Matuto is something else! A guitarist from South Carolina, steeped in bluegrass and blues, folk and jazz, moves to New York City and meets an accordion master with deep roots in swing, bepop, funk, and rock, and the two of them travel to northeastern Brazil on a Fulbright and immerse themselves in the local music – forró, chorinho, samba, maracatu, and frevo. Inspired, they put together a band of talented players from New York and Brazil to make music that sizzles and swings, astounds and amazes. Jazz Times Magazine calls it “weird and wonderful, unorthodox and delightful.” The Chicago Tribune calls it “joyous and ebullient.” The website All About Jazz praises it for “spanning continents with a down-home sensibility and an explorer’s curiosity.” Last year they released their second album, The Devil and the Diamond, which, in the words of the website RootsWorld, “expertly blends Afro-Brazilian folk music with a hefty slice of Americana.”

Clay Ross is the guitarist. The Wall Street Journal calls him “very deft . . . with a rich vocabulary of folk, blues, and jazz at his disposal.” He also sings and writes lyrics that call to mind David Byrne or Caetano Veloso. Rob Curto is the accordionist. Rob has spent years living in Brazil, absorbing the rich musical traditions. Ze Mauricio is the percussionist, playing such instruments as the alfaia, a large, wooden, rope-tuned bass drum; pandeiro, a Brazilian tambourine; berimbau, a single-string on a bow struck with a small stick; and agogô, a pair of small, pitched metal bells. Richie Barshay plays drums, Michael Loren Lavalle plays bass, and Mazz Swift plays violin. Matuto is the Brazilian word for bumpkin, but these musicians are supremely well schooled in Brazilian and American traditions, with a gift for improvisation and live performance.

Visit Matuto's website

Listen to a track from Matuto:

Photo by Vincent Soyez