Patty Ascher Announces Tour and New Zoho CD Set for April 12 Release

Patty Ascher announces Bossa, Jazz 'n' Samba by Zoho 201103, with a release date of April 12, 2011.

Singer Patty Ascher and her expert crew of Sao Paulo,Brazil-based sidemen led by music director Marco Ponte and production supervisor Marco Menescal expertly navigate the sensuous territory of Bossa, Jazz ‘n' Samba in ten Patty Ascher originals, and the classic evergreen The Summer Knows.

Patty's version of The Summer Knows by Marilyn & Alan Bergman and Michel Legrand has an arrangement by Dori Caymmi, a Brazilian singer, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and producer who is a two-time Grammy Award winner.

Dori's arrangement is a tribute to another inspiration in Patty's career, the French pianist and composer Michel Legrand, who has won 3 Oscars and 5 Grammys. Patty has already toured with him in Brazil twice, in 2008 and 2009, and further US dates together will be announced shortly.

Brazilian singer Patty Ascher has a bachelor's degree in Literature from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, but she always had music in her life: her father Neno was part of a very successful Brazilian band from the 70s, Os Incríveis (The Incredibles). In 2007, Patty released her debut album: Bacharach Bossa Club. The album featured famous Burt Bacharach songs recorded by Patty with bossa nova arrangements and was a best seller at Uol - the biggest internet portal in Brazil. Her first album was released around the world, including the US.

In both September 2009 and 2010, Patty performed at Feinstein's, the exclusive supper jazz club in the Loews Regency Hotel on Park Avenue in Manhattan. On Labor Day 2010, Patty also appeared at legendary comedian Jerry Lewis' MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) Telethon, a 21 hour-long fundraising event which is broadcast from Las Vegas to over 170 stations throughout the US.
Patty Ascher's new album, released in Brazil under the title Deu Jazz no Samba, but in the rest of the world by ZOHO as Bossa, Jazz ‘n' Samba, is a collection of 11 exquisite songs, with Patty singing both in English and Portuguese. She wrote most of the songs with co-writers Marco Pontes. Many great Brazilian musicians participate in this album, and Patty explains that it is kind of a tribute recording to them.

"We have so many talented musicians in Brazil, so we thought about making Bossa, Jazz & Samba as a tribute to these brilliant musicians. For me, it's an honor to be able to have so many of these incredible players in our team", says Patty.

With the talent, personality and elegance of Dori Caymmi, Amilson Godoy, Jota Morais, Eduardo Lages, Gilson Peranzetta, Aluisio Pontes, Cristovão Bastos - some of the great names, and arrangers who participate in this recording - and Patty's one-of-a-kind voice, the result is an album filled with pop and jazz, bossa and samba, and a handful of latin ballads.

Roberto Menescal - a famous Brazilian songwriter and jazz guitarist and Patty Ascher's mentor - is the production supervisor on this new album. Menescal, with Antonio Carlos Jobim a founding father of the Bossa Nova genre in the late 1950s and 60s, has performed and composed in a variety of Latin music genres, including Brazilian pop, Música Popular Brasileira, and Samba. He was also nominated for a Latin Grammy for his work with his son's bossa group Bossacucanova in 2002. In addition to his role as production supervisor, he also plays his distinctive "bossa-jazz-guitar" in Sunrise: an English version, with English lyrics written by Patty, of the Brazilian song Amanhecendo, composed by Lula Freire and Roberto Menescal.

On the album's opening track, Springtime, Patty comments, "I wrote this song when were coming from a gig in Chicago, in 2008: What's "Jazz ‘n' Samba"? Well, here is our answer - this is what this song is all about."

The Summer Knows by Marilyn Alan Bergman and Michel Legrand has an arrangement by Dori Caymmi, a Brazilian singer, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and producer who is a two-time Grammy Award winner. His arrangement is a tribute to another important musician and inspiration in Patty's career, the French orchestra conductor, pianist and composer Michel Legrand, who has won 3 Oscars and 5 Grammys. Patty has already toured with him in Brazil twice, in 2008 and 2009, and is looking forward to being back on stage with him in the near future.

Another song of special importance to Patty is How Much I Care: "I wrote this song when we went to see famous comedian Jerry Lewis in Saginaw, Michigan. We traveled 15 hours non-stop just to be there, halfway through the world literally ...It was pure magic to see him, my childhood idol, a man from the golden age of Hollywood. I was thrilled to be asked to perform in his MDA Telethon in Las Vegas later."
About her song Saudade, Patty explains, "In Portuguese, we have this very special word saudade. You can't really translate it into any other language - the closest in English might be "homesickness" or "longing" - that's why we wrote this soft and warm Bossa Nova to musically express its meaning.

The last two songs on the album, Talvez ("Maybe") and Pela Manha, are both sensuous ballads sung by Patty in Portuguese, with the latter song developing a powerful, string orchestra- and vocals-driven climax, before the strings appear to be fading into space....
Patty Ascher & Joachim "Jochen" Becker

Recorded at Gravodisc Studios, São Paulo, Brazil. Strings recorded at Estudio do Gato, São Paulo, Brazil. Mixed and mastered at Estudio do Gato, São Paulo, Brasil. Production supervisor: Roberto Menescal. Produced by Marco Pontes & Patty Ascher. Photographer: Paulo Cabral. Photography Coordinator & Styling: Keith Takarashi. Special thanks to Fause Haten and Valerio Araujo. Package design: Jack Frisch. Executive producer of ZOHO CD release: Joachim "Jochen" Becker.

Artist Website: http://www.pattyascher.com/

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