Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini: Brazilian Songcraft

Trombonist and singer/songwriter Natalie Cressman and composer, guitarist, and singer Ian Faquini have created a uniquely intimate duo collaboration, drawing from. impressionism, jazz, and the great Brazilian songwriting tradition. Their original material features songs in three different languages and encompasses a vast spectrum of musical ground. With the warm instrumentation of acoustic guitar and trombone and two-part vocal harmonies hugging the Brazilian-accented Portuguese, Cressman & Faquini weave their musical voices together to create a fully orchestrated sound befitting a much larger ensemble.

The duo has released three albums together and is steadily gaining recognition for their distinctive sound, including a finalist nomination for “Duo of The Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2023. Setting Rays of Summer (2019) and Auburn Whisper (2022) both received critical praise and topped many “best of” lists in their respective years. Their third album, Guinga (released on GroundUP Music in 2024) is a tribute to the legendary Brazilian composer, guitarist and vocalist, who has mentored Faquini for more than a decade. Guinga himself performs with them on five tracks. Together Cressman and Faquini have played their music across the US in venues ranging from intimate house concerts to performing arts halls and jazz festival stages such as the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Jazz Aspen Snowmass, and have performed internationally in Brazil, Japan, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

Ian Faquini writes astonishingly sophisticated Brazilian pop music in the omnivorous tradition known as MPB (música popular brasileira), which often draws heavily on jazz. Born in Brasília and raised in Berkeley, Ian Faquini is a protégé of Guinga, the revered Brazilian guitarist and songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by dozens of MPB stars. Faquini was a member of the renowned Berkeley High School Jazz program beforegoing on to study at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley and, immediately aftergraduating, joined the faculty there. He has performed throughout Europe, Japan, Brazil and the United States, including Montreux Jazz Festival, Enjoy Jazz Festival, Bimhuis(Amsterdam), Birdland (NYC), and The A Trane (Berlin) and has shared the stage and recording studio with such names as Guinga, Fleurine, Brad Mehldau, Chris Potter, Spok, Lee Konitz, among many others.

Possessing a voice as cool and crystalline as an Alpine stream, Natalie Cressman draws inspiration from a vast array of deep and powerful musical currents. A prodigiously talented New York City-based trombonist, she’s spent the past thirteen years touring the jam band circuit as a horn player and vocalist with Phish's Trey Anastasio, while also performing around NYC with jazz greats Wycliffe Gordon, Nicholas Payton, Anat Cohen,Dave Douglas, and Peter Apfelbaum. Deeply versed in Latin jazz, post-bop, pop, and Brazilian music, she has released 3 albums under her own name as well 2016’s Etchings in Amber, a gorgeous duo album with guitarist Mike Bono that introduced Cressman as a formidable musical force without her horn. In both 2019 and 2023 she was recognized by Downbeat Magazine, winning the “Rising Star Trombone” category twice in their annual Critic’s Poll. When she’s not performing her own music, Cressman can be found collaborating with some of the most illustrious figures in rock, funk, jazz and beyond which have included Carlos Santana, Aaron Neville, Dave Matthews, Phish, Big Gigantic, Escort, The Motet, and Umphrey's McGee.

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