Sexteto Do Beco – Sexteto Do Beco

First, this is one of my favorite records of Brazilian Jazz, a record made in the city of Salvador, Bahia, in 1980, and released independently in the same year.

I recently had contact with the soprano vocal of the group, Andréa Daltro, and she told me interesting factors about the group Sexteto do Beco. Check it out:

The Sexteto originates in a study group created by a trio: Aderbal Duarte, Thomas Gruetzmacher and Sergio Souto. The main objective was to study functional harmony and techniques of improvisation, contents that were not part of the curriculum of the course of Composition and Regency of UFBA (Federal University of Bahia).

Through Sergio, a drummer and a saxophonist were incorporated into our study group. The cariocas Marco Esteves (disciple of Paulo Moura) and Afonso Correia (disciple of Edison Machado), who were arriving to live in Salvador. Finally, we had a complete training with drums, bass, strings and blows. It was also the only time that the Sextet was six, and that's where we adopted the name "Sexteto".

Early on, our sound had a lot of accent. Smetak told us that in the ocean of improvisation he had to fight against two powerful currents: Baroque and Jazz.

During our musical production, we found that the harmonic structure of our songs, with a lot of bossa nova influence, was much more harmoniously contoured than the standards of jazz. Improvising on these harmonies, notably beyond our technical capabilities, was a real challenge and always wanted.

The next musician to join the group was the Italian pianist Corrado Nofre.The next guest was me, who also attended the music school. Sergio Souto was writing a soprano piece called KIUÁ, and the ideal interpreter was Andréa Daltro.

Sérgio Souto was the person who saw my voice in me and made me feel that I "could" sing whatever I wanted in whatever way I wanted. And so we experience many things within the universe of voice / instrument. This all happened in the 1970s, when Brazil was still living a dictatorship, and everything was more restricted. Our group was our only option to go beyond the creativity that existed within us.

We would meet at the home of Sérgio Souto or Thomas Alemão to make music, rehearse and create the shows. It has been an enriching period that feeds me to this day. "