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John Reid, saxophone/flute & Denis Nassar, piano – Brazil Project

18 Jul Posted by in Schedule | Comments
John Reid, saxophone/flute & Denis Nassar, piano  – Brazil Project
 

After playing with local rock bands in Calgary, saxophonist John Reid turned professional in 1971 with the 25 piece show group Stratus Faction which toured North America and did TV shows for CTV and CBC networks. He completed his B.M. at the University of Calgary in 1979 and has been leading his own jazz groups since 1974, when, at the encouragement of teachers Phil Nimmons and Oscar Peterson, he formed a quartet at the first annual Banff Centre Jazz Workshop to make a Jazz Radio Canada broadcast. In May of 1991, the John Reid Quartet played the warm-up set for Mel Torme at the Jack Singer Concert Hall and Reid premiered his new work for solo tenor saxophone (Improvisation No. 1) for the New Works Calgary Society in September of 1991. He is founder and past chairman of the Calgary International Jazz Festival and founding secretary and past president of the Jazz Calgary society. The John Reid Quartet is active in Edmonton, Saskatoon and Calgary. John began working on his M.A. in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers-Newark in 1998 via distance learning.

Denis Rafael Nassar Baptista is a Brazilian composer and pianist who holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. After moving to Canada in 2010 he immediately began performing recitals and teaching workshops and master classes at conferences and events. He also composed a series of piano pieces that have been performed in festivals in Alberta and national tours by pianists in Brazil.

As a Brazilian he has a special passion studying Brazilian music that brings a special flavour to his performances and compositions. Denis Nassar is currently working on his Masters degree in Music Composition at the University of Calgary. In 2014 he was awarded the “Queen Elizabeth II Graduate (Master’s) Scholarship” and was invited to speak in Athens, Greece about his compositional project (his Mater’s degree thesis).  He lives in Calgary where he composes, performs and teaches privately.

ABOUT THE CONCERT: John Reid & Denis Nassar Brazil/Canada Project

28-year old pianist Denis Nassar was raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil and has studied Brazilian music intensively all his life. Flutist/saxophonist John Reid was playing Brazilian music before Nassar was born (!), principally bossa nova and samba styles by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa. Since the duo began weekly rehearsals four years ago, Nassar has introduced Reid to other native genres such as choro, baiao, xoce, and frevo. Combining folkloric influences, virtuosic aspects of classical music, and the improvisation of jazz, these Brazilian styles performed by this accomplished duo have proven very popular with audiences in concert halls, restaurants, and clubs in Calgary and Canmore.

This concert is the first in a series of five Emerging Artist Concerts during 2018 generously sponsored by: