DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTOS
“It’s gotten cooler, but I hope the music is warming you up” bassist Jeff Fuller told the audience from the New Haven Green’s main stage Wednesday evening.
The slightly overcast skies were just fine with the laid-back audience that gathered to hear the Brazilian-themed music of local New Haven act Sambeleza, booked at the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
Sambeleza is one of several local New Haven groups to perform at Arts and Ideas this year, including the Nu Haven Kapelye, which performed on Thursday evening; 11twelve13, which performs on June 24; and Manny James and Soulclectic as well as Carlos Santiago y Su Momento Musical, who both perform on June 27.
Whether sitting or standing, the sound of samba generates heat as it coaxes involuntary movement. You sway, you shimmy, you keep time. Sometimes you just have to get up and dance.
The band’s sexy name, Sambeleza, which flows much like the upbeat music it represents, combines the word samba, Brazil’s national dance, and beleza, the Portuguese word for beauty. The group draws from samba, bossa nova, and jazz influences as they interpret both American and Brazilian musical traditions, celebrating some of their best 20th century composers. Concert goers Wednesday were also treated to some of the band member’s original compositions.
The concert was the first stop of a scheduled summer CD release tour to promote the band’s first CD, Sambeleza Live. A full-blown CD release party will be held on June 24 at Best Video in Hamden, and another concert will be held at Neighborhood Music School’s Twilight Tuesdays Series on July 21.
“It’s where we played our first concert ever as Sambeleza,” said Fuller, who is also a music instructor at the school.
Ali Ryerson.
Appearing on stage with Sambeleza’s core members — pianist and vocalist Isabella Mendes, bassist and vocalist Jeff Fuller, and guitarist Joe Carter — was the internationally performing flutist Ali Ryerson and São Paulo native and Brazilian drumming specialist Adriano Santos.
Fuller.
This has been a busy year for composer and bassist Jeff Fuller, who earlier this year enjoyed another release party for his jazz CD, The Call From Within.
Mendes.
In addition to performing in Sambeleza, Isabella Mendes performs most Saturdays at Crave, a Latin American restaurant, occasionally with Fuller, Carter, and other special guests. Various configurations of the band can also be seen monthly at Home, a restaurant in Branford.
Carter.
Sambeleza will also be performing at the New Haven Jazz Festival on the Elm Street Stage, which this year celebrates women in jazz. You’ve gotta love this town.
Sambaleza celebrates the release of its new CD at Best Video on June 24 at 8 p.m. Other New Haven acts performing at the Arts and Ideas stage on the Green are 11twelve13, which performs on June 24 at 12 p.m.; Manny James and Soulclectic, who appears on June 27 at 4:15; and Carlos Santiago y Su Momento Musical, who opens for Plena Libre on June 27 at 7 p.m.
It was a great night, we seem to always have a good time with an appreciative audience when we perform at the Festival of Arts & Ideas. And we were able to play several songs from our new CD release.