Lee's Excellent Brazilian Adventure - Pt 3

by Lee Monroe

On to the Mountains

The last three days of the trip were spent in Campos de Jordeo, a resort area about 100 miles NE of Sao Paulo.  We arrived Thursday afternoon after about a 4 or 5 hour drive.  Bill Mays and Marvin Stamm were scheduled to teach a Masters class at the bottom of the mountain so we dropped them off and went on to our hotel.  The hotel was quite beautiful and our rooms were extraordinary.

(View from the balcony of my room)

In the early evening Rich went to the bar to unwind a little and noticed a gentleman with a Brazilian percussion instrument (berimbau, I think) slung over his shoulder.  Rich isn’t shy about his profession so he immediately went up to talk with him.  It turned out that it was Nana Vasconcelos, a famous Brazilian percussionist who has toured with Gato Barbieri, and Pat Matheny among many others.  Rich and Nana hung out for a while to talk, I know Rich was thrilled – I’m sure he’ll go into more detail in a future article of his own.

That night at dinner Bill and I were chatting about hobbies and Tennis came up.  Bill said he plays often and wondered if I wanted to give him a game in the morning; even though I hadn’t played in quite some time I of course accepted the challenge.

The next morning Bill and I met at the tennis courts.  He was doing jumping jacks and running around warming up (I remember getting winded just walking to the courts).  We hit for a while to warm-up and then the match began.  Needless to say he cleaned my clock the first match 6-2 or 6-1, I was too dizzy to remember…. I also forgot to mention that we were at 6000 feet, I felt like I was sucking the paint off the court.

We both neglected to bring water to the courts but we had noticed that there was a young man in uniform standing by our court.  We were the only ones out so we assumed that he was there if we needed anything.  Bill walked over and was able to communicate to him that we would like a couple of bottles of water; Bill gave him a 10 real (pronounced ray-all) as a tip.  When the boy returned with the drinks he had Bill sign for it (our rooms and expenses were taken care of by the Brazilian government) and gave the 10 real back to Bill.  Bill insisted that he keep it.  When the young fellow finally realized that it was a tip I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head.

The young man was more attentive than ever and when we asked for more water he came back with two other helpers carrying a water cooler!  With the extra refreshments we began to get better acclimated to the thin air and I gave Bill a much better second match, which he won in a tie-breaker 7-6 – winning the set as well. 

(The Ambassador holds court)

We played another match for practice and some young Brazilians staying at the resort began to show up for some other activities as well as a little tennis.  Bill invited a young man to hit a few balls with us and he was happy to do so.  I watched Bill in several different situations during my week there and I noticed he often goes out of his way to speak to kids.  He has a genuine love and appreciation for what it is to be a young person, so much so that I began to call him “Ambassador Mays.”

Many of the young Brazilian girls lined up along side the court and began ooing and ahing to every stroke.  It was quite amusing.

We played for a while longer when Marvin showed up from his morning run.  He is very serious about his health.   He made time to run every day and he is in great shape (needs a little work on his backhand though).

(Marvin Stamm displaying his lust for life)

Bill and I played again Saturday morning where I was finally able to win a match, but Bill still won the set.  The kids showed up again and a good time was had by all.  

Another amusing moment for me happened while Bill and I were playing tennis Saturday morning.  A gentleman was yelling and waiving to Bill from one of the balconies of the hotel.  It turns out that he was a famous Brazilian pianist named Milcho Leviev who I had just seen a couple of nights before on the Brazilian version of the tonight show.

The Concert

The highlight of the week for me was the concert Friday night.  The Tatui Conservatory Orchestra (Orquestra Sinfônica Paulista) conducted by Neves accompanied Marvin and Bill.  I haven’t heard Marvin in many years but I have always been a great admirer.  One of the things I noticed most about when he and Bill were playing together is how they listen to each other.  There are times when Marvin sounds like he’s comping, a very cool thing to experience.

Bill is also a wonderful player and I am embarrassed to say I knew so little about him prior to this meeting.  I have this thing about artists, whether it is a painter, or sculptor, or musician – I love to watch them work.  If I buy a sculpture, I want to meet the artist, see his hands and if given the opportunity watch him at work so that when I look at his finished product I have a greater appreciation for that part of him that he invested in his creation.  I was taken with Bill the moment I first watched his hands move over the piano.  He looks like an artist even before you hear him.  His facility is tremendous and his love for his music obvious.

  The festival is a huge event in Southern Brazil and there were many in attendance.  Marvin and Bill are both genuine musicians and it comes out every time they step on a stage.  The orchestra did well too and the dedicated teachings of Neves and his conservatory staff are quite apparent.

The Trip Home

The trip home was much less eventful than it was going down there.  I did have an interesting conversation with a young American woman whose church group came down to help build a church near Brasilia.  There were about 20 of them and the task accomplished seemed to have brought them a great deal of satisfaction.

I met many new friends and have a slew of experiences to add to my lifelong collection.  Neves, if you ever get a chance to read this, many thanks, it was an experience I will always treasure.

Take care! Lee Monroe

Lee Monroe is the owner of Express Music Services.  He has been a fulltime copyist for 19 years and was strictly a hand copyist for the first 15.  You can check out his hand music font by following this link - LeeMusic.

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