While many an American jazz singer flirts with the Brazilian Songbook, San Francisco vocalist
Sandy Cressman made a name for herself as a true devotee of the country’s greatest
contemporary composers, interpreting songs by post-bossa masters like Milton Nascimento,
Hermeto Pascoal, Gilberto Gil, and Filó Machado in Rio-accented Portuguese. The friendships
forged with Brazilian musicians during her musical travels course through her captivating new
album Entre Amigos, a project that marks a major new chapter for Cressman as a tunesmith.
Entre Amigos features a gorgeous array of new songs created with a far-flung cast of
collaborators, including the celebrated Pernambuco frevo composer/bandleader Spok, rising
Brazilian-American guitarist Ian Faquini, pianist/composer Jovino Santos Neto, and pianist
Antonio Adolfo, a Brazilian jazz master who got his start at the center of Rio’s early 1960s bossa
nova scene.
Sandy Cressman, voice
Jasnam Daya Singh, piano
David Belove, bass
Phil Thompson, drums
Celso Alberti, drums
Michael Spiro, percussion
Jeff Cressman, trombone
Natalie Cressman, trombone
Harvey Wainapel, saxophones
Ian Faquini, acoustic guitar
Guest - electric guitar: Ray Obiedo
A collaborative duo since 2014, trombonist and vocalist NATALIE CRESSMAN and
guitarist MIKE BONO have developed a repertoire of vibrant and intricate originals that
incorporate a multitude of genres. With its mix of jazz with folk and indie rock, the
genre-bending music is complex yet very approachable. Cressman’s voice has an alluring
smoky quality, and her singing style comes out of the tradition of vocal jazz but with a
distinctly contemporary feel. Bono is an accomplished arranger and improviser.
Besides playing with their own bands, Cressman and Bono having been honing their duo
chops for a while with regular performances in NYC. The duo recorded their debut
album, ETCHINGS IN AMBER, in October of 2015 at The Bunker in Brooklyn, NY. The
project was mixed by Nick Rives at Capitol Records in Los Angeles and mastered by
Kevin Reeves at Sterling Sound in New York City. The 9 songs, featuring the intimate
instrumentation of voice and acoustic guitar, combine Bono’s harmonic stylings with
Cressman’s soulful storytelling. With Cressman’s and Bono’s strong musicianship and
intricate but highly accessible compositions, ETCHINGS IN AMBER shows that the future
of jazz is in good hands.