About the Musicians

Billy Newman has been working as a professional guitarist in the New York Area for over fifteen years. Since 1987 he has been traveling to Brazil in order to research Brazilian music and perform with local musicians. His book on Brazilian Guitar published by Alfred Music/National Guitar Workshop has been available in stores since July 2002. Besides performing his original music with "Brooklyn Brazil Bop", Billy's other groups "Afinidades" and the "New York Choro Project" have performed at many major cultural venues in the city including The Guggenheim and Brooklyn Museum. Billy has also worked with dancers, the composing of soundtracks and is currently working on a CD of his original compositions. He performs regularly solo Brazilian and Flamenco guitar for private functions and gallery openings. Presently he leads a jazz quartet with bassist Steve Schwab with whom he recently performed at the 92nd Street Y. His formal training includes Classical Guitar with Dennis Koster, Brazilian Percussion with Vanderlei Pereira, Composition with Dennis Sandole and Jazz Improvisation with Hal Galper.

Accordionist Rob Curto is closely involved with Brazilian music both in Brazil and in New York. In New York he is a founding member of "Forró in the Dark" (dance music from the northeast of Brazil). Rob also works with the New York Choro Ensemble, pianist Cliff Korman and "The Brazilian Tinge", and in a long-time collaboration with guitarist Billy Newman. Rob began his musical career in jazz, studying with Barry Harris, Fred Hirsch and Cliff Korman. Prior to his passion for Brazil Rob explored world music and world-influenced jazz. His first CD, "Bellow the Earth" is an exploration of European traditional music including styles as diverse as celtic, French musette, Italian tarantella, and Scandinavian folk music. He travels regularly to Brazil and has toured the world from Israel to Japan, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Holland, and the Czech Republic.
Rob has performed with Billy Newman at the Conservatorio Pernambucano in Recife, Brazil (August 2001) and in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. He works with world-music artists such as Turkish musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek, tarantella percussionist and singer Alessandra Belloni, klezmer and jazz clarinetist David Krakauer, and Frank London of the Klezmatics. In Brazil he has performed with Elza Soares, Marcio Bahia and Leandro Braga. A CD recorded in Rio is forthcoming in duo with acordionist Chiquinho Chagas.

Michaël Attias has been active as saxophonist/composer in NYC since 1994. Born in Haifa, Israel in 1968, he had a Parisian childhood, Moroccan parents, and a Midwestern adolescence. He studied music with Pat Moriarty, Lee Konitz, Alan Silva, and Anthony Braxton with whom he later performed in a variety of contexts ranging from duet to large orchestra. Concerts throughout the US, Europe, and the Middle East have brought him together with such musicians as Anthony Coleman, Mark Helias, Bob Stewart, Roy Campbell, Butch Morris and many others. He has performed at the Visions and the JVC Jazz Festivals. His Sextet performed at the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival and regularly plays such NYC venues as the Knitting Factory, Tonic, and Cornelia St Cafe. Current projects include Renku with John Hebert and Satoshi Takeishi, and Shuffle Boil, a new quartet dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk. His music can also be heard on Anthony Coleman's Morenica (TZADIK) and Fred Lonberg-Holm's In Zenith (MIGUEL). Michaël Attias is a 2000 Artists' Fellowship Recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts and a founding member of Dangerous Ground Productions.

Chris Michael has been an active drummer/percussionist in New York since 1999. His performing credits include many jazz and Latin American artists, such as Pablo Mayor y Folklore Urbano, Ivan Benavides, Coba, La Cumbiamba Eneye, Tim Hagans, Andy Gonzalez, Byron Stripling, and Matt Shulman, among others. He has received degrees from the University of North Texas and Capital University, and has also studied in Brazil, Colombia, and at the Aspen Institute. Chris has been performing with Billy Newman since 2002.

Bassist Leco Reis is from Rio Grande do Sul, the largest city in the South of Brazil. He began his journey in music at a young age under Maestro Luis Motta. After working with a variety of bands and singers in Brazil, he moved to Boston to attend Berklee, where he was a permanent fixture of the Boston music scene. He played for four years with the Sonny Watson Quartet in addition to numerous Brazilian groups including Conexao Brasil. Since moving to New York, Leco has worked constantly from touring Asia to playing with Graham Haynes, Ze Luis, Ogans, the Eric Plaks Quintet and Brooklyn Brazil Bop. Leco has studied with John Lockwood, Charlie Banacos, Edward Tomassi, Rufus Reid, Leon Dorsey, Antonio Hart and Mark Helias. He is currently pursuing a masters degree in Jazz studies at the Aaron Copland school of music at CUNY.