Danilo brito

[alanh]

Having just returned from the Mandolin Symposium, I am going to go out on a limb and say that Danilo Brito is the greatest mandolin player I have ever seen or heard. In fact, I think he is among the greatest musicians I have seen on any instrument and in any genre, including Heifetz, Stern, Segovia, Rampal, and Art Tatum (all of whom I was privileged to see).

If you have not heard him yet, you owe it to yourself to listen to a copy of his disc Perambulando

Alan

[Brad Weiss]

Well, I'm biased, since I sat in many of the same choro classes with Alan at the Symposium - but he's right! Danilo is simply astounding. His virtuosity isn't #even the half of it. #He plays with incredible feeling and nuance, and has an immaculate sense of harmony. To say nothing of astonishing ears, since he reads no music!! Of all the fabulous players at the Symposium this year (and there were a LOT) Danilo was the only performer to get a standing ovation from the students and faculty. #Must mean something...

Perambulando is a brilliant, jaw-dropping CD- and Danilo's got a new one in production now.

[Michael Wolf]

I have "Perambulando" a few weeks now. Completely wonderful CD. He's also one of my absolute favorite Choro players, together with Jorge Cardozo.

[Doug Hoople]

I'll chime in, too.

There are no words to describe what Danilo does with the mandolin. He's a master for the ages!

Just imagine the delights in store for us in the years to come!

[mportinari]

if you wanna see him playing with hamilton go to www.hamiltondeholanda.com/site/hhtv.php to the episode call VIRADA CULTURAL

[Barb Friedland]

I'd love to have this CD- sounds wonderful. Anywhere on-line to get it?

[BlueMountain]

I have Perambulando playing on my computer at this moment. Danilo was brilliant, yes, but I wonder if the standing ovations weren't more to encourage him (first time, non-English speaker, young) than because he was the only one to deserve them. For my money (and I paid!) all of the artists at the Symposium deserved standing ovations, and giving them only to him seems to have caused an unfortunate rift. (Granted, I would have rather heard Du Du play choro rather than his own compositions, but he was also superb, but with a different sound to his mandolin.)

I'll grant him this: Danilo is definitely the sharpest dressed mandolin player I've ever seen. I think the IBMA should hire his tailor to dress the bluegrass bands that wear suits.

[SternART]

And they are playing in Berkeley tonight......I better check it out again!

[alanh]

amazon.com has the Perambulando disc. Unfortunately, it's very expensive ($30+) because it's an import. They sold them for much less at lat year's symposium, and I was lucky enough to get one.

[Brad Weiss]

Make sure to check out "Sussuarana" on the mp3 page....

[Doug Hoople]

I have Perambulando playing on my computer at this moment. Danilo was brilliant, yes, but I wonder if the standing ovations weren't more to encourage him (first time, non-English speaker, young) than because he was the only one to deserve them.
Perambulando is a great recording, but, like many studio albums, it falls short of capturing the essence of what makes Danilo so great. Personally, I also don't think, as miraculous as it was, that his playing on Saturday night gave us the full measure of his capabilities, either.

As for "first time, non-English speaker, young" and the need to encourage him, trust me, he needs no encouragement. He's already had high-flying accolades galore, and he gets recognition every time he plays. He's been a fully-established artist at the highest levels in Brasil for several years now, and it was his second year at the Symposium (remember 'Gostosinho' last year, with Hamilton?!).

However, I agree, standing ovations are a notoriously unreliable measure of overall regard, and totally unreliable as a measure of skill. As suggested, there are many cases when standing comes because the artist is a favorite, is a local boy/girl made good, or has risen to a new plateau, or has suffered valiantly in obvious ways and survived, or has simply put us in a good mood.

[JeffD]

I just did some you tube searching - the guy is good.

[Amy Burcham]

Echoing the raves for Dr. Brito posted here, I'd like to add that I also and especially like Dudu Maia's compositional sensibility and the honesty and clarity of his playing. His self-named CD is full of gorgeous moments - you can find it on CDBaby.com. Dudu and Danilo are mining somewhat different veins musically, but each of them has truly important stuff going on. They were twin poles of that great choro tent we were in last week. Put together they made a top-notch teaching team. The addition of Choro Famoso rhythm players (seven-string guitarist Colin Walker, and percussionist Brian Rice) were both delightful and very very helpful. - Amy

[Brad Weiss]

Ditto on Dudu.

[Doug Hoople]

Double ditto!

[alanh]

Yeah, me too. I thought Dudu is a wonderful musician, and his compositions arre full of beauty and feeling, particularly the one named after his sister and Luis Gonzaga and also the sweet one who wrote for the girl he never played it to.

[Mark Seale]

Yeah, me too. #I thought Dudu is a wonderful musician, and his compositions arre full of beauty and feeling, particularly the one named after his sister and Luis Gonzaga and also the sweet one who wrote for the girl he never played it to.
Gigi Gonzaga may have been my favorite piece played all week at the Symposium. Either that or Herschel playing Rebecca (multiple times).

I did notice that Danilo and Dudu were not playing together after their first concert. Were there some hurt feelings there?

[girldingo]

I went to Mike Marshall's International Mandolin concert last night in Berkeley and was awestruck by some of the brilliant virtuosity displayed by the various artists. Ditto for Du Du and Danilo was amazing!

Does anyone out there know who made Danilo's mandolin? I was quite impressed with the tone and the design, although it could be that his brilliant playing made it sound great.

I left feeling a bit dismayed about every playing mandolin again.......

Ilene

[Doug Hoople]

I did notice that Danilo and Dudu were not playing together after their first concert. #Were there some hurt feelings there?
Not likely. More likely that there were a lot of artists and not enough time to feature them all in all the delightful possible combinations. It would have been nice to get more ensemble playing in the formal performances of Brazilian music during the week.

The two of them taught together all week, and the interactions between them were great!