New Album From Cyro Baptista's Banquet of the Spirits OUT NOW!!
Banquet of the Spirits features the tight new quartet led by maestro Cyro Baptista— the fabulous percussionist who has performed with everyone from Herbie Hancock and Yo-Yo Ma to Laurie Anderson, Paul Simon and Medeski, Martin and Wood. Cyro’s endless sonic curiosity and intense rhythmic drive has never been stronger in these fabulous and imaginative original songs. Featuring three of the best young musicians out of the downtown scene and some very special guests, the music jumps from a whisper to a scream and never misses a beat. Delightful music from one of the world’s greatest and most adventurous Brazilian musicians.
Cyro and BTD have been rocking every corner of IOWA for the past 2 weeks (and will continue to do so)!!
This tour, organized by The University of Iowa's Hancher Auditorium, takes the band to 4 different towns in America's Heartland. This month of shows and residancies throughout Iowa, dubbed as "THE SPOT TOUR", culminate in a performance at Iowa City's magnificent Hancher Auditorium!!
The first leg of the tour has been a tremendous success and rave reviews have been coming from each stop.
We though we'd share some of those comments and photos with you all!!
Judy Hurtig, Artistic Director of the Hancher Auditorium said: Today was fabulous. The activities at the high school were very good, but the two at one of the elementary schools were amazing! Beautifully conceived and executed. No need for any words because the music made all the points necessary. The Kids loved it -- and so did the teachers.
Ron Art/Design Director of the Hancher Auditorium said: All the residencies and performances have been exciting for us and I can't stop telling people about their incredible inventiveness and music making. The kids immediately jumped into participating. It was one of the best school residencies we have seen. What an incredible group. We love 'em!
Please check out the SPOT blog for more information, photos and comments as the tour continues!!!
Cyro, Jason Miles, DJ Logic and many more make some Global Noize
Jason Miles and DJ Logic created an Intoxicating Brew of Jazz, Electronica Funk and World Music Featuring Some of Music’s Most Creative Players: Meshell Ndegeocello, Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin & Wood) , Vernon Reid (Living Colour), John Popper (Blues Traveler), Bernie Worrell (Talking Heads, Parliament Funk), Karl Denson (Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Lenny Kravtiz), Christian Scott & more.
The album is out now and you can catch different incarnations of this band somewhere you!!
Check out the Global Noize myspace page and add them to your friends!!
Cyro played a whole week of shows at The Brooklyn Academy of Music with Paul Simon.
This was part of Simon's career retrospective which spanned over 3 weeks at the venue!
The show, entitled "Under African Skies" was an amazing show and featured special guests including Cyro, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Vusi Mahlasela, Luciana Souza, David Byrne and of course - Paul's amazing backing band!
Cyro was so excited and honored to share the stage with his old friends and bandmates including: Steve Gadd, Jamie Haddad, Vincent Nguini,Tony Cedras, Mark Stewart, Jay Ashby, Bakithi Kumalo
In the past 2 months, Cyro has played with Zorn in 3 countries, on 3 tzadik releases and they're just getting started!!
John Zorn released 2 albums in the last 2 months that feature Cyro on percussion.
The first of these albums is a new project called "The Dreamers". This project features Cyro, Trevor Dunn, Marc Ribot, Jamie Saft, Kenny Wollesen and John Zorn. The group premiered the album live as part of a 2 night run at Brooklyn's St. Anne's Warehouse. They then took show to Israel and Spain. The tour was hailed as an unbelievable success.
Next, Zorn released the first new Bar Kokhba album in over 10 years - Lucifer: Book of Angels Vol. 10. In Bar Kokhba, Cyro is along side Joey Baron, Greg Cohen, Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander and Marc Ribot.
The Dreamers in Israel:
In the next 5 months - look for Cyro with John Zorn here: May 15 and 16, 2008: Victoriaville, Canada - Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville
May 17, 2008 - New York, New York - Hammerstein Ballroom
Jun 24, 25 and 27, 2008: Paris, France - Cite de la Musique
Sep 5 and 6 - Sep 05, 2008: Guelph, Canada - 2008 Guelph Jazz Festival
Beat The Donkey celebrated its 10 year anniversary at the Abrons Arts Center in NYC's Lower East Side!
The show was an AMAZING success! Onstage, the band's energy was off the charts. Special guests only added fuel to that fire! Anat Cohen and Carlos Darci supplied the horn section.. Max Pollak spent most of the night on stage with the band adding tap, percusion and a touch of humor!
Towards the end of the night, the audience was treated to the ESA Samba Crew - a percussion ensemble made up of amazingly talented young people from NYC's ESA school!
Thank you's are in order to everyone involved in this production... but MOST OF ALL, thank you to our AMAZING audience who helped us celebrate this milestone!
You came out in droves and helped us to sell out the Abrons center!!
Cyro was awarded the title of "2007 Percussionist of the Year" by the Jazz Journalists Association.
Voting members of the JJA, a non-profit professional organization, cited Cyro as 2007's top percussionists.
Cyro is very proud of this acknowledgement and extremely prestigious honor!
Congratulations are in order to all of this years winners! Esspecially our good friend Anat Cohen - winner of 2 awards this year: Up & Coming Musician of the Year and Clarinetist of the Year!
Also, thank you to Howard Mandel (president of the Jazz Journalists Association) as well as the entire organization.
To see the other winners or to obtain more information about the Jazz Journalists Association please visit: http://www.jazzhouse.org/
Cyro will be teaching at the "Jazz Around the World" Summer School this summer.
The program includes nine days of full immersion into the exciting city of Rotterdam: education, playing, concerts, and the largest Jazz festival in Europe...it’s all part of the package!
For more information on the program - please visit their website July 7 through 15 Summer School: "Jazz Around The World" Rotterdam, HOLLAND in collaboration with the North Sea Jazz Festival http://codartssummerschool.nl http://web.mac.com/heinvandegeyn
