The first time that Dillon Vado experienced the music of Rio de Janeiro-reared pianist Jovino Santos Neto was in Gold’s Gulch, a secluded after-hours gathering spot nestled amidst the coastal redwoods of La Honda.
The San Jose native was 19 years old and attending the summer program Jazz Camp West for the first time, looking to gain guidance on the vibraphone. Assigned to study with percussionist Michael Gold, known for his eponymous, elaborately equipped outdoor “venue,” Vado was helping him set up for the impending jam session when they encountered Santos Neto.
Michael pointed to Jovino, recalls Vado, and said, “‘That man is a god. Follow him around.’”
Vado, now 34 and known as one of the Bay Area jazz scene’s leading drummers, doesn’t normally ascribe to the deification of musicians, but in this case he eagerly took Gold’s advice. Under Santos Neto’s joyous guidance he’s walked a path that has made him the accompanist of choice for an impressive array of Brazilian jazz masters and fellow U.S.-born acolytes.
In contrast to his immersion in jazz, Vado encountered Brazilian music as his “first real experience of participating in an oral tradition,” he said. “Jovino is really particular not to use charts, and he’s the friendliest and most exuberant teacher. He’s like the sun, just exuding energy. I learned so much about how joyous music can be, and how that should be the prime directive. That’s not always the case at jazz jams.”
Vado will be at the drums when the Seattle-based Santos Neto returns to the Bay Area for his longest run yet, playing an eight-show, four-night residency at Black Cat with veteran bassist Peter Barshay June 26-29. Two of the Bay Area’s leading American-born Brazilian music devotees augment the core trio, with reed expert Harvey Wainapel joining June 26 and 27 and percussionist Brian Rice on June 28-29.
Meeting Santos Neto in a sylvan setting was more auspicious than Vado knew at the time. The pianist was embarking on a career in biology when an encounter with the legendary composer and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal in 1977 changed the course of his life.
One of Brazil’s most revered and influential composers (Miles Davis called him “the most complete musician I’ve ever met”), Pascoal seems to conjure music directly from Brazil’s landscape, creating a sonic realm where folkloric Brazilian idioms live side by side with jazz, rock and new music. Santos Neto thrived in his band from 1977 to 1992 before setting off to hone his own, similarly expansive, body of tunes.
It’s world that he invited Vado into, offering a communal celebration with his “willingness and excitement at sharing,” Vado said. “He saw my interest and was like, ‘grab this triangle, or this shaker and join in.’ The songs and rhythms feel so good and gave me something I was missing.”
Vado takes pains to clarify that he considers himself a grateful visitor rather than an entitled resident when it comes to Brazilian music. But he keeps getting invitations. When the São Paulo quartet led by acclaimed pianist/composer Debora Gurgel and her daughter, vocalist Dani Gurgel, performed in the Bay Area last fall, Vado was their drummer of choice.
In just the past few years he’s also performed with Bay Area-based Brazilian masters such as Claudia Villela, guitarist Ricardo Peixoto, and pianist Marcos Silva, who went from demanding mentor to satisfied employer.
“Jovino was my access point, but Marcos was my boot camp,” said Vado, who studied with the Rio-born pianist at Berkeley’s California Jazz Conservatory. “He’s such a good teacher and such a detail-oriented person. It freaked me out because he can also play bass, drums and guitar better than anyone else in the class. He’d sit down at the drums and show you precisely. ‘Play it like this. Not kind of like this. Like this.’”
Which isn’t to say that Brazilian music defines Vado’s oeuvre. His primary commitment is to Heart Matter, the group he co-leads with fellow San Jose-to-Oakland transplant Amy Dabalos (the lustrous vocalist and songwriter now performing as Amy D). They recently finished a spate of gigs and play the inaugural Future Is Now festival at Wave Street Studios in Monterey on July 13. The band also is scheduled to play Art Boutiki in San Jose Oct. 18.
Meanwhile, it seems likely he’ll have more opportunities to work with Santos Neto, whose ties to the Bay Area keep extending. The pianist’s Black Cat run is an early collaboration with a new arts advocacy group spearheaded by Berkeley bassist Peter Barshay, Arts For More, a platform designed to facilitate artists of all stripes supporting organizations that address pressing social issues. Partnering with Santos Neto, an artist at home in the redwoods, is particularly apt for a nonprofit dedicated to the proposition that “beauty begets beauty.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.
JOVINO SANTOS NETO
When: 7 and 9:15 p.m. June 26 and 29, 7 and 9:30 p.m. June 27-28
Where: Black Cat,
in San Francisco; $25.50 – $65.50; blackcatsf.turntabletickets.com/