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Marco Antonio Santos: About: Silence
ByMarco Antonio Santos
guitarb.1984

Pat Metheny
guitarb.1954

Milton Nascimento
guitar and vocalsb.1942

Maria Schneider
composer / conductorIn Austin, Santos quickly became a first-call guitarist in a variety of idioms, as a side person and with his own ensembles, including the Jukebox Trio, whose repertoire reflects the North American pop he was steeped in as a youth. Fans in Texas who know his outgoing persona as a performer may be surprised at the introspection of About: Silence, but the project was imagined, in part, as an antidote to the din he perceived around him, especially on social media. "Nobody was listening, everybody was only speaking," as he put it. He wanted to get behind the noise and create not just a string of songs but a cohesive artistic statement, under the influence of "months of isolation and the loss of so many lives during the worst of the COVID pandemic, the suppressed voices in recent cases of racial injustice, and my personal experiences as an immigrant in a very individualistic culture." The release includes visual art, dance, and Santos' own striking poetry in Portuguese (with translations).
The instrumentation of About: Silence pits a jazz trio of guitar (Santos), bass (

Chris Jones
bass
Fabio Augustinis
drumsAbout: Silence is a love letter to a quieter world, an intimate stillness shared by a busy musician who put the rock and rattle of his day-to-day on hold to reflect. It is well worth a spin. ">
Track Listing
About Silence; Bittersweet; Breathtaker; I Can't Breathe; Eyes of Us Both Part 1; That Brief Moment When Everything Seems to Click; Eyes of Us Both Part 2; Things Money Should Not Buy but Seem to Be Always for Sale; Missing Part; Numb; March of the Loud Quietude.
Personnel
Marco Antonio Santos
guitarChris Jones
bassFabio Augustinis
drumsDominique Reilly
fluteDavid Blackwell Jr.
saxophone, baritoneDr John Mills
saxophoneDaniel Toscano
clarinetBrigit Fitzgerald
bassoonCorina Santos
violinCamille Schiess
violinRebecca Lester
violaMatt Armbruster
celloAlbum information
Title: About: Silence | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Ears And Eyes Records
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