Accidents can happen—and sometimes they bring good things. When Brazilian singer Glaucia Nasser appeared at a concert at WDNA’s Jazz Gallery in Miami, she had no idea that a chance meeting there would change her life. But it was there she was introduced to the famed Latin jazz percussionist Sammy Figueroa.
“I was just the opening act,” Nasser recalls, “but I talked to Sammy after the show and told him about my idea for mixing my voice with his style.”
Figueroa has long been known for his inventive and flexible approach to percussion and has played with everyone from Miles Davis to Mariah Carey. He was there as a fan of the main act, Brazilian jazz guitarist Chico Pinheiro, but when he heard Nasser, he was convinced: “Glaucia was charismatic, so original in her approach to music. And she had a gorgeous voice.”
Fast forward to the result of that encounter. Figueroa brought in his long-time producer and partner Rachel Faro, who immediately loved the concept. Together, the three of them created Talisman (Savant Records; release: September 9, 2014), a breathtaking mix of popular song from Nasser’s homeland, which balances her soaring vocals and Figueroa and the band’s bubbling Latin rhythms.
“This is the music of my heart,” Nasser says. “It’s an expression of love. We just let things happen. Some people thought Brazilian and Latin music couldn’t work together, but this proves it’s a beautiful combination.”
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After their serendipitous Miami meeting, Nasser pursued her dream, inviting Figueroa to Brazil with his band and producing a concert where Latin jazz could meet Brazilian sounds. When the show finally happened a year later, it was as evocative as everyone hoped. “I sang with his band and he played congas with mine,” Nasser recalls. “Naturally, we knew we had to make an album together.”
In December 2013, Figueroa and Faro joined Nasser in São Paulo where they put together a band of extraordinary musicians and decided which songs to record. They settled into NaCena Studios and began three days of intense rehearsals, followed by three days of even more intense recording.
“NaCena is like the old RCA Studios in New York from the 1970s,” Figueroa recalls. “A big wooden room, the kind of place where creative things happen. We had Bernardo Aguiar, one of Rio’s hottest young sambistas—he made the pandeiro sound like a whole drum kit! And Glaucia brought in this amazing young bass player, Fernando Rosa.” Percussionist Chrys Galante added Brazilian touches to Figueroa’s bubbling conga patterns. Austrian guitarist Michi Ruzitschka brought lovely West African-inspired guitar to many of the tracks and proved fundamental to the arrangements and overall sound of the album.
“Sammy, Michi, and the band worked hard on the arrangements during the rehearsals,” adds Faro, an award-winning record producer of artists from Eddie Palmieri to Vocal Sampling and a singer-songwriter with a long history of folding unexpected global sounds into catchy songs. “By the time we went into the studio, it was just about playing, having fun. The musicians were very relaxed and there was a lot of interaction between Glaucia and the players. It’s really both a vocal and an instrumental album.”
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