click to enlarge

"Iluminados"
A tribute to the music of Ivan Lins
Ed Johnson and Novo Tempo Octet

As a vocalist, Ed Johnson is frequently compared to Ivan Lins and Milton Nascimento. As a guitarist and bandleader, critics often cite the lushly exotic, accessible sounds of Airto and Flora Purim. Ed has made three recordings with his stellar band Novo Tempo (the band name comes from an Ivan Lins song), and his music is best described as vibrant, original contemporary jazz with a heavy Brazilian influence and a refreshing emphasis on harmony vocals and horn arrangements. Ed’s music is evocative of Brazilian pop, but unlike anything you’ve heard before.

Ed has often cited Ivan Lins as a significant influence on his own compositions, and this exciting upcoming show provides Ed and his powerhouse octet the opportunity to pay homage to one of Brazil's musical icons.

Ed Johnson has been performing in the San Francisco Bay Area and up and down the West Coast for the past thirty years. The Other Road is Ed’s fourth and latest solo release, which, along with previous releases  Movimento(2004) and Over That Wave (2002), received glowing reviews as well as wide national and international airplay. His passion for Brazilian music is one he has long cultivated, and in a 2008 review of The Other Road, JazzTimes magazine wrote "This guy with the name Ed Johnson composes some of the finest Brazilian music in the world from his home base in Northern California."  In the fall of 2009 Ed was a featured artist on the internationally syndicated radio show "The Sounds Of Brazil." His set with Novo Tempo at the 2006 San Jose Jazz Festival was enthusiastically received, and the band continues to deliver soul-stirring performances at select venues.

*/