a lot of great music around the world would have not seen the light of day...

DN: I know what you mean Felipe, and I totally agree with you. But let me reformulate the question. I was actually thinking more about the ArtistShare experience, but I didn’t express the idea properly. I’m sure you are aware of ArtistShare (Danilo Perez just finished his Panama Suite project through this program). Do you think it is interesting? Would you consider participating on it?

FS: ArtistShare is a great idea but, unfortunately, so far only works for artist whose names are already so big that they can draw a huge crowd interested in supporting their work. Success stories that I know are those of Danilo and Maria Schneider. I would love to be part of it but I don’t think I am at that point in my career yet.

DN: Many musicians who come to United States to further their education become educators. It is your case. So, you lead a career as an artist and as an educator as well, which seems to be complementary. What's your experience, how do you find the balance between those two activities in your professional life?

FS: I believe in jazz education and music education in general, as I am a product of it myself. I have a master’s degree and a graduate diploma from New England Conservatory and a doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music. The value of education is very highly regarded in my family as both my mother and my sister are educators. I believe that it is my duty to pass on what I know to the next generations and to make them as excited about this music as I once was for the first time. By sharing my passion in what I do and steering their ears towards the greatest music I know, I also feel that I am helping to keep this art form alive. The balance is a very difficult one, but manageable. In other words, perform as much as you can but try not to loose your teaching job while doing it!

DN: What CDs are you listening to right now?

FS: I have been listening to several CDs recently. Jovino Santos’ beautiful new release entitled “Alma do Nordeste” (Northeastern Soul), Michael Brecker’s last album, “Pilgrimage”. I was very sad, as we all were, to see him go so soon. He was a major influence in my decision to become a musician. I recently bought Elvin Jones’ “The Truth”, and during a trip back to Brazil, the Spok Frevo Orchestra’s CD entitled “Passo de Anjo” (Angel’s Steps).  I often revisit CDs. At the moment I am relistening to Chris Potter’s “Underground”, and George Garzone’s “Moodiology”.

DN: Have you thought about performing with your quintet in Brazil? Have you done it already?

FS: Yes I have thought about it. But so far it has not been possible either due to the lack of money or lack of opportunity… we have a saying in Brazil, “santo de casa não faz milagre”, which means the homegrown saint does not perform miracles. Hopefully that will change soon.

Note: Jovino Santos Neto’s new CD, “Alma do Nordeste” is not available yet, but it will be released in early 2008.

DN: What other projects are you working on right now and/or intend to work on in the near future?

For additional information on Felipe Salles visit: www.sallesjazz.com

Danilo Navas - Editor
Latin Jazz Network
February 2008


From left to right: Mark Ivester, Jovino Santos Neto, Gregory "Goyo" Pappas and Felipe Salles. At the IAJE Exhibit Hall, in Toronto.

Song Titles:

1. Seven Days; 2. Unborn Choro; 3. Family Ties; 4. Somewhat Frevo; 5. Crayon; 6. Xote Manco; 7. Three Views.

The Musicians:

Felipe Salles: soprano, tenor and baritone saxes, flutes, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet; Jacam Manricks: flute, piccolo, alto flute, alto sax; Laura Arpiainen: violin; Joel Yennior: trombone; Nando Michelin: piano; Fernando Huergo: bass; Bertram Lehmann: drums; Rogerio Boccato: percussion.

Note: All photographs on this feature taken by Danilo Navas