Jorge Pescara
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Jorge Pescara | |
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Jorge Pescara, 1966
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Background information | |
Birth name | Jorge Luiz Pescara |
Born | January 14, 1966 Sto André, São Paulo |
Genre(s) | Progressive, Jazz fusion, Experimental, & Brazilian Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Bandleader, Composer |
Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, Fretless Bass, Upright Bass, Megatar Toneweaver & Chapman Stick |
Years active | 1998-present |
Website | http://www.myspace.com/jorgepescara |
Jorge Pescara (Brazilian Bassist & Megatar Player), specializing in Fusion, Progressive, Experimental and Brazilian Jazz.
Discovered by Arnaldo DeSouteiro in 1998, when playing with his pop band “Linha Amarela” at Rock in Rio Café, Pescara was soon recommended to Ithamara Koorax and Dom Um Romão. Deeply impressed, Dom Um hired Pescara as the new bassist for his group in 1999, and since then he has toured extensively with him, besides recording on Dom Um’s two latest albums (“Lake of Perseverance” and “Nu Jazz Meets Brazil”, both for JSR). He also took part in an all-star benefit project (“Street Angels”) for the London-based Mr. Bongo label, playing on tracks led by Luiz Bonfá, Pingarilho and Ithamara Koorax. Pescara is also one of the featured artists on “Friends From Brazil 2001” and “Rio Strut”, as a member of the Brazil All-Stars unit, alongside Deodato, Koorax, Dom Um, João Donato, Claudio Roditi etc. Since then, his performances have been praised by such critics like Ira Gitler, Patrick Dalmace (Jazz Hot), Douglas Payne, and Alex Henderson (All Music Guide).
Nothing compares to his outstanding debut album as a leader, Grooves in the Temple, carefully recorded (during four years!) in Rio de Janeiro and New York, with state-of-the-art digital techniques. The repertoire was carefully chosen, mixing surprising treatments of very famous songs (“Comin' Home Baby”, Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”, Jimi Hendrix’s “Power of Soul”) and haunting Pescara’s originals in tribute to bass heroes Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller and Tony Levin. “This all serves to whet one’s anticipation for Grooves in the Temple, as auspicious a debut, perhaps, as Jaco Pastorius’ 1975 solo debut”, states the renowned jazz historian Douglas Payne in the liner notes.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Early years
Pescara is from Santo André, São Paulo, now living in Rio, studied music in the FASCS, ULM, and EMM with renowned bassists Cláudio Bertrami (fretless) and Arthur Maia (grooves & improvisations). While still living in São Paulo, Pescara took a lot of invaluable acoustic bass lessons with Nicolaus Tchevtchenko. In 1991, Jorge Pescara won the 1st National Contest (UNESP) on electric bass compositions by his solo piece “Ao Cósmico.” Besides performing in several bands and backing many singers (having performed in the opening night of Expomusic '94 with Arthur Maia and Gilberto Gil), as well as researching and writing a lot about music and musicians, Pescara has been presenting workshops all over Brazil. Pescara also was appointed as director of “Associação Brasileira de Contrabaixistas” (Brazilian Association of Bass Players).
[edit] Teaching experience
Pescara has been conducting many bass courses, and gave a clinic with Arthur Maia at the XVIII International Summer Workshops of Brasilia Music School, in Brasilia. Writer and Musician, he often writes several articles and stories to various kinds of music magazines like: Tok Pra Quem Toca, On and Off, Rock Brigade, Áudio Música & Tecnologia, Backstage, TKT News and Cover Guitar. Among the many books he has written, most of them currently in-print: “Arthur Maia Transcriptions” by editora MPO, six volumes of "TKT Electric Bass Course", issued by TKT Music Adviser, “Dicionário de Contrabaixo Elétrico” (Electric Bass Dictionary) issue by H.Sheldon editora, and the “Contrabaixo Completo para Iniciantes” issued by Irmãos Vitale Editora.
[edit] Performances and recordings
In 1994 the bassist published the Video Workshop “O Contrabaixo Completo” by MPO Video. Since then, Pescara has appeared in many recording projects and live dates with such artists as Arthur Maia Project Band, Celso Fonseca (opening for Stanley Clarke at Rio's "Metropolitan" concert hall), Dom Um Romão, DJ Marcelinho DaLua, Roberto Menescal, Eumir Deodato, Carlos Lyra, Sylvio César, Ithamara Koorax (with whom he toured Europe in 2003 and 2005 as well as Asia in 2006), Lord K, Luiz Bonfá, Mario Castro-Neves, Thiago de Mello, Ney Matogrosso, Miele, Cláudio Zoli, Pingarilho, Jadir de Castro, Márcio Montarroyos, José Roberto Bertrami, Maurício Leite, Sydnei Carvalho, Angélica, Laura Finocchiaro, Edu Helou, Renato Grimberg, Leila Neme, Mello Jr., Duda Neves, Michel Freidenson, Cássio Polleto, and Nabby Clifford.
Since 1998, Pescara has been a member of Brazilian rock band ZERØ, and recorded with them on the CD “ZERØ Eletro Acústico”, released by Unlimited Musical/Sony. He is also one of the founders of the “Linha Amarela" pop/r&b band, which remains active in the Rio scene. Recently, Pescara has released his two new books, with an attached CD, “Manual do Groove” (Manual of Grooves) by Irmãos Vitale editora and “Harmônicos” (Harmonics) by HMP editora. Pescara also received international critical acclaim for his debut solo album, "Grooves in The Temple", produced by Arnaldo DeSouteiros (João Gilberto, João Donato, Dom Um Romão, Ithamara Koorax, Luiz Bonfá) with an all-star line-up. Among the members of the dream-team are: Dom Um Romão, Eumir Deodato, Luiz Bonfá, João Palma, Glauton Simmas Campello, Ithamara Koorax, Cláudio Infante, Laudir de Oliveira, Cláudio Zoli, Paula Faour, DJ Dudu Dub, Guilherme Isnard, Sérgio Vid, and Alfredo Dias Gomes, plus Guto Goffi, Maurício Barros and José Carlos "Bigorna" Ramos from Brazil's top rock band “Barão Vermelho”. The CD was released by Jazz Station Records (JSR), from NYC, voted one of the world's Top 10 jazz labels for three consecutive years (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) by Down Beat magazine.
Pescara is one of the first and most important Megatar player in Brazil, also playing Chapman Stick on recordings with Ithamara Koorax ("Love Dance"/Milestone-Concord, and "Brazilian Butterfly"/JSR-IRMA), Dom Um Romão ("Lake of Perseverance"/JSR-IRMA), Eumir Deodato and Brazil All-Stars ("Rio Strut"-Milestone), Luiz Bonfá and Lord K ("Street Angels"/Mr Bongo) and ZERØ ("ElectroAcústico"/Sony Music).
Finally, for more info about Jorge Pescara's international career, please contact Arnaldo DeSouteiros – Brazil’s top jazz producer and leading jazz journalist, as well as a renowned publicist and educator (member of IAJE, the International Association of Jazz Educators, and JJA, Jazz Journalists Association) - at jsr@koorax.com
Jorge Pescara's endorse: Selenium loudspeakers, Studio R power amps, D'Alegria Custom Basses, Elixir strings, Megatar tapping Bass, & Power Click In ear systems. artist to: Jazz Station Records N.Y.C.