The project presents a cross-generational encounter rooted in improvisation, studio experimentation, and Brazilian musical heritage, released globally on April 24 via Jasmin Music. The visual identity of the album is created by Brazilian artist Fernando França.
Maracanós emerged from a multi-layered creative process taking place between Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro, where recording sessions evolved into an open studio dialogue between two generations of Brazilian music.
Rather than being conceived as a conventional album, the project developed as a living system of composition, improvisation, and sound design shaped directly inside the studio environment.The sonic identity moves fluidly between Brazilian rhythmic languages, jazz improvisation, orchestral writing, and contemporary studio manipulation.
Acoustic instruments are not separated from electronic textures but absorbed into a single evolving sound field where timbre, space, and dynamics carry equal structural importance.
The result is a deeply immersive listening experience that reflects both the immediacy of live performance and the precision of modern studio composition.
RICARDO BACELAR
Ricardo Bacelar is a Brazilian pianist, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Fortaleza, in the northeast of Brazil. His artistic practice extends beyond performance into the construction of an independent production ecosystem through Jasmin Music and Jasmin Studio, which operate as both label and creative laboratory.
Rather than following Brazil’s traditional Rio–São Paulo industry axis, Bacelar has developed an autonomous production model centred on artistic continuity, technical precision, and long-form collaboration.
Within this system, the studio becomes a compositional instrument, and production is treated as an extension of musical thought rather than post-production support. In Maracanós, Bacelar acts simultaneously as performer and sonic director, shaping the album’s structural identity while guiding its aesthetic and conceptual framework.
AIRTO MOREIRA
Airto Moreira is one of the most influential percussionists in modern jazz history and a central figure in the globalisation of Brazilian rhythmic language. After relocating to the United States in the late 1960s, he became part of a transformative period in jazz history, contributing to the emergence of jazz fusion alongside artists such as Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett, and Stan Getz.
His approach expanded percussion beyond timekeeping into a multidimensional expressive system incorporating voice, texture, and improvisation. This redefinition of rhythmic function helped reshape contemporary jazz performance practice across multiple generations.
FLORA PURIM
Flora Purim is one of the most significant Brazilian vocalists in international jazz history. Emerging during the late 1960s, she became a defining voice in the global expansion of Brazilian music through jazz fusion and experimental forms.
Her international recognition grew during the 1970s in the United States, where she was repeatedly named Best Female Jazz Vocalist by critics over multiple years. Her vocal style, characterised by rhythmic elasticity and improvisational phrasing, helped redefine the role of the human voice in jazz contexts.
Closely associated with Airto Moreira both musically and personally, Purim has been a central figure in some of the most important cross-cultural jazz recordings of the fusion era.