Grupo Falso Baiano

Thursday, November 29, 7:30 pm at Piedmont Center for the Arts

Grupo Falso Baiano performs a blend of traditional Brazilian choro music with modern influences of jazz, flamenco and samba. Choro is Brazil’s first national music, born in the cafés of Rio in the late 1800’s, and reflects the melding of Latin American and African rhythms with a melodic and harmonic structure most closely resembling Baroque Classical music. GFB’s unique exploration of choro spans nearly 100 years, including everything from traditional to contemporary classics, as well as original arrangements and jazz-influenced reinterpretations. The band features Zack Pitt-Smith, reeds, Brian Moran, 7 string guitar, Jesse Appelman, mandolin (bandolim), and Ami Molinelli, percussion.

Grupo Falso Baiano began as a trio in 2003 and later evolved into a quartet when Jesse Appelman (mandolin) joined the lineup in 2006. The group takes its name from the famous Geraldo Pereira song “Falsa Baiana” (which appears on their album Depois). A “falsa baiana” (or falso baiano) is a fake Bahian: one who claims to come from the state of Bahia, named after its famous bay. Hence the play on words as it applies to Grupo Falso Baiano: hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, they are Bahians of North America, but are “fake Brazilians”.

Currently, the band can be heard performing as a quartet and with special guest singers and instrumentalists in clubs, concert halls and festivals including SFJazz, San Jose Jazz Festival, Oakland’s SoundRoom, Healdsburg Jazz Festival, The Freight and Salvage, L.A.C.M.A.’s “Latin Sounds”, Santa Monica’s “Jazz On The Lawn”, and Yoshi’s Oakland among others. GFB has also been featured in multiple interviews on NPR (Latino USA,The California Report, West Coast Live), KCSM, KPFK and KUSP. Their 2009 Yoshi’s Oakland concert and interview was produced and broadcast online by Pandora Live.

Piedmont Center for the Arts, 801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont
$20 advance / $25 day of show / $5 student rush