05/09/09 Benjamim Taubkin solo in Spain, UK and Austria

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Benjamim Taubkin solo in Spain and in the United Kingdom and in a residence in Austria

The Brazilian pianist who has been performing and recording a several projects is also browsing a different path as musician: the solo concerts. If recently he was invited to record a piano solo album in New York, at the Fazioli Salon, a piano house which may have one of the best piano nowadays, this year it was the time to perform that kind of concert in Europe.

First it was the invitation to do a one-month artistic residence in Krems by Josef Aichinger, artistic director of Glatt und Verkehrt Festival, and then, concerts in Tarragona, Spain and in London, UK.

The concert in Tarragona, capital of Catalonia, was the opening evening of the festival Ruta del Cister, organized by Jordi Freixes. The festival takes place every year in a Monastery. In the following day, Benjamim performed as a special guest in Roger Mar’s concert. He is a Catalonian singer and composer. Together they presented a song from Ari Barroso.

The final concert of the tour was in London, where Benjamim performed for the first time. The solo concert was in the very traditional jazz club, The Vortex, a very cutting-edge venue in London, which runs an intense programme every night, passionately promoted by their team.

The venue was totally packed, the atmosphere was really warm and the audience were very attentive. Benjamim played choro and other Brazilian rhythms, and he brought his compositions as well.

It was a beautiful concert. As special guests, Benjamim invited the Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale, so they could experiment and improvise some songs together, including “Morro não tem vez”, from Tom Jobim and “Giant Steps”, from John Coltrane; and finally the singer Mônica Vasconcellos, also Brazilian, where the trio performed the beautiful “Minha” from  Francis Hime.

Check out a video made in an Iphone, when Benjamim and Adriano were performing Pena que a vovó não está and Giant Steps, by John Coltrane.

The solo cd will be launched in the US by Adventure Music in 2010.

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