Rio: Brazilian Jazz & Bossa Nova

"UNIQUE VOICES AND RARE MUSICIANS"

— Eric Funk, PBS host and internationally renowned composer

Rio's Max Hatt and Edda Glass have "an incomparable spook” (Nashville Scene) that springs from the space between Glass's unmistakable voice and Hatt's lyrical guitar. Their award-winning original compositions and wistful interpretations of Jazz and Brazilian Bossa Nova have taken them coast-to-coast from New York City's Lincoln Center to NPR Mountain Stage and Sundance Film Fest, with national press from Huffington Post to Paste.

"Bossa Nova has these infectious rhythms, this street energy," says Glass, “yet it was originally sung for a few friends in tiny Rio de Janeiro apartments. The melodies are as exacting and sophisticated as Debussy, yet they sound as easy and natural as humans whispering to one another." Praised for her "impeccable vocal command"(PopMatters), Glass learned to sing in Portuguese as a teenager through obsessive listening to the famous Getz/Gilberto album, which she found in her parents' record collection. Though she's been compared to a gamut of singers from Astrud Gilberto to Billie Holliday, the rightful consensus is that Glass's voice is "one of a kind...in that you cannot confuse her with another artist" (New York Theatre Guide). 

Hatt grew up in the Chicago-land area, studied jazz guitar in the David Baker program at Indiana University, and has taken classes with Pat Metheny, Julian Lage, and Lee Retinour. "We live in a hyped up world," he says on MT-PBS, when asked about his understated style. "We’re over stimulated, measured out in sound bites and ringtones. It’s the information age and we’re swallowed up by this stuff. But is there any real communication going on, is there any intimacy? That’s kind of what we’re about."

Hatt and Glass started playing together in Montana, forming the state's only Bossa Nova band. On long drives between Bossa Nova concerts, Glass began writing lyrics to Hatt's solo guitar compositions, taking inspiration from the western landscape, and spinning tales of migrating geese, dispossessed tribes, and love in the wheat fields. This highway collaboration took them all the way to NYC's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where the two unknowns won the 2014 Grand Prize of the International Mountain Stage / NewSong Competition. There they also captured the attention of Wilco's Pat Sansone, who produced their latest album, Ocean of Birds. “I was mesmerized from the first moment I heard them," he recalls. "They have the ability to create a deep sonic landscape with only voice and guitar, with songs that posses a mysterious and soulful magic.“

“Beautiful… #chills” 

— Ann Powers (NPR Music) 

“…like hand-printed photographs that speak and sway, the material is hypnotic…" 

— Lizz Wright

“Edda Glass’s voice must be heard to be believed.” 

— Nels Cline (Wilco)

"A unique sound harmoniously forged from seemingly disparate elements" 

—  Larry Groce of NPR Mountain Stage

“Brimming with soul, Ocean of Birds captures a moment in time and releases it in one lovely breath." 

— That Mag
 

"Max Hatt and Edda Glass ... are constantly, bravely reinventing themselves... pioneering more deeply into original material, music that I can say without reservation will be substantive and important. [...] Many are the musicians who adhere more closely to the mainstream, aligning their original music with that which has a track record of being entertaining. Few are those who insist that original music is an art, avoid the commodity and immediate gratification that comes from creating that which has proven to be sellable. I am always inspired by visionary charismatics who possess both the courage and the perseverance to pursue their art against the odds, trusting that their labors are not in vain. Max Hatt and Edda Glass are unique voices and rare musicians." 

— Eric Funk, PBS host and internationally renowned composer