Esdras Nogueira Quintet
Esdras Nogueira (baritone sax), Thanise Silva (flute), Marcus Moraes (electric guitar), Vavá Afiouni (bass guitar),Thiago Cunha (drums)
What higher praise for a musician than being publicly endorsed by Hermeto Pascoal, the sacred monster of Brazilian music? When you hear Esdras Nogueira reinvent the accomplishments of Caetano Veloso or emphasize the funk jazz tropical cadences of Móveis Coloniais de Acaju, you will find yourself nodding in agreement with the Brazilian legend. Nogueira dares to bring his baritone sax into the spotlight to carve new paths through ancestral Brazilian sounds and reimagine them in the present, drawing inspiration from figures like Kamasi Washington and Tony Allen. After six solo albums that combine tight Latin jazz and MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) with sassy afrobeat, Esdras Nogueira stunned the audience of WOMEX 2025 and is now arriving at Athens Jazz with a funk-fluent band to deliver euphoric grooves that will get under your skin and stay there for days, making you sway to the rhythms of the Cerrado, the Brazilian savanna.