Jazz to be featured at Black Butte Ranch

Top-tier jazz musicians will bring their music to the new lodge at Black Butte Ranch on Friday, April 26.

Saxophonist Tom Bergeron has been studying, playing, and teaching Brazilian music for more than two decades. An aficionado of world grooves since his early days as a bandleader at age 15, his focus turned primarily to Brazil in the early 2000s. Today, Bergeron is a retired professor of music from Western Oregon University and still playing Brazilian music. He and his wife, Rosi - a singer and native of Rio de Janeiro - divide their time between Camp Sherman and Rio's neighbor city of Niterói.

Meanwhile, Rogerio Souza - another musician who makes his home in Niterói - grew up playing guitar around the dinner table with his musician father and siblings. These days he tours extensively in Brazil and internationally as a soloist and clinician. One of Brazil's most accomplished artists on the 7-string violão (guitar), he created a guitar duo with Rio de Janeiro native Edinho Gerber - Duo Violão Brasil. While on tour in the US, the group added percussionist Ami Molinelli from Oakland, California to create the trio Duo Violão Plus One.

Through a fortuitous online encounter, these five musicians developed a plan to bring their varied interests and expertise in Brazilian music to Central Oregon in a presentation entitled Tom Bergeron with Duo Violão Plus One & Rosi Bergeron. The show will focus on two foundational genres of Brazilian popular music: choro and samba.

Choro originated in the mid-19th Century, and remains a vital and active tradition in Brazil and around the world. Its characteristics include virtuosic melodies over a propulsive rhythm, and jazz-like harmonies and improvisation. Samba is the dance-music offshoot of choro that became the progenitor of bossa nova. The official music of Carnaval in Brazil, it is central to Brazilian identity and has had a profound influence on jazz in the U.S. and abroad.

On Friday, April 26, Tom Bergeron with Duo Violão Plus One & Rosi Bergeron will be performing at Black Butte Ranch in the event room of the new lodge. The concert begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the general public. Admission is $30, with food and beverages available for purchase before and during the show.