Tammy Weis & Antonio Forcione Present: Finding Pessoa - The Fernando Pessoa Project

A fine Canadian-born singer, Tammy has been living in London for more than a decade. Her 2007 debut CD, “Legacy”, was warmly received and led to appearances on national TV and radio as well as jazz festivals including Montreal and Vancouver. Since then both her performances and her writing have moved her to the forefront of the UK jazz scene. Her last CD “Where I Need To Be”, features her excellent original material written with Grammy Award-winning producer Terry Britten and pianist Tom Cawley, with one of her co-writes from that album “Everyone But Me”, being included on an album produced by Michael Bublé in early 2013. Jamie Cullum, Bobby McFerrin and Randy Bachman are just a few of the high-profile artists with whom she has performed, and another of her songs (written with James Bryan) was recorded by an “American Idol” finalist for his CD. Antonio Forcione is considered one of the most charismatic and inventive performers to come out of Europe in recent years. He breaks the mould of conventional, popular guitar sounds in the fields of Jazz, Spanish, African, Brazilian and improvised music and has received critical acclaim worldwide. He has released 16 albums, which have variously hit the top of British and international jazz charts and has shared stages around the globe with some of the world’s most accomplished musicians, including John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Jason Rebello and Martin Taylor. Tonight, with the help of Jenny Adejayan on cello and Alua Nascimento on percussion they are bringing their latest, fascinating, project "Finding Pessoa" to the Club. It was the work of a contemporary artist at the "Pharmacy" gallery in the heart of Alfama in Lisbon that triggered the inspiration for this incredible project. The art focused on the images of one of Portugal's greatest poets and philosophers, Fernando Pessoa, and acted as a catalyst for Tammy to embark on creating a sound that matched the poetry and accompanying imagery. It was a natural progression for her to collaborate with one of the UK's finest exponents of the acoustic and semi-acoustic guitar, and between them Tammy and Antonio have constructed an enchanting jazz/folk/world music-oriented soundscape around 12 Pessoa poems, drawing on the magical atmosphere of Lisbon's historic Alfama quarter. Combining Tammy's beautiful, characterful, voice with Antonio's stunning, virtuosic, guitar playing promises to make this unique UK premiere one of the highlights of the season. Highly recommended.

“Tammy Weis has a deliciously haunting voice…this is how it’s supposed to be done” 103.1 FM; “She’s the real deal” Time Out; “Tammy Weis has the magic of a great and great is what she is.” Julian Joseph, BBC Radio 3; “Antonio Forcione [is] a performer of world class status ... forceful and with an enviable technique, he takes the guitar to new levels of expression combining its melodic powers with dramatic percussive effects…the results are quite spectacular”. The Stage “[Forcione]...a guitar genius"Three Weeks Magazine; “Forcione is mesmerizing …passion, grace and fire” The Times