Spring/Summer 2018 happenings

2018 is shaping up to be a great year in Mente Clara land.

Most importantly, we'll record a new record at the awesome King Electric Recording in June. I'm targeting a late 2018 or early 2019 release date for the album, which will include a bunch of zany originals, as well as one or two Hermeto tunes.

Around those recording dates, we'll present our annual Hermeto birthday celebration concerts in cities throughout Texas. So far we've got dates in Austin, San Marcos, and Houton, where wewill make our debut at Cezanne on June 16. Additional dates in San Antonio and Austin will hopefully be announced soon as well.

Additionally, we'll perform in NYC and make our long overdue return to Hudson Valley some time this summer.

More soon!

Upcoming Texas gigs celebrating Hermeto's birthday!

I'm very excited to bring the band back to Texas for two gigs celebrating Hermeto's 81st birthday, as well as some accompanying events thanks to our friends at KRTU Jazz 91.7 radio in San Antonio.

June 17 at 10 AM - I'll guest house the 10 AM hour of Cafezinho do Brazil on KRTU 91.7 in San Antonio, playing music from throughout Hermeto's career. Tune in over the air in San Antonio, online, or through the KRTU app.

June 22 at 11 AM - I'll be back at KRTU to talk about our show that evening

June 22 at 8:30 PM - We'll present a birthday tribute to Hermeto Pascoal at San Antonio's wonderful, new jazz club: Jazz, TX. We'll play a full week of tunes from Hermeto's Calendário do Som, a few new originals, as well as classics from Hermeto's repertoire. I'll be joined by Justin Vasquez on woodwinds, Jan Flemming on accordion, Daniel Durham on bass, Aaron Parks on drum set, and Bruno Vinezof on percussion. 

June 22 at 7:30 PM - We'll present a similar program to the previous night at Blackerby Stage & Studio in Austin. The band from the previous night will be there, with the addition of Bennett Wood on woodwinds.

I'm hoping to Facebook live stream the gigs, so you can join in the celebration even if you're not in Austin or San Antonio. Follow our Facebook page for more updates!

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Owen / Mente Clara

New Review of Forrozêra from World Music Report

Raul da Gama of World Music Report wrote a great review of Forrozêra! Here's a little snippet of the review: "Their judiciously reverberant sound and over the top arrangements illuminate Mente Clara's carefully considered contrasts, bringing welcome vibrancy and presence to the performances. No notes are necessary here. The music of this disc provides an attractive entry point to one of the most inventive bands that I have heard in a long time."

Check it out here: http://theworldmusicreport.com/2015/10/10/reports/tropical-report/mente-clara-forrozera/

Mid-Summer Update

I've been lax in posting an update, but after a couple of nice gigs in July, we have some very cool stuff coming up in August and September. First up is our debut at Stay Gold on Thursday, August 6. We'll play two sets between 9 PM and midnight. Stay Gold is, in my opinion, Austin's coolest new club of 2015 and this will be our only show in August, so check it out if you can.

In September, we'll make our debut at two great festivals: Austin's WOBEONFEST and San Antonio's Jazz'SAlive, on the 12th and 20th. WOBEON is bringing in artists like Vieux Farka Toure and Billy Cobham, while Jazz'SAlive will feature Tower of Power, so they are both definitely worth your time.

I'm writing this from a coffee shop in San Francisco, where we'll play at The Revolution Cafe tomorrow night from 8-11 PM. Come out if you're in town!

Meanwhile, Forrozêra received a really nice right up from Bird is the Worm. Our album was mentioned in the same post as ones by John Hollenbeck, Dave Douglas, Ron Blake, Frank Lacy, and more. I copied the bit about us below, but you can read the full post here.

West Coast or Bust

It's been a busy few weeks: Our album release party at Esquina Tango was a blast, Forrozêra was officially released on June 2, and we played additional gigs in Austin and San Antonio. Now, we'll take to the road for a two week tour of the Mountain and Western States, as well as our first international show, in Vancouver, Canada. Come and see us!

Forrozêra Available For Preorder, Album Release Party on May 31, & More!

We are happy to announce that our new album, Forrozêra, is now available for preorder at our Bandcamp page! You can listen to three tracks now, which are also available for immediate download. The album will officially release on June 2. Forrozêra features a mix of original compositions, some tunes written by Hermeto, and two tunes writtenby our good friends Caio Barreira and Masumi Jones. We think that this album came out even better than we hoped, so it's very exciting to present it to the world!

Our album release party is scheduled for May 31, at Esquina Tango. (209 Pedernales Street, Austin, TX 78702) Maracatu Texas will open the show at 6:45 PM and we'll take the stage at 7:15. $8 cover. Esquina is a BYOB venue, but we will also provide free beer and wine for attendees, available while it lasts. You can RSVP via Facebook, here.

We will also play an early set at the San Antonio Summer Art & Jazz Festival on June 7. Our friends at KRTU in San Antonio have been spinning Wanderlust on air for awhile now, so it will be nice to get down that way for a show. We'll follow that up with a gig at The Sahara Lounge on Sunday, June 14, as part of a bill with Brazilian singer-songwriter Paula Maya. That will be our last show in Austin before embarking on a two week tour of the Mountain and Western states, but more on that later!

Welcome to our new site!

Welcome to our new site! It was time for a change and we like the way things turned out. In other news, our album is coming along well. The CD release party will be on May 31 at Esquina Tango and the official release date is Tuesday, June 2. Check out the album cover below! (Photo by Lucah Bah and album art by Shaela Rutherford.)

Later on in June, we'll embark on a two week tour of the mountain states and west coast. Cities on our list include Ft. Collins, Boulder, Missoula, Spokane, Seattle, Bellingham, Leavenworth, Vancouver, Portland, San Francisco, and Taos.

In the mean time, we have a gig later today at Central Market Wesgate, from 6:30-9:00. If you find yourself in South Austin and want to check out some tunes, swing by.