CCD 79790 - LAMPIAO

Biography:

Born in Sao Paolo, Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger and teacher Gilson Schachnik started music instruction when he was eleven at the Yamaha Organ School. Later he studied piano with Hilton “Gogo” Valente and Antoni Bezzan. His professional career began when he was twenty two years old, playing at night clubs in Sao Paolo. A few years later he was performing with BMG/Ariola artist Patricia Marx and touring throughout Brazil with Polygram recording artist Rosa Maria. During the same period Gilson composed jingles for BASF cassette tapes and Playboy Magazine, among others. He composed music for the soundtrack of the childrens teleivision programme Ratimbum, which aired on the States of Sao Paulo TV Network and was awarded Best TV show by the New York Film Festival. In 1990, Gilson won a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he graduated with a diploma in jazz composition. Since that time he has made the United States his home.

Gilson has played and recorded with some of the most important names in the jazz and Brazilian music scene, such as Claudio Roditi, Bill Pierce, Romero Lumambo, Yoron Israel, Jerry Bergonzi, Luciana Souza, Mick Goodrick, John Lockwood, Paulo Braga, Peri Ribeiro, Antonio Sanchez, Miguel Zenon, and Café. In addition, Gilson has studied with Danilo Perez, Charlie Banacos and Bob Durso. Gilson’s debut CD RAW was released in 1998 and received rave reviews. Bob Young, of the Boston Herald and Jazziz Magazine, wrote “Gilson Schachnik creates the kind of all-encompassing jazz mix that fans on the music’s new world order now demand: entertaining, unclichéd and favoured with atists from around the globe” RAW was nominated for the 1999 Boston Music Awards. Gilson’s new cd LAMPIAO (Candid CCD 79790) features an all-star Latin Jazz ensemble: drummer Antonio Sanchez, saxophonist Miguel Zenon, bassist Fernando Huergo, guitarist Guilherme Monteiro, and percussionist Sula da Silva.

LAMPIAO is a scintillating collection of individual interpretations of Brazilian Classics allied with Gilson’s original compositions all delivered with the panache of contemporary and Brazilian and American jazz influences. It is a stunning mix of captivating lyricism and pulsating rhythms. Flavored with tastes from around the world, Gilson Schachnik infuses his music with the kind of emotional colours that only a native of South America, could even dream to conjure up. Gilson Schachnik, who hails from Sao Paulo Brazil has assembled a stellar cast with jazz, Latin and South American roots, from solo to trio to large group.