Name: Brown Jazz Band with Dani Gurgel and Debora Gurgel
Start: 2024-11-21T20:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-11-21T21:30:00-05:00
Location: Grant Recital Hall at Brown University

Brown Jazz Band with Dani Gurgel and Debora Gurgel

The Brown Jazz Band performs the 24th Annual Daniel Milano ’93 Memorial Concert on two nights at 8pm on Thursday and Friday, November 21 and 22 in Grant Recital. Guest artists Dani and Debora Gurgel of São Paulo, Brazil join the ensemble and perform a program of Brazilian jazz. Admission to the 8pm concert is ticketed – $15; $7 seniors; $5 students. The purchase of concert tickets in advance is highly encouraged.
About the Daniel Milano ’93 Memorial in the Words of His Family
This concert is a tribute to Dan Milano, Class of ’93, and serves to mark the establishment of a musical endowment in his memory at Brown. In this first concert we remember Dan by playing the music he loved. Playing the trumpet and listening to jazz were Dan’s passions from an early age. His enthusiasm for music found expression at Brown where Dan played with a variety of musical groups and it was music that brought Láura and love into his life. When Dan became ill with cancer, and was forced to face the uncertainty of life, music remained his faithful ally. The wide array of musical arrangements that will be played tonight suggests the many rhythms that filled Dan’s life and touched those around him. Dan had a rare gift. He had the ability to incite both curiosity and excitement about music in others. His parents, family, friends and college dorm mates all found new music via cassette samplings courtesy of Dan. With tonight’s concert we hope to follow Dan’s lead. We want to arouse your curiosity and excite you about jazz and music in general. Most importantly, we want you to enjoy yourselves.
Andy, Joan, Amy, Eric Milano
Láura Aguilar-Milano
About Dani Gurgel and Debora Gurgel
Dani Gurgel and Debora Gurgel’s hypnotic bliss is the result of their long-established musical intimacy. Dani Gurgel’s syncopated and precise scatting vocals are stitched along Debora Gurgel’s left-hand piano grooves. Infused with dynamic energy, their performances are a celebration of Brazilian music, entwined with the artistry of jazz improvisation. Their constant, engaging interaction among themselves and with the audience electrifies the entire experience.
DANI GURGEL’s “scatted vocal adventures” (Jazzthetik) over her “fantastic syllabary” (Badische Zeitung, Germany) are a mix of the percussive sounds of Brazil with the swaying curves of jazz, leading to “groovy, with fast prosody and mind-blowing improvisation” (Estado de SP). Dani began her musical journey as a 3-year-old and grew up searching for her instrument, under the tutelage of her mother, Debora Gurgel. After 15 years of playing the bass in rock bands and the saxophone in renowned big bands, Dani Gurgel finally found her instrument: her voice. Her singing relates to her bass grooves, her saxophone articulations, and Brazilian percussion.
DEBORA GURGEL connects her strong roots and improvisation to Brazilian contemporary music and applies it to her untamed piano grooves. “Debora Gurgel’s piano is highly refined. She thinks like a jazz musician, but won’t hide her Brazilian accent” (Estado de SP). Notably, Debora stands out as a composer and arranger, crafting exceptional and innovative original compositions, as well as delivering commissioned pieces that have graced the repertoires of Brazil’s leading orchestras.
For the past decade, Dani & Debora have released 9 albums with their “Dani & Debora Gurgel Quarteto”, which was nicknamed “DDG4” by their Japanese fans, and their “Dani & Debora Gurgel Big Band”, respectively the “DDG19 Big Band”. Joined by Big Rabello (production & drums) and Sidiel Vieira (bass), they have been awarded the Brazilian Music Professionals Best Jazz Group award and Japan’s Best Brazilian Album award multiple times and toured extensively through Japan, Europe and the Americas.