Composer, guitarist, and singer Ian Faquini and trombonist, singer, and songwriter Natalie Cressman are returning to Colorado to celebrate their most recent release on GroundUP Music. They play Dazzle in Downtown Denver on March 13th.
Describing their musical partnership as a duo is accurate, but their collaboration contains multitudes. She’s a trombonist, vocalist, and songwriter from San Francisco. He’s a composer, guitarist, and singer from Brasília. Together, they’ve honed a singularly expansive creative communion encompassing their love of the Brazilian songbook, jazz, Impressionism, and sophisticated pop songcraft.
GUINGA—their latest album—is a tribute to and collaboration with the legendary Brazilian composer, who has mentored Faquini for more than a decade. Having shaped a creative identity that embraces the signature energy of Brazil's diverse artistic enterprise, the legacy of master guitarist, composer, arranger, and living legend Guinga lives within the spirit of crafting a voice that’s essentially Brazilian while cultivating a vivacious universal appeal. This spirit is lovingly captured by Cressman and Faquini on their new album.
Over the course of three albums, the duo discovered the dynamic nature of their instrumental pairing as well as the unique aperture it lends to the intricate nature of Brazilian music. Having mastered a resonant, open, and full-bodied sound, Cressman and Faquini utilize a spacious tonal vocabulary, deft harmonic pairings, and meticulous arranging that perfectly lend themselves to the unique repertoire they’ve cultivated over the years.
Unlike most tribute albums celebrating artists long past, Guinga's contributions are central to the recording process. Composing, arranging, and collaborating as a lyricist, Guinga's ingenuity is matched only by his evocative and often haunting vocals. Compact, discreet, and remarkably positioned with no less than fourteen songs, the album flows effortlessly like a personal jukebox supplied by an endless roll of Brazilian centavos, all while unfolding into a delicate mosaic of Guinga’s musical worldview.
The duo’s first two albums together have fueled the rapidly growing recognition of their gorgeous sound, including a finalist nomination for “Duo of The Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2023. Both 2019’s Setting Rays of Summer and 2022’s Auburn Whisper received critical praise and topped many “best of” lists in their respective years. Together, Cressman and Faquini have played their music across the U.S. in venues ranging from intimate house concerts to performing arts halls and jazz festival stages such as the Monterey Jazz Festival and Jazz Aspen Snowmass. They’ve also toured internationally in Brazil, Japan, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
Raised in the Bay Area, Natalie was surrounded by music. Her father, Jeff Cressman, is a renowned trombonist, producer, and engineer, while her mother, Sandy Cressman, is a jazz singer and passionate interpreter of Brazilian music. Ian, meanwhile, was born in Brasília and relocated to Northern California when he was eight. As a young guitarist, Ian’s interests were centered firmly on rock music. But that changed at 15 when he met the legendary composer and guitarist Guinga at Brazil Camp. “We hit it off immediately,” recalls Ian of his mentor. “When I met Guinga, I switched my entire focus to Brazilian music.”
Over the next decade, Ian and Natalie forged successful careers on either side of the country. In New York, Natalie became an accomplished trombonist and vocalist, recording a variety of solo projects, performing in Broadway pit orchestras, and building a following in the jam, funk, and jazz circuits with acts like the Trey Anastasio Band, Peter Apfelbaum, Big Gigantic, and Umphrey’s McGee. Remaining in the Bay Area, Ian established himself as one of the region’s foremost guitarists and authorities on Brazilian music. In addition to releasing his own music, Ian joined the faculty at Berkeley’s California Jazz Conservatory and became an in-demand collaborator—often working with Jeff and Sandy Cressman.
But it was Brazil Camp that would eventually unite the two musicians as adults. Ian and Natalie’s relationship flourished, and in 2019, they released Setting Rays of Summer. While they intended to spend much of the following year touring around the acclaimed album, the global pandemic changed their plans. Returning to California, the couple channeled their disappointment into songwriting. They settled into a comfortable routine, which included weekly recording sessions at Jeff Cressman’s home studio to record what became their second release, Auburn Whisper. Many of the songs on Auburn Whisper were influenced by the unique era in which they were written—and the rainbow of emotions that arose during lockdown.
Their original material features lyrics in Portuguese, French, and English, set to music drawing from a vast stylistic spectrum. With sumptuous two-part vocal harmonies hugging Brazilian-accented Portuguese, accompanied by trombone and acoustic guitar, Cressman and Faquini’s richly orchestrated sound seems to emanate from a much larger ensemble.
“Her trombone is world-class, but her singing voice is another thing entirely—an empathic entity that channels the ages. Cressman’s is a flawless act that can only get better with time and age. Yep, I smell a Grammy—someday.” — Dave Good, San Diego Reader
“Faquini is an uncannily masterful composer.” — Paul de Barros, Seattle Times
Performance details:
