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CAMERA OBSCURA
HOME IS HERE
Other Music
by Felipe Salles - Salles Music (BMI) - All Rights Reserved
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Felipe Salles
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Felipe Salles
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Heitor Villa-Lobos
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Antonio Carlos Jobim
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Felipe Salles
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Felipe Salles
THE NEW IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The New Immigrant Experience, the remarkable eighth release by renowned composer Felipe Salles, is a powerful new multimedia work inspired by the lives of “Dreamers,” the almost seven hundred thousand individuals currently protected by DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The two CD/DVD set, featuring the 18-piece Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble, was released on March 20, 2020 via Tapestry Records.
Written by Salles –who emigrated from Brazil to the United States in 1995 – and developed with the aid of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship, the work uses speech cadences and melodic motifs based on key words as its main source of musical material. The compelling and personal stories it tells were collected through interviews Salles conducted with a group of nine Dreamers during the summer of 2018. Videos of the interviews were created by Fernanda Faya. Individual stories and experiences of growing up bilingual and undocumented also informed musical choices.
It’s an emotional musical journey through beautiful orchestral textures, carefully developed motifs, and intense solo features, that combine the power of a big band recording and the dramatic landscape of a soundtrack.
Premiered in April 2018 at performances in New York City and Massachusetts, The New Immigrant Experience was subsequently recorded in the studio. The recording was then recombined with live video excerpts, creating an experience that gives full-throated voice to immigrant groups in the United States today.
Salles gained firsthand knowledge of the issues surrounding DACA and the Dreamers after befriending classical pianist Tereza Lee, the original inspiration behind the DREAM Act. After writing The Lullaby Project (2018), a large-scale work inspired by the cross-generational importance of Brazilian lullabies as part of a cultural identity for immigrant families like Salles’, The New Immigrant Experience was a natural continuation of his artistic vision and the perfect vehicle to contribute to the discussion regarding the place and value of immigrants in America during these turbulent political times.
The New Immigrant Experience is a complete work of art, whether one experiences the music alone or in combination with the DVD, or in live performance with videos projected behind the band.
The New Immigrant Experience press:
“Now, The New Immigrant Experience might be recognized as a masterpiece in years to come, but today, its relevance adds to its impact. […]Fiery moments occur, though more reflective ones complement them and serve a greater narrative. But this isn’t about groove. It’s about hearing what often-neglected people have been trying to get others to hear—a goal that Salles achieves brilliantly.”
Bob Doerschuk, Downbeat Magazine - 4.5 stars
“Truly, the best part of "The New Immigrant Experience" is the writing––this music, some of whose melodies are based on the cadence of certain words spoken by the people the composer interviewed during the process), stands out from the opening moment until the last notes have faded. Even after listening to the stories of the nine "Dreamers", the feeling one gets from the music is hope, positive hope. Please listen to the stories, then listen to the music. Then listen again and share with friends and your state and federal politicians. Felipe Salles has something to say and he does so brilliantly, especially with the aid of the Interconnections Ensemble.”
Richard B. Kamins, Step Tempest
“one of the season’s most relevant releases”
Richard Allen, A Closer Listen.com
“sums up the powerful sentiments evoked throughout project and underlines the brilliance that Salles has brought to this most timely undertaking.”
Donald Elfman, THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
“It's a sharp and thought-provoking enterprise whose aural pleasures are reinforced by videos that were projected behind the ensemble during its live performance. If it's not quite a magnum opus, Salles at least deserves props for having made the effort and poured his heart into it.”
Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
“The gripping narratives contained within, superbly relocated to the landscape of music, which is then performed and to perfection are, in sum, the reason for its demand to be heard.”
Raul Da Gama, Latin Jazz Network
“This is beautiful, provocative music that makes you think, and perhaps dream of a better time that will happen in the future instead of the past.”
Marc Phillips, The Vinyl Anachronist
“[…] a compelling soundscape laden harmonic tension, stabbing rhythms and melodies that tap a gamut of emotions, from longing and despair to guarded optimism.”
Mark Holston, LATINO
“A refined anthropological "current" of jazz.”
Elio Bussolino, Rockerilla Magazine
“The exciting orchestral arrangements are unpredictable and exploratory.”
Dee Dee McNeil, Jazz Journalist
“[…] full of ideas, varied and powerful, rich and multi-colorful, very modern but far from every current known of the classic big band jazz […] but carrying out a distinct stylistic independence.”
Aldo Gianolio, Audio Review Magazine
“Every so often a piece of work emerges that’s so artistically and culturally significant it takes your breath away.”
Monarch Magazine
AUDIO STREAMING LINKS
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Home is Here
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ABOUT HOME IS HERE:
Since founding the Interconnections Ensemble in 2016, saxophonist/bandleader Felipe Salles has used the group not just as a showcase for his powerful big band compositions but as a vehicle for illuminating diverse perspectives on the immigrant experience. The ensemble’s 2018 debut, The Lullaby Project, reflected his personal journey through the lullabies of his native Brazil, while its 2020 follow-up, The New Immigrant Experience, channeled anger and frustration over the tempestuous political climate into a tribute to “Dreamers” – the hundreds of thousands of people protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
With Home Is Here, his third album with the Interconnections Ensemble, Salles draws inspiration from his fellow immigrants in the jazz community. Out May 12, 2023 via Tapestry Records, the album features eight majestic new compositions, each written for and directly inspired by an individual soloist.
Salles chose a diverse and compelling cast of special guests for the recording, spanning an array of nationalities, cultures, traditions, generations, and most importantly, stories: legendary saxophonist/ clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera (Cuba); vocalist Sofia Rei (Argentina); saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart (Guadeloupe); flugelhornist Nadje Noordhuis (Australia); vocalist Magos Herrera (Mexico); saxophonist/percussionist Yosvany Terry (Cuba); guitarist Chico Pinheiro (Brazil); and saxophonist Melissa Aldana (Chile).
In order to tailor his new pieces for the featured artists, Salles began by selecting a cross-section of the jazz scene whose work he admires and connects with, and whose stories intrigued him for their parallels and differences from his own. He then arranged Zoom interview sessions (availability wasn’t much of an issue during the height of the pandemic) and spoke to each of his subjects at length. Finally he drew from those conversations to craft a composition that embodied each individual’s personal journey.
“There’s a bit of an anthropological curiosity underneath this whole project,” Salles says. “The conversations were fascinating and helped me find ways to write music that felt connected with people's personalities and stories.”
Opener “Re-Invention,” for instance, is a play on words drawn from a comment Rivera made about musicians constantly having to reinvent themselves. Salles ran with that idea while contemplating the breadth of the woodwind master’s storied career; he referenced Rivera’s classical technique by bookending the piece with segments hinting at a Bach invention, and steering through sections inspired by tango, Brazilian chorinho and Afro-Cuban traditions.
Rei penned the lyrics to “Meridian 63,” which Salles wrote with the singer’s experiences in jazz, classical, pop and folk musics in mind. The complex piece utilizes Argentinean influences and a hybrid groove leading into a stunning vocalese in dialogue with the deft band members. Schwarz-Bart used the word “Polymorphous” to describe his approach to fusing his roots and influences, sparking a polyrhythmic piece that diverges into multiple directions.
Having worked extensively with Noordhuis in a variety of contexts, Salles imagined “Wanderlust” as a showcase for her vibrant lyricism, as well as a showcase for a gifted artist who has also been a tireless advocate for women in jazz. The sensuous “Two Worlds Together” is richly orchestrated around the timbre of Herrera’s voice, a portrait, Salles says, of, “a cultural personality, someone who is very much Mexican and also very much a New Yorker.” Deeply rooted in Afro-Cuban rhythms, “World Citizen” spotlights Terry’s heritage as well as his modern jazz sound, while “Storytelling” builds on Aldana’s narrative sense and dauntless virtuosity. Pinheiro, a childhood friend of Salles from Brazil, summed up the difference between jazz and Brazilian music, saying the former is about the desire for power (bandleading, soloing, technique) while the latter focuses on “The Promise of Happiness.” The old friends are reunited through Salles’ only solo on the album, a tender, lithe soprano turn.
Salles fulfills that promise throughout Home Is Here, creating a breathtaking suite of music highlighted by remarkable playing and vivid emotion. As represented by the cover image of a snail carrying its shell on its back, the life of a musician is an inherently nomadic one. Perhaps, Salles muses, that makes them particularly amenable to adopting and integrating into new homes. “As musicians, we make our home wherever we can do our thing the way we want to do it,” he says. “So I wanted to explore the question of what ‘home’ means and how that affects our music. And at the same time, how does the music affect our perspectives? I wanted to think about how the elements of modern jazz come from immigrant perspectives and contributions.”
Home is Here (2023) Guests Testimonials:
“Felipe Salles is one of the most creative composers on the modern scene. His combinations of different rhythms, harmonies and Latin-American melodies inspire me to play lines that come out of my instruments fresh and natural like the current of a river. I love Felipe’s writing!”
Paquito D’Rivera
“Working with Felipe and seeing the whole process of how he wrote the music was a beautiful and inspiring experience”
Melissa Aldana
“Exciting, adventurous music all around. The new project Home is Here presents Salles at his best. What a joy to have contributed and being part of this beautiful musical landscape by Felipe. Bravo, irmão!”
Chico Pinheiro
"The melancholy of detachment from what is left behind and the materialization of a dream is the emotional complexity of the immigrant artist. In this work Felipe Salles poetically portraits this dichotomy that constitute an aspect of today's America, nostalgia, assimilation- transformation and the luminosity of revealing a unique expansive expression"
Magos Herrera
“It has been an honor to be part of Home is Here. I was happy to contribute my own experience as an immigrant with the song Meridian 63: the hardships and blessings, the adaptations, and transformations. Felipe’s music is inspiring and thoughtful. It offers a new voice and perspective to so many stories of musicians like us, navigating the complexities of finding a new home and learning to be global citizens forever.”
Sofia Rei
“Felipe has embodied the spirit of my journey in musical form, and I am honored to have my story told as part of his incredible Home is Here.”
Nadje Noordhuis
“Felipe’s writing stands out in modern music, because of his deep understanding of so many different styles of composition as well as indigenous musical traditions from South America. It was a privilege to be part of such a powerful project.”
Jacques Schwarz-Bart
“At the heart of the Home is Here project resides the interest to recognize – amplify- both the creative voices as well as contributions of the immigrants, who define the full spectrum of today’s Jazz and contemporary music in NY and the world. I loved Felipe Salles genuine idea for this project since we first spoke about it.”
Yosvany Terry
Home is Here (2023) press:
“Salles' arrangements are consistently colorful, his orchestra is world class and the guest soloists inspired.”
Scott Yanow, Downbeat Magazine (4.5 stars)
"Finally, the pieces are structured with a succession of choruses that emanate from a theme. We will add that everything is extremely well done, constructed exactly as it should with the precision of great albums. That’s how nice it is."
Gilles Gaujarengues, Citizen Jazz France
Editor’s Choice
Jazziz Magazine, June 2023
“Despite the different personalities at play, the album presents a coherent development, thanks to Salles' superlative skills as a composer and orchestrator. The themes are generally dynamic, and each guest soloist integrates into the collective, in paths full of twists and turns, characterized by the formidable richness of timbres and rhythmic fragmentations. The Latin expressiveness is all there but we are very far from the typical Latin jazz orchestras.”
Angelo Leonardi, All About Jazz Italy
“Salles is very confident in his materials, and this CD is filled with dynamic and exciting music. He voices his lines creatively, not thinking in terms of “sections” so much as “sonorities.” He puts vibraphone in the rhythm team, bringing in some beautiful colors just where they are needed.”
Steve Elman, The Arts Fuse
“Salles's innovative use of instrumentation, including vibraphone and flutes, adds beautiful colors and textures to the music. The ensemble's virtuosic performances and the seamless integration of composition and improvisation make 'Home Is Here' a truly remarkable and moving musical experience.”
SongSpotly
“The result is a vibrant album […] where the author's hand […] is felt in every fold, reaffirming once again the qualities of the musician from São Paulo, above all as composer and leader.”
Alberto Bazzurro, Musica Jazz Magazine
"The gaze is firmly on Salles' guests, but the real stars of this record are the Interconnections Ensemble themselves."
Hugh Morris, Jazzwise Magazine (4 stars)
“Home is Here, with its luxurious and refined sound takes you to a place in history where music
has never gone before.”
Raul da Gama, Latin Jazz Net
“Salles’ music is as exciting and adventurous as it is thought-provoking. Bravo to Salles for demonstrating through music, “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we erect.” – Tomás Peña, Jazzdelapena.com
"This is an album of creative compositions and politically conscious music that blends jazz with immigrant flavors, sweet as a culturally rich smoothie on a perfect summer day."
Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs' Blog.
"The full-throated music reminds the listener that many musicians from other parts of the world, including Felipe Salles, have made their mark in this "Promised Land" thankful for the artistic freedom that the United States provides, finding their voice in the Creative Music. We listeners are thankful for the many sounds these artists have brought to our lives."
Richard B. Kamins, Step Tempest.
"With Home is Here, Felipe Salles provides a magnificent portrait of his migration background, which he has translated musically with integrity. A method to be jealous of."
Mattie Poels, Music Frames, Netherlands.
"What he’s accomplished instead is the creation of great music that reflects different sounds from all around the world from some of the best jazz musicians – all to tell a story about the value of immigrants in our society."
Craig Bird, Cultural Attaché.
“The solos are outstanding, the ensemble work is stellar, and the compositions hang together thematically. Home Is Here is an inspiring work of modern jazz by some of the world’s top players.”
Gary Whitehouse, A Green Man Review.
"These eight pieces ooze emotion and evocative imagery in this exceptionally well-crafted project, encouraging this writer and likely you, to seek out Salles’ previous work with his Interconnections Ensemble."
Jim Hynes, Making a Scene Magazine.
“The result is a polychromatic, adventurous album that allows Salles' multidimensionality as a composer to flourish."
Troy Dostert, AllAboutJazz.
“…wonderfully buoyant and melodically-hued new recording..."
Exclusive Magazine.
“…an exhilarating and transcendent listening experience."
Monarch Magazine
“A KALEIDOSCOPIC SOUND/ANTHROPOLOGICAL ATLAS.”
Elio Bussolino, Rockerilla Magazine, Italy.
"Felipe Salles delivers on his promise throughout 'Home Is Here”, creating a musical suite emphasized by unusual playing and creative emotions."
Dionizy Piatkowski Era Jazzu, Poland.
"The Brazilian Felipe Salles does not rest. This talented saxophonist and bandleader is a creative fount of ideas, which he has put into practice across nine recordings, either as a leader or with his Interconnections Ensemble. And it is precisely with this group that Salles presents us with "Home is Here", his tenth exquisite and elegant production - a delight from start to finish."
Eric Gonzáles, Herencia Latina (HerenciaLatina.com)
"A kaleidoscope, in short, like those that Felipe Salles usually draws in his scores, adorned with the colors of guests […]”
Jazz, esse ruído
"Home is Here" regardless of any respectable intentions is a fascinating contemporary jazz album , the product of a musician who has not stopped surprising us in recent years".
Fontas Troussas, DISCORYCHION / VINYLMINE, Greece.
Camera Obscura
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PRESS RELEASE
Ages before we could view blockbuster movies on demand via pocket-scale smartphones or wall-covering high-definition televisions, the camera obscura provided humanity with its first, primitive method for transmitting images of reality onto a screen. A natural rather than a technological phenomenon, the camera obscura required nothing more than a pinprick hole allowing light into a “dark chamber” – the literal translation of its Latin name.
On his mesmerizing new album, Camera Obscura, the imaginative saxophonist and composer Felipe Salles takes that concept as the guiding principle for an ambitious project that melds jazz and chamber music. This expansive sonic palette offers Salles a means of experimenting with the effects and interplay of light and darkness, shadow and color, imagery and divergent perspectives – the camera obscura, after all, doesn’t replicate its source material exactly, but mirrored and flipped upside-down.
“A camera obscura projects an image that is not exactly reality,” Salles explains, “but is made out of light and shadows and perspective. I wondered, ‘How do I take that and make it into a song?’ So all of the tunes on the album come from a variety of different perspectives and play with the contrast between light and darkness.”
Set for release on June 6, 2025 via Tapestry Records, Camera Obscura pairs Salles’ working quartet – pianist Nando Michelin, bassist Keala Kaumeheiwa, and drummer Steve Langone (the latter a longtime collaborator recording with the band for the first time) – with The Cushman Quartet, featuring violinists Laura Arpiainen and Amanda Stenroos, violist Anton Boutkov and cellist Karl Knapp. The ensemble is joined by vocalist Tatiana Parra for “A Deriva (Adrift),” which Salles wrote to the words of his sister, poet and writer Helena Tabatchnik. In addition, Salles layers a full spectrum of woodwind instruments, all played by himself: soprano and tenor saxophones, piccolo, flute, alto and bass flute, clarinet and bass clarinet.
The Cushman Quartet came together in 2020, co-founded by Salles’ wife, violinist Laura Arpiainen, who had previously worked with the saxophonist on his albums Departure and South American Suite. That personal connection helped immeasurably in finding the right string quartet for the project, one that could deftly navigate Salles’ challenging rhythmic and harmonic language and contend with the jazz quartet’s brilliant improvising.
“My quartet has been playing together for decades,” Salles says, “so I didn't want to just hire four string players;. I wanted a group that has its own chemistry. Laura is an amazing classical violinist, and she understands my music better than any other string player would, so when she formed her own quartet it made sense to invite them to work with us.”
The title track opens the album by aurally depicting the camera obscura itself. High, piercing violin represents the light entering the chamber, joined by slow, tenuous piano as it strikes the opposite surface – the makeshift screen. The ensemble fills in gradually, like a lush image slowly coming into focus. The idea of the camera obscura reminded Salles of Plato’s allegory of the cave, which describes a group of prisoners who spend their entire lives watching shadows projected on a wall, with no notion of the flesh and blood figures, out of view behind them, who cast the two-dimensional shadows. Salles wrote “Platus” as an homage, drawing inspiration from the philosopher’s name – Plato is not his given name but a nickname, most likely referring to his broad wrestler’s shoulders and chest.
“Perspective” approaches tango from a variety of stylistic directions, from pop to jazz to classical to the classic Astor Piazzolla feeling. “Trem de Prata,” which closes the album, features the sole instance in which the string players are asked to improvise, using extended techniques to conjure the image of a rusty, abandoned train coming back to life. The imagistic piece is based on a now-defunct luxury train from the composer’s childhood, which he would ride from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro.
Memory is a key factor in the way that we perceive the past, and hints of it are laced throughout the very personal Camera Obscura. Four interludes meditate on the idea of memory: “Perception,” for woodwind sextet; “Remembrance,” dedicated to Salles’ mentor, legendary saxophonist David Liebman; and “Memory” and “Lucidity,” both observations on the composer’s mother and her cognitive struggles as she grows older. The saxophonist’s name, Salles, translates as “Rooms” in French, so he used his own and his children’s names to generate the melody for that piece. Finally, though he’s worked with lyrics in the past, “À Deriva” is Salles’ first foray into songwriting, so inspired was he by his sister’s poem.
“I've been wanting to do a project like this for decades,” Salles says of the genre-bridging album, which marks a bold departure in an already diverse career. He has led small groups and big bands, composing music that has integrated influences from Brazilian, Latin American and African traditions, arranged children’s lullabies and the music of prison activist Tiyo Attallah Salah-El, and explored the challenges and richness of the immigrant experience. Throughout all of that, the dream of writing for his own hybrid jazz-chamber music ensemble has simmered on the back burner.
“It took me thirty years to figure out my own way to approach it,” he says. “I feel like it was meant to happen now, when I finally have the maturity to write something the way I want to hear it and in my own voice.”