Born in Rio de Janeiro, Duduka Da Fonseca is a 3-time GRAMMY® nominee. He has appeared on over 200 albums alongside American Jazz icons as well as Brazilian Jazz Icons, making him one of the most recorded Brazilian drummers in this idiom.

In 2002 Duduka’s first solo album, Samba Jazz Fantasia, was nominated for the American Grammy® Award. He is one of the very few Brazilians and the only Brazilian drummer thus far to be nominated for this prestigious Award.

In 2009 The Brazilian Trio’s (which he co-leads) album Forests, was nominated for the 10th Latin Grammy.

At fourteen, while living in Rio, Duduka formed his first Samba Jazz Trio, called Bossa Trio, with his brother Miguel playing the bass. For many years, they played numerous Bossa Nova/Samba Jazz concerts and also on various television shows. In the early 70’s Duduka co-founded The Samba Jazz Sextet, Mandengo with Raul Mascarenhas (tenor sax), Mauro Senise (alto sax), Barrozinho (trumpet), Tony Botelho (acoustic bass), and Tomás Improta (piano). Mandengo performed together for many years until Duduka moved to New York in 1975.

In New York, Duduka followed his dream of playing with American Jazz musicians where he could blend musical cultures. He has recorded and performed with Gerry Mulligan, Phil Woods, Kenny Barron, Lee Konitz, Eddie Gomez, Joanne Brackeen, Herbie Mann, Sadao Watanabe, Joe Henderson, David Amram, George Mraz, Emily Remler, Nancy Wilson, Slide Hampton, Rufus Reid, Steve Allee, John Scofield,Wayne Shorter,John Patitucci,Martin Wind, Wolfgang Lackerschmid, Tom Harrell, Joe Lovano, Jorge Dalto, Paquito D’Rivera, Dick Oatts, Dennis Irwin, Billy Drewes, Kenny Werner, David Sanchez, Marc Copland, Renee Rosnes, Bill Charlap, Harry Allen, Larry Goldings, Jessica Molaskey, John Pizzarelli and many others.

He has been honored to play and record with the great Brazilian artists, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Dom Salvador, Sergio Barrozo, Rio 65 Trio, Haroldo Mauro Jr., Astrud Gilberto,Toninho Horta, Airto Moreira, Raul de Souza, Claudio Roditi, Ion Muniz, Edson Lobo, Alfredo Cardim, Nico Assumpção,Tenório Jr., Cesarius Alvim, Ricardo Santos, Edison Maciel, Naná Vasconcelos, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Paulo Jobim, Daniel Jobim, Jaques Morelenbaum, Mario Adnet, Maucha Adnet, Chico Adnet, Elza Soares, Quarteto Jobim – Morelenbaum, OSESP (São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, “Jobim Sinfônico”), Milton Nascimento, Dori Caymmi, Oscar Castro-Neves among many others.

Duduka has established numerous Brazilian Jazz groups among them Brasilian Express, which appeared on National PBS television in 1981. Duduka’s New York Samba Band performed at many jazz venues including the Blue Note, Fat Tuesdays and the Village Gate. In 1986 he formed The Brazilian Jazz All Starsfeaturing artists Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker , Eliane Elias, Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta and Guilherme Franco.

Duduka was a founding member and co-leader of Trio da Paz,nominated for an Indie Award as Best Latin Jazz Group in 1993 and their recording Partido Out won the Jazz Journalists Association Awards for best Brazilian Jazz Album of 2002.
In 2016, Trio da Pazwon the Hot House NYC Award for the best group and was nominated for the American Grammy® in the Best Latin Jazz category with their most recent album “30”.

From 1984 to 2000 Duduka was a faculty member of the Drummers Collective NYC, conducting workshops and giving private lessons. He has also conducted workshops and master classes in Brazil, Europe and Asia. Duduka is the author of the bestselling instructional book and CD,Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset(Alfred Publishing Co, Inc).

In 2002 he formed the Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet featuring Anat Cohen, Guilherme Monteiro, Helio Alves, and Leonardo Cioglia.
The Quintet recorded two critically acclaimed albums. Their second album “Samba Jazz-Jazz Samba” was among the ten best albums of the year in the prestigious Jazziz Magazine. The Quintet actively performed on several places including the Umbria Jazz Festival and Tudo é Jazz Festival in Ouro Prêto.

In 2009 Duduka formed his Brazilian based Duduka Da Fonseca Trio, what he considers to be one of his most expressive works to date, featuring David Feldman on piano and Guto Wirtti on acoustic bass. The Trio has recorded three albums which were extremely well received by critics worldwide, and their fourth album Duduka Da Fonseca Trio Plays Dom Salvador, was released by Sunnyside Records on April 13th, 2018.

Duduka is a resident of New York City.

David Feldman

The Brazilian pianist David Feldman has been prominent in the Brazilian instrumental music scene and according to the critic Luiz Orlando Carneiro “… is the most technical and inspired Brazilian pianist of the moment”. David was a student of Luiz Eça and, in 2002, graduated from The New School in New York. Not long after, he played with legendary jazz figures such as Slide Hampton and Claudio Roditi; was guest of the Mingus Big Band; worked with Duduka da Fonseca, who was nominated for the 2003 Grammy and with young brilliant musicians such as Matt Garrison and Eli de Gibri. In Brazil, David has worked with MPB’s “crème de la crème”: Paulo Moura, Leo Gandelman, Leny Andrade, Leila Pinheiro, Carlinhos Brown, Jaques Morelembaum, Maria Rita, Bossa Cuca Nova, Ricardo Silveira, Wilson Simoninha, Totonho Villeroy, to name a few.

With his third album “Horizonte” (2016), which had the special participation of Toninho Horta and Raul de Souza, he received praise from artists such as Ivan Lins, Carlinhos Brown, Rosa Passos and was listed as one of the best Discs of 2017 of the international jazz reference ‘Downbeat Magazine’, in addition to many other critics praise in Brazil and in the world. Now in 2018, David Feldman is releasing his first live album, a version of his latest album, “Horizon – Live at Blue Note Rio.”

Guto Wirtti

Guto Wirtti was born on October 30,1982 in Frederico Westphalen, a small town in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, into a family of musicians. At age six, he began playing the guitar with his father, a singer and composer of folkloric music from the south of Brazil. When he was twelve years old, he picked up the bass and it soon became his main instrument. A year later, he was playing with local artists in concerts and festivals throughout the state of Rio Grande do Sul. At sixteen, he decided to expand his knowledge and got on a flight to Salvador, Bahia, where he stayed for a year playing and researching the roots of Afro-Brazilian music. After that, he returned to Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, and continued his musical studies, while performing and recording with several local artists.

In 2003, Guto moved to Rio de Janeiro at the invitation of his friend, and virtuoso guitar player, Yamandú Costa. Guto then went on to travel with Yamandú playing in various events such as the Melbourne Jazz Festival in Australia, Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, as well as other shows and festivals in various places. Guto has also played with João Bosco at Birdland NYC, and with Hamilton de Holanda at the Summer Fest NYC, to name a couple. Guto has been traveling and performing all over Brazil and across the globe with various Brazilian icons such as Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Jorge Ben Jor, João Bosco, Hamilton de Holanda, Luis Melodia, Duduka Da Fonseca, Wilson das Neves, Mauricio Einhorn, Robertinho Silva, Nelson Angelo, Celso Fonseca, Ed Motta, Kassim, Mart’nália, Ricardo Silveira, Jards Macalé, Gabriel Grossi, Roberto Menescal, Bebe Kramer, Leo Gandelman, among many others. Since 2009, Guto has recorded 4 albums with Duduka Da Fonseca Trio, which were critically acclaimed world wide. In 2010, he recorded the album “Campo Belo” with American guitarist Anthony Wilson. In 2014, he and Yamandú Costa recorded a duo album entitled Bailongo, in which Guto had the chance to show his personality as a composer and arranger. In early 2015, he recorded on Hamilton de Holanda’s “Alegria,” with the Orchestra of Mato Grosso, an album dedicated to the children of the world. These are only a few examples of Guto Wirtti’s rich and continuously expanding discography.