Fred Jorge E Os Maiorais are authentic representatives of the new Brazilian black music. Soul music, classic funk, samba, afrobeat and hip hop are the ingredients of the mix that results in a unique, dancing and swinging sound in the best style of Brazilian samba soul created by masters like Tim Maia, Cassiano, Jorge Ben Jor, Gerson King Combo and Black Rio Band. This mix of styles could be heard on the new remastered record, released independently first and now with Tropical Diaspora® Records in Berlin, Germany. For 2 decades now, the group has already shared the stage with important names in Brazilian music, such as the band Funk Como Le Gusta and master Jorge Ben Jor.

The band’s trajectory began with the end of another band, Big Muff, of which Fred Jorge was lead singer. In 1999 the musician, enthusiastic about the forgotten records of black Brazilian groups that were starting to be re-released and with the copies of the Tim Maia Racional vinyls volumes I and II – which fell into his hands like lightning – decided to take a new path: he left the blues and rock and set up a group to play samba soul, in addition to starting to write compositions with lyrics in Portuguese as this universe was being unveiled. The group Fred Jorge e os Maiorais debuted at the end of 2000 on the stage of the Delta Blues Bar, in Campinas/SP. Ten years later, with a demanding and captive audience, the band launches an authorial CD with references, musical language and period instruments that refer to the great masters of world black music.

Aware of the importance of knowing and preserving the origins and musical language of the style, the band relies on the musical research of vocalist and leader Fred Jorge, who is also a DJ, producer, researcher and record collector.

The band Fred Jorge E Os Maiorais, led by singer, DJ and vinyl record collector Fred Jorge, launches its first CD with new songs. After ten years playing in Campinas, São Paulo and region a repertoire that rescues and preserves the roots of samba soul and funk, the band studied the language of these styles and shows, through its own compositions, its history.

The idea for the CD started when vocalist Fred Jorge and bassist Mário Porto reactivated the musical partnership started with the recording in 1999 of the CD by the band Big Muff. The initial idea of going back to the roots of black Brazilian music turned into a great deal of research into the style. The danceable mixture of samba and soul music created by Tim Maia was the starting point for understanding the origin of the bridge between Brazilian music and North American music (Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, George Clinton, Sly Stone, etc.). From then on, the search for instruments that were used at the time began and that would give the album a sound close to the old productions. The battery used was a Ludwig 1975, donated by drummer and collector of rare batteries Laercio Junior. Fender and Gibson guitars and vintage amplifiers came from guitarist biLê and friends Ricky Furlani and Pedro Piazzi. The big and purposeful difference from the old productions is that all this equipment was captured digitally. All available technology was used sparingly to give the album a unique sound. The search for a new concept and musical language for the style came from this alchemy between the ancient and the modern.

The disc’s repertoire consists of eight songs written by Fred Jorge and arranged in partnership with Mario Porto. In a simple and direct way, Fred Jorge, who does not consider himself a poet but an attentive observer of everyday life, puts words into situations experienced, retold or discussed in conversations with friends. Phrases heard in these conversations and in everyday life were recorded on the cell phone, which little by little took the place of the notebook during the creation process. The samba Ziquizira, which completes the album’s nine tracks, was written especially for the job by his friend Pedro Ortolano, Pepeu. The inspiration came as he was heading to a Jorge Ben Jor show.

The CD featured a total of 22 artists, including guitarists Ricky Furlani and Emiliano Sampaio, singers Caroline Blumer (choir arrangements and vocal direction), Mariana Castrillon and Candice Vitale, keyboardists Hevaldo Souza and João Cleber, and saxophonist Marcelo Valezi (arrangements and brass direction). The production is the result of a partnership between Fred Jorge and Mário Porto, former sound technician for the São Paulo group Ira!, Jorge Ben Jor and current stage technician for the band Charlie Brown Jr.

A look at the style of the old generation and daring use of new technology to innovate: this is how the brand new Brazilian black/samba is made. To listen and to dance! Try it!