PANORAMA BRASIL

Panorama Brasil draws on the diverse musical landscape of Brazil: music with influences from the arid interior, the Amazonian basin, and the streets of Rio and Salvador - samba, MPB, bossa, folkloric music and regional styles mixed with jazz and more.

Musical director of Panorama Brasil is drummer/composer Alastair Kerr, a long-time student of Brazilian music, and recognised as one of Australia's leading exponents of Brazilian percussion. Kerr is known for his work with groups such as The Doug de Vries Trio, The New Sheiks, Sexteto Zona Sul, and Trio Agogo, and leads this stellar group.  

Panorama Brasil have performed at major festivals, including the 2013 Melbourne International Jazz Festival, 2014 Stonnington Jazz Festival, 2015 Adelaide Cabaret Festival (with Vince Jones and Alda Rezende), and 2017 Melbourne International Jazz Festival (with Vince Jones and Doug de Vries).  In 2017 they performed a sold-out Melbourne Recital Centre concert of Os Afro Sambas (with Alda Rezende), and they returned to the MRC in 2018 with Brazil's Modern Poets.  Alda Rezende returns to Australia in 2020 another tour of Os Afro Sambas.

Panorama Brasil released their debut album, The Archer & the Dancer, in 2013, with the album being nominated for an Australian Jazz Bell Award.  In 2015 they released their second album, Flor de Pedra, featuring Jacq Gawler, Diana Clark, and Doug de Vries.  November 2016 saw the premiere of Kerr's second major work for the ensemble - Chant/Call: Stories of the Gods.  This suite draws on Kerr's extensive study of the Afro-Brazilian rhythms of Candomble.  The recording of Chant/Call will be released online in 2019.

Regular perfomers include: Yael Zamir (flute), Matt Boden (piano), Jorge Albuquerque (guitar), Rodrigo Salgado (bass), and special guests including Dany Maia, Doug de Vries, Alda Rezende, Jacqueline Gawler and Diana Clark.

"The band launched straight into the heady syncopations of the maracatu from Recife, transporting us immediately into the alternative reality of a wild, intensely colourful carnival, about as far removed from Adelaide in winter as you can get." - Stephen Wittington, Adelaide Advertiser

www.panoramabrasil.com.au