Daniela Spielmann & Rabo de Lagartixa

Female saxaphone players are not very common, however, Daniela Spielmann is considered one of the best on the Brasilian music scene today. She is from Rio de Janeiro, began playing saxophone at 17 and was always interested in Brazilian music. Her style was influenced by the wind instruments most commonly used in choro, like the clarinet and flute. Besides the strong choro influence, her music also incorporates frevo, maracatu, samba, bossa nova and jazz. She studied harmony at Musiarte in Rio, attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston for an extension course, and graduated in Music Education at Uni-Rio. She has accompanied various Brasilian artists and contributed weekly music arrangements for a TV program besides being an integral member of the groups Rabo de Lagartixa, Mulheres em Pixinguinha and Sincronia Carioca. - You may find more info about Daniela Spielmann's career at her official website, click here

Rabo de Lagartixa (- which means 'gecko's tail' in English) was formed in 1993, the group consists of Daniela Spielmann (soprano sax), Jayme Vignoli or Alessandro Valente (cavaquinho), Marcello Gonçalves (7 string guitar), Alexandre Brasil (acoustic bass) and Beto Cazes (percussion). According to the notes at Daniela Spielmann's web, "The name of the group refers to the desire to create music that doesn’t sumbit itself to the standardization of the masses — you can cut off the tail of the gecko, but it will just grow back — and the rhythmic pulse of the group — the gecko’s tail continues to swing even after you cut it off". - The idea is to play choro in many different ways, taking advantage of the variations. Their first cd from 1998, 'Rabo de Lagartixa', is a splendid example of the group's repertoire in this choro novo style, click on picture below to learn about the contents of the cd.
You have an opportunity to watch a lengthy extract of a live concert performance by Rabo de Lagartixa from the group's US tour in 2002, follow the links in the video menu at Daniela Spielmann's website. - Below I insert another live recording from Brazil, a performance of one of the tunes on the mentioned cd, "Melodia Sentimental"

Jo