Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini Live-streamed on KUVO’s YouTube Channel

KUVO highlights Women’s History Month with a performance by trombonist Natalie Cressman and guitarist Ian Faquini, live-streamed on KUVO’s YouTube channel on Thursday, March 14 at 7 p.m.

Trombonist and singer/songwriter Natalie Cressman and composer, guitarist, and singer Ian Faquini have created a uniquely intimate duo collaboration, drawing from impressionism, jazz, and the great Brazilian songwriting tradition. Their two-part vocal harmonies and original material in three different languages have brought them to concert halls and festivals around the US and Europe.

After two critically praised albums together (“Setting Rays of Summer” in 2019, “Auburn Whisper” in 2022) and a finalist nomination for “Duo of The Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2023, the rare trombone-guitar duo is touring in advance of the release of “Guinga” (April 12, 2024, Ground UP Music), dedicated to Cressman and Faquini’s musical mentor.

Possessing a voice as cool and crystalline as an Alpine stream, Natalie Cressman draws inspiration from a vast array of deep and powerful musical currents. A prodigiously talented New York City-based trombonist, she’s spent the past thirteen years touring the jam band circuit as a horn player and vocalist with Phish’s Trey Anastasio, while also performing around NYC with jazz greats Wycliffe Gordon, Nicholas Payton, Anat Cohen, Dave Douglas, and Peter Apfelbaum. Deeply versed in Latin jazz, post-bop, pop, and Brazilian music, she has released three albums under her name as well 2016’s Etchings in Amber, a gorgeous duo album with guitarist Mike Bono that introduced Cressman as a formidable musical force without her horn. In both 2019 and 2023, she was recognized by Downbeat Magazine, winning the “Rising Star Trombone” category twice in their annual Critic’s Poll. When she’s not performing her music, Cressman can be found collaborating with some of the most illustrious figures in rock, funk, jazz, and beyond which have included Carlos Santana, Aaron Neville, Dave Matthews, Phish, Big Gigantic, Escort, The Motet, and Umphrey’s McGee.

Ian Faquini writes astonishingly sophisticated Brazilian pop music in the omnivorous tradition known as MPB (música popular brasileira), which often draws heavily on jazz. Born in Brasília and raised in Berkeley, Ian Faquini is a protégé of Guinga, the revered Brazilian guitarist and songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by dozens of MPB stars. Faquini was a member of the renowned Berkeley High School Jazz program before going on to study at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley and, immediately after graduating, joined the faculty there. He has performed throughout Europe, Japan, Brazil, and the United States, including Montreux Jazz Festival, Enjoy Jazz Festival, Bimhuis (Amsterdam), Birdland (NYC), and The A Trane (Berlin) and has shared the stage and recording studio with such names as Guinga, Fleurine, Brad Mehldau, Chris Potter, Spok, Lee Konitz, among many others.

See Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini, live-streamed exclusively on KUVO’s YouTube channel, Thursday, March 14 at 7 p.m.!

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