Bethel Vocalist Fernada Franco Performs Brazilian Favorites May 17

Bethel Brazilian Vocalist Fernanda Franco and her ensemble celebrates the music of Brazil – Samba, Bossa Nova, Choro, Baiao and more May 17 @lazingararestaurant. Their repertoire features songs by Brazil’s classic composers such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Moacir Santos, Jacob do Bandolim, Luiz Bonfa, Pixinguinha, Baden Powell, Ary Barroso and others. The Quartet takes things a step further by using their Jazz backgrounds to add Jazz improvisation into the tunes, creating a sound that blends the best of both worlds. In other words: the best of Music from “Both Sides of the Equator”.

Fernanda Franco - Vocalist
Fernanda Franco is a singer, educator and friend. Fernanda spent half of her childhood in Brazil and the other in Bethel, CT. She now lives in New Haven, CT and is the lead singer of Fernanda and The Ephemeral, a.k.a. FaTE. Despite her Opera background, she performs mostly Bossa
Nova and Soul music and enjoys sharing the magic of music!”

Joe Carter – Guitar. Having performed in such diverse places as Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Recifein Brazil, Bombay, Bangalore and Goa in India, Trossingen and Stuttgart in Germany, and Paris and Corsica in France, Joe Carter has used these experiences to form a sound and style based in “Samba Jazz”, a style that combines the improvisational nature of North American Jazz with the lyrical and rhythmical aspects of Brazilian Bossa Nova, Samba, Choro, Baiao and MPB. Joe Carter has recorded and performed with Jazz artists such Art Farmer, Lee Konitz, Cecil Payne, Rufus Reid, and others and with Brazilian artists such as Luiz Eca, Mauricio Einhorn, Robertinho
Silva, Paulo Russo, and others. In addition, he has recorded several CDs through the years, his most recent is Both Sides of the Equator, with bassist David Finck and percussionist Ze Mauricio. Joe Carter is currently the Director of the Academic Music Program at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT, where he teaches The History of Jazz, The Music of Latin America, and directs the Jazz Ensemble.

Jeff Fuller - Bass. Jeff has toured worldwide and recorded with saxophonists Lou Donaldson
and Paquito D'Rivera. He has played with jazz masters from all styles and eras including Dizzy Gillespie, Mose Allison, Papa Jo Jones, Gerry Mulligan, and Clark Terry. Fuller is among the most sought-after jazz bassists in Connecticut.

Luiz Ebert - Drummer is a native of Brasília, Brazil, and has developed a vocabulary blend of drumming with percussive sensitivity all his own. Combining idiosyncratic concepts found in jazz with traditional elements of Brazilian music, he creates an unique sonic palette that propels music in different directions.

Luiz Ebert graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from the City College of New York, studying under John Pattittucci and Adam Cruz. He also holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Jazzperformance from Aaron Copeland School of Music at Queens College CUNY, where he studied with prestigious Jazz educators Michael Phillip Mossman, Antonio Hart, David Berkman, and had private lessons with Jazz great Billy Hart. In addition, Mr. Ebert has performed alongside an array of promising, new jazz artists that include Matt Miller, Ryan Brennan, Kyla Roscovich, Matt Turowsky and Chris Talio, to name a few.

In 2013, he recorded Audiograph, his first album as a leader, alongside pianist Fidel Cuellar. Featuring some of the best young talents in New York jazz scene today, Audiograph is a collection
of songs and artistic portraits that exemplifies his work and life in the city that never sleeps.
Luiz Ebert is currently involved in music education, teaching in different music schools in Westchester County and New York, and working as a free-lance drummer for various artists and musicians ,most prominently the John Watts Brazilian-jazz Trio and the latin-jazz group Esencia.