On their maiden voyage, the New York based trio led by drummer Stéphane San Juan, pianist Vítor Gonçalves and bassist Eduardo Belo, perform an expertly curated selection of modern and classic Brazilian and international Jazz, Soul and Pop standards recreated in a straight-ahead early-60’s Bossa and Samba Jazz style. Material covered includes classic and modern standards such as Miles Davis’ ‘Milestones’, João Donato’s ‘Cadê Jodel’, Amy Winehouse’s ‘Love Is A Losing Game’, Stevie Wonder’s ‘Golden Lady’, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘Children’s Games’, Clifford Brown’s ‘Blues Walk’, Bill Withers’ ‘Lovely Day’ and many more

Produced by Stéphane San Juan and co-produced by Brazilian/American A&R and producer Béco Dranoff, SAMBACOOL was recorded live over several sessions in June and July 2019 in Brooklyn, NY. The entire project was mixed by award-winning engineer and producer Scotty Hard. 

SAMBACOOL Rekindles the timeless Samba Jazz stream popularized in the late 50’s and early 60’s by iconic artists such as Meirelles, Sambalanço Trio, Tamba Trio, Sergio Mendes and early Eumir Deodato. In the U.S. the Samba Jazz/Bossa sound was introduced by Herbie Mann, Charlie Byrd, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, and many more. 

THE TRIO

Drummer, percussionist, singer-composer, music producer and educator, Stéphane studied music in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, his career includes works with Amadou & Mariam, Bernard Purdie, Caetano Veloso, Elza Soares, Deodato, Jane Birkin, João Donato, Manu Dibango, Marcos Valle, Wilson das Neves and many more. Stephane is an original cast member of David Byrne’s American Utopia.

Haling from Rio de Janeiro and based in New York since 2012, Vitor Gonçalves is a pianist, accordionist, composer and arranger with an illustrious solo career as well as performing alongside such Brazilian icons such as Hermeto Pascoal, Maria Bethânia, Itiberê Zwarg, Paulo Moura, Zé da Velha, Elza Soares, Emílio Santiago as well as Anat Cohen, Vinícius Cantuária, Anthony Wilson and Cyro Baptista in New York. Gonçalves has garnered much acclaim building a stellar resumé, including features in NPR’s Jazz Night in America hosted by Christian McBride, The New York Times and Fox News. He is a frequent resident of Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard and the Jazz Gallery. 

Eduardo Belo is a New York based bass player originally from Brasilia. Belo is known for his versatility, switching between Brazilian music and Jazz with total fluidity. Belo has worked with artists such as Michel Camilo, Claudio Roditi, Steve Wilson, Kevin Hays, Bebel Gilberto, Clarice Assad, Duduka da Fonseca and Chico Pinheiro, to name a few. 

About Béco Dranoff

Based in New York, Brazilian-American A&R and music creative Béco Dranoff has a multi-faceted career that includes credits in Grammy™ and Oscar™ nominated projects, as well as label founder and artistic director, record producer, festival curator, documentarian, Film/TV music supervisor, radio producer, and DJ. Notable projects include co-founding the Ziriguiboom music imprint signing and co-producing albums for multi-Grammy nominated artist Bebel Gilberto, the Red Hot + Rio charitable compilations and Beyond Ipanema documentary. Dranoff has developed live and recorded projects with artists such as Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, David Byrne, Angélique Kidjo, Chico Science, Suba and more. Compilation projects include: NovaBossa, SambaSoul 70!, The Soul of Bass-o-Nova, Smoking Brazil De Luxe and more. Dranoff produces Brazilab, the monthly online radio program for Spain’s Radio Gladys Palmera. 

Released on November 3, 2020.

Eduardo Belo: bass 
Stéphane San Juan: drums 
Vitor Gonçalves: piano 

Kassin: programming on 8

Recorded by Jake Owen at Super Legal Studios, Brooklyn NY 
Mixed by Scotty Hard at Duro of Brooklyn Studios, Brooklyn NY 
Mastered by Fred Kevorkian at Kevorkian Inc Studios, NYC 

Artwork & Design by Daniel Rocha 

Co-produced by Béco Dranoff