SAMBISMO is a modern music composition and production team created by longtime friends and collaborators composer / producer / arranger / multi-instrumentalist Zé Luis Oliveira and A&R / producer Béco Dranoff. SAMBISMO’s inspiration and creation stem from the duo’s deep experience with and admiration for Brazilian music in all its diverse forms.
Zé Luis and Béco have combined their complementary strengths and broad experience to produce the first four songs that comprise SAMBISMO. Their objective is to create new recordings that emanate the classic Brazilian feel, as filtered by two cosmopolitan producers based in New York City.
The four original songs, composed by Zé Luis in collaboration with special guests and noted Brazilian lyricist Bernardo Vilhena, feature a stellar team of international female singer-songwriters: Grammy-nominated Bebel Gilberto, Sabina Sciubba (Brazilian Girls), Nina Miranda (Da Lata and Smoke City), and bossa nova royalty Mariana de Moraes.
An international team of musicians completes the SAMBISMO sound palette: Tristan Banks and Magrus Borges (drums), Masa Shimizu (acoustic guitar), Chris Franck (electric and acoustic guitars), Jesse Murphy (bass), Dendê Macedo (percussion), Alana da Fonseca and Maucha Adnet (backing vocals) and keyboardist/producer Simone Giuliani. Mitch Davis (U2, Danger Mouse, Orba Squara) at Pull, NYC and Brad Leigh (Billy Joel, Malcolm McLaren, Tracy Chapman) at MSR Studios, NYC mixed the recordings.
The SAMBISMO sound ranges from bossa nova-inspired songs—such as “Conta Gotas de Amor,” sung by Bebel Gilberto, and “Zero a Zero,” sung by Mariana de Moraes—to the 1970s Milton Nascimento vibe of “Ocean of Emotion,” sung by Sabina Sciubba, and “Chapéu de Carmen,” sung by Nina Miranda, a Tropicália-inspired track dedicated to the spirit of Brazilian film and music icon Carmen Miranda.
SAMBISMO is Zé Luis Oliveira and Béco Dranoff
Created and Produced by SAMBISMO
Co-produced by Simone Giuliani
zé luis
A composer and woodwind stylist, he has been a professional with decades of experience featured on hundreds of recordings. Leading saxophonist in Brazil in the 1980s, Zé Luis has performed and recorded with—and arranged and composed for—many of the biggest names in Brazilian music, such as Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tania Maria and Cazuza to name a few.
A NYC resident since 1990, when he moved from his native Rio de Janeiro, Zé Luis originally got a foothold in the city working as a freelance composer. Although he specializes in flutes and saxophones, he also has a high comfort level with guitar, percussion, bass and keys. For 18 years as the owner of The Atelier Music Studio, he has been composing, producing and recording music for albums, film/TV and converging media.
It’s a remarkably diverse skill set that helped Zé Luis to earn credits that include work with Bebel Gilberto, Sabina Sciubba, Brazilian Girls, Ivy, Pull, Verve, Cannes Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Independent Lens, Rio (directed by Carlos Saldanha), Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (directed by Mark Waters), Monster-in-Law (directed by Robert Luketic), A Raisin in the Sun (directed by Kenny Leon), Burn Notice (TV Series-creator: Matt Nix, directed by Jace Alexander), sessions for original music house Tomandandy and collaborations with the oft-synch-licensed Orba Squara. Some of those works received accolades including nominations for the Golden Globe, Grammy and the Oscar.
As a solo artist, produced the self-titled Zé Luis EP and two albums of his original compositions, Guarani Banana and Caiapó. Acclaimed in the American press, Zé Luis and his work have garnering enthusiastic coverage in DownBeat, Saxophone Journal, Rhythm and Jazziz, among many other publications.
Since 2013 Zé Luis has been in the helm of producing, engineering and playing for the web series “Trade Winds” a Musical Iconography of Africa and the Americas. This journey has began in New York and brought him to New Orleans, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Next destinations will be Recife, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro – Brazil.
www.zeluis.com
Béco Dranoff
São Paulo-born Béco Dranoff is an award winning A&R, artistic director, music, television, documentary and festival producer with over 25 years of multi-faceted experience in the entertainment industry. Based in New York City since the late 80’s, Béco’s career is focused in his love of modern Brazilian music and its worldwide promotion.
As the co-founder of the Ziriguiboom Discos imprint alongside Marc Hollander from Belgium’s Crammed Discs, Béco signed and co-produced Bebel Gilberto’s ‘Tanto Tempo’ album with Serbian-Brazilian producer Suba. The album went on to receive two Grammy nominations and a multitude of international awards, becoming the signature sound of modern Brazil. Besides Bebel and Suba, other Ziriguiboom artists include Celso Fonseca, DJ Dolores, Zuco 103, Cibelle, Bossacucanova, Apollo Nove and Trio Mocotó.
Other notable projects are benefit compilations Red Hot + Rio I and II, The Best Of Os Mutantes compilation (with David Byrne), music supervision credits on ‘Next Stop Wonderland’ (Dir. Brad Anderson, Miramax) and the 2013 Oscar nominated documentary ‘How To Survive a Plague’ (Dir. David France, Sundance Selects). Béco is also the co-producer and music supervisor of the documentary and TV series “Beyond Ipanema: Brazilian Waves in Global Music” (Dir. Guto Barra, Canal Brasil).
Since 2011 Béco has worked as co-curator of New York’s Brasil Summerfes which has presented over 60 Brazilian artists in venues all over the city. He also hosts ‘Sonoridade’ the month Brazilian music radio program online streamed monthly at Clocktower Radio.
www.becodranoff.com
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