Peter Schärli Trio featuring Ithamara Koorax

Obrigado, Dom Um Romão

It was Dom Um Romão who introduced Peter Schärli to the Brazilian singer Ithamara Koorax. Ithamara was smitten with Schärli's trumpet playing and agreed at once to tour Europe with the "Peter Schärli Trio" featuring Ithamara Koorax and Dom Um Romão. However, just before the tour could get started, Dom Um Romão died. The tour took place all the same, and the CD got entitled "Obrigado, Dom Um Romão". A tribute to one of the greatest percussionists and drummers... without the drummer? This is not at all strange; it is just logic, since nobody could ever really replace Dom Um Romão.
Romão was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1924. His professional career started in 1940, and thanks to his cooperation with icons such as João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicus de Moraes, his name became well known also beyond the Brazil scene. In 1955, he set up his first trio, the Copa Trio, with pianist Toninho and bassist Manuel Gusmão. He also was a part of the gang when Elizeth Cardoso recorded the first Bossa Nova album in 1958, "Cancão do Amor Demais". In 1965, the legendary producer Norman Granz (Verve, Pablo Records) convinced him to live in the USA, where he quickly became one of the most sought after studio musicians. The list of those who used his services reads like a "Who-is-Who" of the scene: João Donato, Luiz Bonfà, Sergio Mendes' Brasil 66, Elis Regina, Flora Purim (to whom he was married in the sixties), Oscar Brown, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennet, Stan Getz, Gil Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Astrud Gilberto, Santana, Blood, Sweat und Tears and many more. In 1971, he joined Weather Report to replace Airto Moreira and stayed with them until 1976. During this period, his first LPs were produced under his own name (e.g. "Spirits and Times"). Swiss drummer Fredy Studer met Dom Um Romão in New York and "took" him to Switzerland around 1977. There he started a fruitful collaboration at first with "OM", and soon after with Georges Gruntz' "Percussion Profiles". In 1997, he returned to Rio de Janeiro, where he lived most of the time and died in 2005.

Peter Schärli, who was introduced to Dom Um Romão during the first years of his "Swiss exile", became a close friend of Romão's. They played together in different projects. The CD "April Works" (Unit Records) was recorded in 1991 with Stella Rambisai Chiweshe, Burhan Oeçal, Glenn Ferris, Fredy Studer, Dom um Romão and many more. In 1997, he published the much acclaimed CD "Ballads and Brazil" (TCB Records) together with Swiss based jazz singer Sandy Patton, Antonia Giordano, Thomas Dürst, Willy Kotoun and Dom Um Romão. Schärli soon became one of the most outstanding trumpeters in Switzerland and even Europe. Meanwhile, Peter Schärli is also famous in Brazil, where he was elected best trumpeter in 2006 by one of the nation's leading daily papers, the "Tribuna da Imprensa", ahead of stars like Lew Soloff and Randy Brecker. Various CDs were recorded under his name, some of them with his "Peter Schärli Special Sextet featuring Glenn Ferris", which has been together for more then 20 years (several CDs on ENJA-Records).

Ithamra Koorax started working with Dom Um Romão in 1999, and they soon became close friends. "Whenever it was possible, I chose to have Dom Um at the drums for a new album, because his playing deeply inspired me and my singing and he had become a dear and supportive friend in all those years." Ithamara Koorax' latest CD with Dom Um Romão (among many other well known musicians) is called "The Brazilian Butterfly" (Irma Records). A real "Carioca" from Rio, she has recorded several CDs under her own name, among them the best-selling "Serenade in Blue" (Milestone), which has sold over 250'000 copies. "I particularly love trumpeters like Lew Soloff and Chet Baker. Peter Schärli definitely belongs to this league. His phrasing on the trumpet is quite unique. Markus Stalder and Thomas Dürst are just perfect; it was amazing how well we all understood each other from the very beginning." After all, it is more than obvious what she is referring to: Peter Schärli, Markus Stalder and Thomas Dürst have understood and internalized the essence of Brazilian music as if they had been born themselves in the "Sugarloaf City".

You just can't get rid of the feeling that Dom um Romão's ghost was present at the studio, and when you listen and close your eyes you can virtually hear him at the drums. That is why an additional drummer or percussionist would have been redundant. However, as Ithamara Koorax puts it so well: "It's not magic, it's music"!

Gino Ferlin
Translations: Sylvia Müller.