Duo Violão plus 1 – Friday, March 15 at 8 pm

Duo Violão plus 1

História do choro
Rogério Souza and Edinho Gerber, guitars
Ami Molinelli, percussion

Duo Violão plus 1 began as an organic extension of Duo Violão, the name that Rogério Souza and Edinho Gerber used to promote their Brazilian guitar duo project. During their first visit to the Bay Area in 2015, they met percussionist Ami Molinelli and the musical connection was immediate. Over the following years, the three musicians travelled up and down the West Coast performing and developing a unique sound as they navigated through the rhythms, styles, and sub-genres within the music of Choro. In 2018, their hard work paid off and Ami Molinelli received an IAC grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission for their collaboration. The result is A História do Choro, a survey of the musical history and evolution of Brasil’s greatest art form that reveals its rhythmic and harmonic permutations and, in the process, creates a unique musical statement, coherent in timbre and vision while marvelously varied in its nuances.

A master of both 6 and 7 string guitars, Rogério Souza is one of the foremost representatives of the music of Rio de Janeiro. He is an award-winning composer and arranger who has worked with a veritable who’s who of Brazilian artists. Duo Violão Brasil is the result of guitarists Rogério Souza and Edinho Gerber’s reverence for Brazilian guitar, the “violão”, and their desire to explore and expand the musical possibilities of putting two “violões” together. With repertoire from composers like Pixinguinha, Baden Powell, and Tom Jobim, the duo navigates effortlessly through the many styles of 20th century Brazilian popular music while showcasing original works and inventive arrangements. Duo Violão joins pandeiro player and percussionist Ami Molinelli who records with Grupo Falso Baiano, one of the leading American choro bands.

Son of a Brazilian mother and American father, guitarist and composer Edinho Gerber possesses a rich musical vocabulary developed in the two countries he was raised in: both the U.S. and Brazil. A staple in the Chicago music scene for many years, he has performed in prestigious festivals and concerts throughout the U.S., Russia, and Japan, and currently resides in Rio de Janeiro where he performs regularly with Duo Violão Brasil and inventive new cross-cultural collaboration with Ben Lamar Gay.

Ami Molinelli is a professional percussionist and educator specializing in Brazilian and Latin percussion. She co-leads the Brazilian and Jazz ensemble, Grupo Falso Baiano with three albums to their credit: Depois, released in 2017, Simplicidade – Live at Yoshi’s and Viajando em Choro e Jazz.

Grupo Falso Baiano have been featured on NPR’s the California Report, Radio Latina and Pandora LIVE!
Ami received her Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts. Her performance and recording credits include theater, television (NBC). She is a freelance performing artist as well. She is endorsed by Latin Percussion (LP) and Rhythm Tech.

Her percussion curriculum has been used and published in clinics and education workshops including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The San Francisco Jazz Center, Los Angeles Music Center, Music in Schools Today, Young Audiences of Northern California, UFBA Ouro Preto, Brasil, HeadStart (San Mateo County), Los Angeles Music Academy, California Brazil Camp, Jazz Camp West, etc. Her curriculum, Recycled Rhythm was created for her artist residency of 7 years at the Los Angeles Music Center. Currently Ami is a music integration and curriculum specialist with organizations such as The San Francisco Jazz Center, Living Jazz and San Francisco Unified School District.