After the last majestic chord of “Senhoras do Amazonas” has faded away in the Studio, Joao puts his guitar aside, laughs and blurts out: “I don’t believe that! ” That little moment sums up the whole story of this CD. And I have go agree with Joao. When we asked him in 2007 to do a tour in Brazil with the NDR Bigband, we never thought that three years later the result would be right here in our hands.

The first question we had to deal with was: how can you orchestrate the music of a man who is not only one of the greatest singer-songwriters, but who is also a fantastic guitarist and can easily enchant and electrify the audience alone, just by himself? We decided not to play background music for Joao but to somehow meet him in the middle: to combine his unique mixture of Samba, Rock and Jazz with the possibilities of a contemporary European Jazz orchestra and its individual soloists. With the help of Ney Conceicao’s groovy bass lines and Kiko Freitas’ breathtaking and inspiring drumming the NDR Bigband sometimes really reached the energy of a steaming Samba band.

This CD integrates a few of the many sides of Joao Bosco: his ” africanidade” — the afro-brazilian, samba based side (like in “Nagao”), his Rock’n’Roll side (“bate urn balaio”), his wonderful sense for ballads (“Saida de Emergencia”) and his astonishing talent as a Jazz singer: Joao can turn a song easily into a adverturous journey (just listen to his scatting o “desafinado”). With this latter composition and two other songs we also payed tribute to the great Antonio Carlos Jobim, one of Joao’s dear friends and heroes. It was Maria Schneider who suggested to include the title song, “Senhoras do Amazonas”, in this project. So we did (this one’s for you, Maria!). Most of Joao’s originals derive from his collaboration with Aldir Branc — simply one of the most creative teams in the history of the MOsica Popular Brasileira. Their songs tell about real life and real people, about their good and hard times, but like any true artist they uplift the stories to a level above and beyond reality — thanks to Blanc’s feeling for the poetry of rhythms and Joao’s feeling for the musicality of words. And that is one big reason why this music still sounds so fresh, even after decades.

Another reason is Steve Gray’s incredible talent as an arranger and his empathetic abilities: Steve reached the core of things and turned it into something new. To be honest, I didn’t know that he was a fan of Joao’s music until he was asked to join in: “Of course I’d love to”, he said,”next to Al Jarreau, Joao is my favorite singer!” That was indeed a perfect precondition. It is so sad that Steve never had the chance to listen to the result of his work. He died shortly after the beginning of the recordings. But I am very glad that Steve and Joao did meet. I remember Steve sitting in the corner of the studio while Joao was singing, smiling whimsically as he always did, when he was happy. He arranged the music in the style of the great classical composers, developing ideas after ideas, hardly ever repeating anything, not even the smallest motif. That’s why the music can grow with every listening. And like all the great masters, Steve could make complex things sound so easy. Musicians and listeners can literally “bathe” in the harmonies he created. So in the end with the meeting of Joao Bosco, Steve Gray and the NDR Bigband we tried to re-discover and hopefully re-invent an important chapter of Brazilian music. I know this might sound daring, but like Joao says: “That’s what art is about: to dare new things every day”

Stefan Gerdes