Fans of "The Sounds of Brazil!" know of Minas - the husband & wife duo of Orlando Haddad and Patricia King - by virtue of their song 'Dream of Brazil' which is heard every week as the closing theme for our radio/webcast show, since 1992. Their new album 'Bossa Nova Day' marks their 25th Anniversary and is filled with original songs and the generous warmth that has made this Philadelphia-based group one of the best known for Brazilian music in the USA!

Brazilian Jazz Profile: Minas - Orlando Haddad & Patricia King

Minas' 25th Anniversary Celebration Continues with the Release of Bossa Nova Day!

The year of 2009 marks 25 years since the Brazilian musical group Minas as made Philadelphia a place they call home. After the sold-out anniversary kick off concert last spring at World Cafe Live, Minas continues the celebration with the release of a new CD - Bossa Nova Day.

Featuring core members Orlando Haddad and Patricia King, and drawing from Brazilian traditions of samba, bossa nova, baião, and choro, as well as American traditions of jazz, blues, and folk, Bossa Nova Day mixes north and south seamlessly. Featuring just the duo, Bossa Nova Day is the 7th recording project by Minas.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Grammy Award winner Glenn Barratt at Morning Star Studios, Bossa Nova Day features 10 new, fresh, and exciting songs penned by Haddad/King, in English and Portuguese. The consensus of industry personnel and fans alike is that this is Minas' best CD to date.

Comprised of 10 new and original songs, Bossa Nova Day captures the essence of great songwriting with creative melodies, inventive harmonies, poetic lyrics, mood and romance. It's all there in the intimate interaction of Orlando and Patricia' s vocals and expressive instrumental performance. Patricia on piano, and Orlando on guitar, scale down to a full-sounding duo with enough room to allow their multiple talents as writers, singers, and instrumentalists to come forth.

Drawing from both continents’ roots, Patricia and Orlando blend north and south effortlessly, as they move comfortably through Brazilian and American musical textures with lyrics in both Portuguese and English. A prime example of this blend is the song, "Singing Does Away with the Blues" which serves up sultry blues gospel and Brazilian spicy samba on the same plate, in both Portuguese and English. Patricia's composition, "Hour Glass" transports American folk music to Brazil as she treats reflective English lyrics over a slow choro rhythm.

A tapestry of moods are displayed in various musical styles from minor key ballads tinged with melancholic traits of fado and choro, to American folk coasting on the subtle coolness of a bossa nova pulse, to upbeat sambas elaborated with jazz improvisation, scat singing, and Orlando’s whimsical whistling.

A poignant collaboration of lyric and music writing is evident in the stunning song, “The Guitarist” (offered on this page as a free download, above), a blend of Patricia's poetry and Orlando's guitar composition, in a vocal duo
performance eerily in sync with more than the music itself. The upbeat tune, and title track “Bossa Nova Day”, by King, opens the CD with a groovy bossa nova over Cole Porter-style lyrics: ”For love and bossa nova are in the air, just the music setting for this love affair. Love and this bossa nova mood, play the rhythm of my heart, play a tune.”

In total Brazilian context, Orlando’s composition “Temporal” is a direct transport to Rio with Portuguese lyrics painting the setting of a beach day during Carnaval, over a modern-sounding 7/8 samba rhythm pattern that
only a true Brazilian can produce.

Bossa Nova Day reflects a perfect marriage in many contexts - lyrics wedded to melody, the romantic conversation of male and female vocals, and the fusion of north and south rhythms, enhanced by dynamic work between guitar and piano. This duo rapport exudes such warm presence of togetherness that only a lifetime can produce. The chemistry speaks for itself on stage...so much in a look that passes between the couple, conveys the poetry of their life heard in every note and passage of music.

MInas’ extensive experience performing in countless venues for various performance situations, combined with years spent playing street samba for American audiences, substantiates a vital part of the group’s success. Whether in concert in small jazz clubs or in an orchestra setting, veteran Minas continues to pave new roads, constantly evolving with its original music, earning the right to be called one of Philadelphia's gems. Minas’ extensive educational outreach efforts in Philadelphia in the college or elementary level have involved thousands of youth in community music programs promoting commonalities between Brazilian music and American
Jazz. Minas not only brought Brazilian music to Philadelphia 25 years ago, but has relentlessly carried this music forward, taking the best from Brazilian and American traditions, and consequently expanding cultural horizons in our area.

Whether Minas performs in large ensembles with drum and brass sections with feathered samba dancers, or as a Brazilian jazz quintet with Philly's greatest jazz artists, or in an intimate form as a Brazilian Jazz duo, the group manages to change its music up, always with quality and flair.

Now that it's just the two of them, here's yet another chance to fall in love with a new, yet familiar approach to their music. In Bossa Nova Day, Patricia and Orlando have once again renewed their vows to keep their musical marriage young and refreshing, as well as seasoned by years of love and dedication, evident in the poetry they bring to life in their music.