Jaques Morelenbaum was born in 1954 in Rio de Janeiro. He initiated his music studies at age three. He spent many of his childhood afternoons following rehearsals at the Teatro Municipal where his father was the conductor and musical director and his uncle a violist in the opera orchestra. Morelenbaum studied cello, chamber music, instrumental and choral conducting, vocal technique, composition, and music analysis in Brazil before attending the New England Conservatory of Music where he held the first cello chair in the Conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra and studied under Madaleine Foley, a disciple of Pablo Casals.
During the 1970s, Morelenbaum brought the cello into progressive rock group A Barca do Sol where he synthesized and experimented with material, form, structure, and popular Brazilian rhythms.
Jaques Morelenbaum has performed on hundreds of recordings, working with such artists as Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Sting, Milton Nascimento and Chico Buarque, among others. He began performing with Japanase musician Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1993 and has since toured the world performing Sakamoto’s music. Morelenbaum is featured on Sakamoto’s albums Smoochy and 1996, and in 1999 he performed in Sakamoto’s opera Life.
In 1995, the year after Antonio Carlos Jobim’s death, Jaques Morelenbaum founded Quarteto Jobim Morelenbaum with Paula Morelenbaum and Jobim’s son and grandson, Paulo and Daniel. The quartet has performed the music of the late Jobim around the world, releasing its first album in 1999. In 1994, as a member of Jobim’s Nova Banda (New Band), Morelenbaum performed on the Grammy Award-winning album Antonio Brasileiro. In 1992 and 1993 he worked with Egberto Gismonti on the albums Infancia and Musica de Sobrevivencia. In 2001 he collaborated with Sting on his album and DVD All This Time.
Morelenbaum has become one of the most in-demand arrangers in the Brazilian record industry. He has collaborated with Jobim (Passarim, O Tempo e o Vento, Tom Jobim Inedito and Antonio Brasileiro); Caetano Veloso (Circulado, Circulado Vivo, Fina Estampa, Fina Estampa ao Vivo, Tieta do Agreste, Livro, Prenda Minha, Orfeu do Carnaval, Homaggio a Federico e Giulieta and Noites do Norte and Noites do Norte ao vivo); Gal Costa (Mina d’agua do meu canto), Beto Guedes (Dias de paz), Joao Bosco (Na esquina), as well as the project Piazzollando, a homage to the work of Astor Piazzolla.
Morelenbaum created arrangements for Marisa Monte and Carlinhos Brown. His work extends beyond the borders of Brazil, in collaborations with such best-selling artists as Cape Verde’s Cesaria Evora, Spain’s Clara Montes and Presuntos Implicados, Portugal’s Dulce Pontes and Rui Veloso, Japan’s Choro Club and Gontiti, and the United States’ David Byrne.
Jaques Morelenbaum himself has produced dozens of albums. For Jobim, he produced Passarim. His eight albums for Caetano Veloso include Circulado Vivo, Fina Estampa, Fina Estampa ao vivo, Tieta do Agreste, Livro (the 2000 Grammy winner as best World Music album), Prenda Minha and Noites do Norte, and Noites do Norte ao vivo. Morelenbaum has also produced Gal Costa?s Mina d’?gua do meu canto and Joa?o Bosco’s Na esquina.
As a film composer, Morelenbaum is best known internationally for his score (with Antonio Pinto) for Walter Salles’s acclaimed drama Central do Brasil (Central Station), which won the top prize at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival and an Oscar nomination as Best Foreign-Language Film. With Caetano Veloso, he also created the music for Fabio Barreto’s O Quatrilho (1995).
Discography:
Piazzollando, with Egberto Gismonti, Zeca Assumpção, Henrique Cazes, and Beto Cazes (Kuarup Discos, 1992)
O Quatrilho (Natasha Records, 1995)
Central Do Brasil, with Antônio Pinto (Indie Records, 1998)
Concerto Em Lisboa, with Mariza and Sinfonietta De Lisboa (EMI Music Portugal, 2006)
Alma, with Paolo Fresu & Omar Sosa (Tuk Music, 2011)
Rendez-Vous In Tokyo, with Goro Ito (Glashaus, 2014)
Eros, with Paolo Fresu, Omar Sosa, Natacha Atlas (Tuk Music, 2016)
Live In Italia (Omaggio A Jobim), with Paula Morelenbaum and CelloSam3aTrio (Sud Music, 2016)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
