Brazil and Beyond

Active in Southeast Michigan's music scene since 1998, Brazil and Beyond (simplified from the initial handle Rich K: Brazil and Beyond) is a quartet of players involved in musical performance, session work, and music education. The group's jazz-influenced Brazilian and world music is faithful to the Brazilian tradition, but also includes contemporary jazz and pop directions. Rich Kowalewski, the band's bassist, musical director, and principal arranger, cites Antonio Carlos Jobim, Scott LaFaro, Bill Evans, and Stéphane Grappelli as key influences. His acoustic and electric basses are featured prominently as lead voices. Kowalewski has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Billy Eckstine, and Jon Faddis among others. His session duties include work with Funk Brother Joe Messina's Messina Madness. Guitarist Frank Marinello, on classical and steel-string instruments, plays with a fluid, lyrical precision. Outside the group, Marinello is involved in projects that cover rock, pop, fusion and jazz styles. In addition to his work with Brazil and Beyond, drummer Rob Emanuel's lithe, active style can be heard on Kowalewski's 1996 release Kid Brother, a fusion project with keyboardist Kerry Lundquist. A busy session drummer in the Detroit area, Emanuel has also notched credits with Joe Messina's Messina Madness. Emanuel's debut CD as a leader, Mystery Manual, was released in 1994 on Semper Records. Performing a role similar to that of Airto Moreira with the early Weather Report or Naná Vasconcelos with Pat Metheny in the '80s, Brazil and Beyond's percussionist Dennis Sheridan draws on an exotic arsenal of instruments and accessories to create subtle, kaleidoscopic and otherworldly percussion backdrops. The Brazil and Beyond discography begins with Kowalewski's 1999 project Brazil,...