Huw Warren’s Choro Choro Choro

Huw Warren: piano

Tori Freestone: flute

Yuri Goloubev: bass

Adriano Adewale: percussion

“A European stylist of the highest order” – BBC Music Magazine

Welsh piano great Huw Warren immerses us all in the intoxicating, ingenious music of Brazil, with a unique jazz slant, in what promises to be an exuberant spring party without equal, with a sizzling-hot band!

Choro is the vibrant beating heart at the core of music from this South American cultural hotspot. From its emergence in the late 19th century in Rio de Janeiro, choro has continued to be a musical and cultural influence right up to the present day. The combination of African music elements – more specifically from Bantu and Yoruba peoples – fused with European dances and forms such as Polkas, Marches and Waltzes – created an uniquely Brazilian urban popular music.

For this joyous project, Huw – seen here last year with Iain Ballamy – has adapted and arranged music from some of the original innovators such as Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935) and Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934) as well as the undisputed “heavyweight” of choro composers Pixinguinha (1897-1973) and the highly influential Jacob Do Bandolim (1918-1969) and Jonas Pereira da Silva (1934-1997). Modern masters are represented by Guinga (b1950) and Hermeto Pascoal (1936-2025), who both have included highly individual choros and chorinhos in their varied compositional outputs. Interspersed are original compositions from 2023, written as a response to a period of immersion in the whole choro history; and are very much a personal reaction to the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic aspects of choro that Huw finds so attractive.

Music is, above all else, an emotional experience, and this emotional connection is central both to the inspirational leader’s desire to play this repertoire, and his continued artistic development..Huw dedicates this project to the many Brazilian musicians that have welcomed him with open arms and encouraged him to be creative with this incredible music. They have included (in 1980s London) Bosco De Oliveira, the late Ricardo Dos Santos; and more recent encounters with Jovino Santos Neto, Carlos Malta, Roberto Taufic, Chico Buarque, Matheus Prado, Seu Gaio and, percussionist for this gig, Adriano Adewale.

REVIEWS
“Warren contributes two of his own compositions, a joyful dedication to Pascoal (‘Chorinho for Hermeto’) and the urgently dark ‘Desequilibrado’, which tips and yaws like a storm-tossed barque, but never quite loses balance…. Epic on solo piano, we can only wait in happy expectation for the enlarged touring band, featuring Tori Freestone on flute” – **** Jazzwise, on Huw’s 2024 solo album Choro Choro Choro

“He pays tribute to all the greats, including my musical mentor Hermeto Pascoal, whose choro Intocável means both “untouchable” and “unplayable”. Well, Huw has played and touched not only this choro on this fine album, but our ears and our hearts as well. Beautiful work!”Jovino Santos Neto

HUW WARREN
Huw has achieved an international reputation for innovative and eclectic music-making over a 30-year career. Equally at home crossing the often exclusive worlds of Jazz, World and Contemporary music; he has a distinctive and personal voice, and has collaborated with a huge variety of artists worldwide.

Huw has recorded two albums for ECM (as Quercus with June Tabor and Iain Ballamy) and in 2018 released a solo piano recording Nocturnes and Visions. In 2019 he released two albums for Italian label CAM Jazz Everything in Between (with Dudley Phillips and Zoot Warren) and New Day (with Mark Lockheart) His previous albums and projects have included themes and source material as diverse as John Dowland, Plainchant and Hermeto Pascoal. In 2023 he released two new projects including a new solo piano recording of Choros and Calennig – a recording of Plygain arrangements with Angharad Jenkins. 2025 saw him record a new project with Maria Pia de Vito including tracks made with Chico Buarque in Rio de Janeiro.

His writing style combines quirky rhythmic grooves with simple melodic beauty; and manages to be both complex and approachable.
His best known projects include Dialektos (duo with Italian singer Maria Pia de Vito), Hermeto+ (a reworking of the music of Hermeto Pascoal with drummer Martin France and bassist Peter Herbert), 100s Of Things A Boy Can Make (with NY violinist Mark Feldman), Infinite Riches In A Little Room (a solo piano set centred around a beautiful reworking of a melody by John Dowland), a series of records with Perfect Houseplants  (Huw plus Mark Lockheart, Dudley Phillips, Martin France),   A Barrel Organ Far From Home (a nine piece mixed line up with strings and penny whistle) and a long standing collaboration with singer June Tabor. He has also performed and collaborated with a wide array of musicians including Mark Feldman, Peter Herbert, Joanna MacGregor, Iain Ballamy, Kenny Wheeler, Jim Black, Theo Bleckmann, Neil Yates, Pamela Thorby, Mose Se Sengo ‘Fan Fan’, Mat Maneri and Thomas Strønen .

Awarded the BBC Jazz Award for Innovation, and the ACW Creative Wales Award, he has also written for many ensembles including Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Welsh Chamber Orchestra, RSC, LPO Renga ensemble, National Youth Brass Band of Wales, The Orlando Consort, Ensemble Plus, Koch Ensemble and Tango Siempre. Recently he has further broadened his collaborative pool to work with spoken-word artists, visual artists, filmmakers, choreographers and photographers.

Currently a jazz lecturer/tutor at RWCMD, Cardiff, Huw is also head of Jazz Ensembles at Cardiff University.
www.huwwarren.co.uk

Header Image by Brian Homer