Guitarist and composer Caio Afiune has spent the last ten years making a lasting impression on the US’s East Coast Jazz Scene. Caio has performed extensively as a sideman accompanying jazz giants such as Jerry Bergonzi and Christian Sands, Brazilian legends Jacques and Paula Morelenbaum, leading his project, the Caio Afiune Quintet, and collaborating with the international collective Imagine 5. Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, Afiune’s compositions uniquely blend the essence of Brazil, and his deep knowledge of the North American Jazz tradition. We had the pleasure to catch up and discuss his career and latest project “Every Choice is an Act of Courage”.
Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Magazine. Congratulations on your career to date. For readers who are unfamiliar with you, how did you get into music?
I’m a guitarist, but I first fell in love with music by watching my mom play the piano! When I was a kid she was part of a Brazilian jazz trio and they rehearsed every week at our house. I thought it was the most fascinating thing ever, so when I was about 4 or 5 I asked her if I could take piano lessons, to which she obviously said yes. She introduced me to some of my biggest influences, like Chick Corea, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Zimbo Trio. I played some classical and some jazz piano but I was also getting really into rock music, so when I was around 10 I started to take some drum lessons from the drummer in my mom’s group, Gil Barreto, and later from the incredible Percio Sapia, who introduced me to a world of music, I had no idea existed. He showed me everything from bossa bova, samba, maracatu, metal, to fusion, and on top of expanding my musical palette became a great friend, we played many many gigs together! When I was about 13 I was already playing a little bit of guitar, but everything changed when I listened to Van Halen for the first time – I immediately knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. From there I got into fusion, fell in love with jazz, and here we are today.
Who are your biggest musical influences?
This is always a really tough question, because there are just so many it’s hard to keep track. Every great player has something unique to offer, and I love to transcribe, so I feel like I’ve learned little things from so many players – Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Miguel Zenon, Jerry Bergonzi, Mike Moreno, Michael Brecker, Mark Turner, the list just goes on and on.
If I had to choose only one musician to listen to for the rest of my life, it would be Chick Corea. He just has this incredible mastery over all aspects of music – amazing rhythm, gorgeous melodies, unexpected harmonies, and so much personality and sense of humor. The Chick Corea Akoustic Band albums with John Patitucci and Dave Weckl are maybe my favorite trio records ever, and listening to him just makes me happy!
At the same time, I feel like the people we play and create with have a huge impact on our musicianship, and I’m lucky to have friends who are incredible musicians. The band on my new album – Avery Logan, Henrique Eisenmann, James Heazlewood-Dale, Jess Curran, Max Ridley, and Nathan Reising – inspires me every time I hear them play, and I’m really lucky to have them bring my music to life.
You’re originally from São Paulo, Brazil. Your compositions appear to effortlessly fuse a Brazilian essence with the traditions of American Jazz. Please tell us how exposure to the different cultures and traditions has shaped your unique sound?
I really believe that my musical identity comes from loving too many different types of music and being stubborn enough to never let go of any of them. I grew up listening to my mom’s Brazilian music record collection, which included Zimbo Trio, Elis Regina, Milton Nascimento, Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti, Triálogo, Banda Mantiqueira, among many others. Once this music became part of me it inevitably revealed itself in everything I created. Meanwhile, my favorite improvisers are in one way or another part of the jazz tradition, so I tried to learn as much as I could about harmony and melody from them. And lastly, I’m a huge rock fan, so regardless of what I’m playing, I always want to have the same feeling I had when I heard Van Halen for the first time. Most of the time I’m not really trying to blend these things, I just accept that they’re part of me and allow them to coexist the best way I know-how.
Your debut album, “Caio Afiune,” received widespread acclaim. The title track, “Prebenda,” was awarded an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, and the closing track “Dido,” was not only an official finalist in the 2015 Hollywood songwriting competition but won the 2016 Downbeat Award for best small ensemble composition. Has its success shaped your approach to producing music?
Yes, but not in the sense you’d expect. The funny thing is that “Prebenda” and “Dido” were the longest tracks in the album (both over 10 minutes long,) they had several different parts, freely improvised sections, multiple soloists, extended endings, the total opposite of anything “commercial.” Nevertheless, they were the most successful compositions in the album. That taught me to trust my gut, create exactly the music that’s in my mind, and not worry too much about what or how things “should” be. If you create art that you really believe in, there will always be people who are moved by it. The title track of my new album, “Every Choice is an Act of Courage” just got selected as a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition, so I like to believe this approach is working!
Your latest project is “Every Choice is an Act of Courage”. Please tell us more about the origins of the track and how you came to write it?
The title of the album came from a piece of advice my dad has been giving me since I was a little kid. In short, it means that every time you make a choice you’re also choosing not to do other things, so you might as well choose things you’re really passionate and committed about! It works from tiny things, such as your next meal, as well as big life decisions, such as where you choose to live, what kind of art you create, so on and so forth. The track itself was written mid-pandemic, while my wife Jess and I were talking about having new life experiences. We had this dream of spending some time in Europe and were talking about different places we’d like to visit, such as Stockholm and Amsterdam, and the title seemed to fit well with the moment of making big life decisions. We ended up spending 6 months in Stockholm and met amazing musicians and friends!
Where do you get the inspiration to write and do you apply a particular methodology to develop your material?
That is also a tricky question, because every piece happens in a different way. The pure inspiration comes from everything I experience – my friends, the music I listen to, a terrible gig I had, a gig in which I sounded great, the news, my cat – literally, anything can spark the creation of new music. The methodology varies tremendously from piece to piece, however. I’ll try to give a couple of examples.
“Dido,” from my first album was inspired by Henry Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas.” I borrowed a lot of material from one page of music, the famous “Dido’s Lament,” and tried to twist it in several different ways until it really felt like the music was mine. I actually love to find music that interests me and compose new material based on it! That was also the process for some of the tunes in the new album – in “I Remember You” I stretched out the melody of the famous standard and reharmonized it in the way I thought made more sense with the melancholic character of the song. In “Tequila Sunrise,” I used the first three notes of “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise” as a melodic cell that I then rotated and modulated several times to create a brand new melody. That melody was then superimposed over a 15/4 groove I stole from Aaron Parks. The feel change in “Softly” was reinterpreted as a metric modulation, and that led me to a brand new melody for the B section.
My most recent composition is a big band piece called “The Flying Whale,” and the process for that one was a little different. I came up with a visual story in my head and wrote music for it, almost as if writing music for a movie.
In short, I try to find material that excites me enough that I’m willing to spend a lot of time with it and come out with original music on the other side. The method is just beautiful chaos.
What are your biggest challenges and fears as an artist?
My biggest challenge is to finalize things. I’m very good at having ideas and starting things. Terrible at actually finishing them. I feel incredibly victorious when I finish and release an album like “Every Choice is an Act of Courage.”
Not exactly a fear, but I feel sometimes frustrated when I spend a lot of time focusing on the “business” side of things – making budgets, answering emails, planning shows, taping charts for rehearsal – and not enough time practicing and making art. At the same time, if I don’t do those things nothing gets done, so in that area balance normally helps!
What advice would you give a younger you, starting a career in the industry?
In general I believe that we are going to make the mistakes we are going to make, and those mistakes are the experiences we really learn from. I would probably tell myself to be unapologetic about the things I like, not be afraid of writing music that doesn’t fit in a box and find as many opportunities to play that music and lead my own band. Ultimately nobody is going to remember how well you played over some standard, but they will remember the original, honest, and meaningful art you created, so do way more of that!
We think it’s safe to say you’re an experienced performer. What has been your most memorable performance to date and why?
In 2014 I had the opportunity to play at the Panama Jazz Festival with a great band from New England Conservatory, where I was studying at the time. We played some of our arrangements, as well as a few original compositions. It was for sure the biggest crowd I ever played – thousands of people at an outdoor concert on the closing day of the festival – and as we finished our set and hopped off stage, I’m surprised by one of my heroes, John Patitucci. He told me he loved our concert and loved the final song, which was an early arrangement of “Prebenda,” from before I ever recorded it. It was very meaningful and gave me the courage to believe in my compositions.
Another memorable moment was when I got to play with Jacques and Paula Morelembaum, who were both part of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s band. Jobim is a national hero, and one of my personal idols, so playing his music with them really meant a lot!
What projects are you currently working on?
2022 is a big year! Not only my new album is coming out, but I’m also releasing a ton of music with “Caio e Jess,” the project I have with my wife, the wonderful singer and composer Jessica Curran. We composed and recorded very diverse music throughout the pandemic, and are now releasing them little by little. Some tracks are built with endless layers of voice and guitar, and some tracks feature international guests from US, Brazil, and Sweden, including Henrique Eisenmann, Rafa Oliveira, Raphael Lehnen, Marisol Mwaba, Bertram Lehmann, Neil Patton, and Rafael Barata. Our good friends Ariel Trigo and Fabio Stamatto (who also recorded bass on a track) mixed and mastered the whole project. Jess was just awarded an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award for “Returning,” one of the tracks from my album in which she is featured, so things are going very well so far!
Other than that I’m just working on organizing album release concerts for the new album. So far we have a Boston and a NYC date, with more to come.
Where can our readers find out more about you and your projects? Note: please provide website and social media links.
“Every Choice is an Act of Courage” will be out on all platforms, including Bandcamp, on March 25. Singles by “Caio e Jess” are going to be released every month and concerts with both projects will be announced on my website and social media platforms. Thanks for having me!
Caio Afiune
- www.caioafiune.com
- https://caioafiune.bandcamp.com/
- https://instagram.com/caioafiune
- https://www.facebook.com/caioafiuneofficial
Caio e Jess
- www.caioejess.com
- https://www.instagram.com/caioejess.music/
- https://www.facebook.com/caioejess.music
- https://www.youtube.com/caioejess
Photo by Max Nagel
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