Chorazz

Chorazz: a portmanteau of ‘Choro’ and ‘Jazz’. 

It all began in the late 2000s during a sweltering summer. Four friends got together in the studio just for the fun of playing. The music would be Brazilian. Without sheet music or pre-planning, they played jazz standards. The sound came together instantly, and Chorazz was born (Maxime Blésin, Osman Martins, Steve Houben and Renato Martins) .

Then, time flew by. The recordings lay dormant on hard drives whilst life went on and the musicians went their separate ways. In late 2022, following the passing of Osman Martins and Steve Houben’s retirement, Maxime Blésin rediscovered these forgotten sessions. The emotion remained intact: this music must live on. Today, Chorazz is reborn under the banner of continuity. Maxime switches to the cavaquinho, Pierre Gillet takes up the 7-string guitar, Renato Martins still keeps the beat, and Greg Houben makes the trumpet sing.

More than a tribute, it is a passing of the torch. Music in its purest form, radiant and soulful, proving that the bonds of the heart are the most beautiful themes in jazz.

(Choro)

Choro follows the same path as Ragtime and other movements that gave rise to jazz in the United States, namely the reappropriation of a classical European repertoire within a popular music style influenced by African and Native American traditions… What was originally played on the piano was adapted for other instruments: the pandeiro (a typically Brazilian percussion instrument of North African origin), the 7-string guitar (with an extra bass string to play the bass), the cavaquinho (a small guitar from Madeira), etc. … Choro was born. Its meaning is ‘to weep’ (overwhelmed by such emotion and beauty!). Today, it has its own repertoire and is the origin of all so-called urban music in Brazil (samba, pagode, etc.). It is a vocabulary common to all Brazilian musicians.

This is why he feels such a deep connection to this music—the popular music of the Americas and its link to classical music—from the very first notes he played on a piano at his grandfather’s house (his grandfather was a fan of Chopin), through to the classical guitar in Brazil, via the percussion he played during the Rio Carnival parades (in which he took part five times), jazz, and finally, the cavaquinho.

Maxime Blésin – cavaquinho

Pierre Gillet – guitar

Renato Martins – percussion

Greg Houben – trumpet