Over het album

“Novas Raízes” (“New Roots”) is the name of the latest album produced by the pianist Floriano Inacio Junior.
The “Raízes” (Roots) represent the link where the past, present and future are intertwined. Now these links are “Novas” (new) – given that fruitful partnerships from this journey up to this point were added.

The value of life, love and respect for nature gave Floriano a perfect liaison of happiness, inspiring him to produce this album, the fourth of his career.
This album features powerful, catchy and heavily improvised melodies produced by a wide variety and combination of instruments, coupled with his passion for “Brazilian jazz” and “Samba Jazz,” an indelible characteristic of his style. Moved by this energy, the composer, arranger and instrumentalist bestows buoyant Brazilianness upon the twelve compositions comprising this jazz-driven musical exhibition, which he perceives as a fusion of his relentless studies, academic refinement and personal night-time experiences, giving rise to an increasingly stronger intimacy with his innate calling for music. Therefore, Jazz for him is the bond amongst knowledge, life experience and rapport.

Imbued with boundless energy, the recordings to Floriano represent a long journey across the “Oceans” and through the “Winds of the Sahara” until reaching his final destination. A clear demonstration of reverence towards his new home with “Samba pra Helvetia” (Samba for Switzerland), metaphorizing some titles of his compositions.

Although the musicians invited to participate in this project are of different nationalities, they all speak the same language: music.
The smoothness that Floriano attributes to his compositions says a great deal about him and the remarkable composure that he displays when drawing on his scholarly knowledge to structure various rhythms, “Raízes” (Roots) of his ancestry that are expressly alive in his music. Sharing his work not only represents a memory exercise and the need for a permanent record, but also a desire to offer peace and happiness.
May the roots grow; when exposed, the roots spread and create safe and fertile soil for a genre of musicality open to discourse and a plethora of influences that steadily, piano piano, translate into melodies.

The “Novas Raízes” (New Roots) are earth, path and union. They are pure communion.
Monique Franco, October 2020