Sapo

Under the influence of clube da esquina and bossa nova, Joo began playing the acoustic guitar at the age of twelve and electric guitar at fifteen, playing all kinds of music, from rock to samba. Ferraz lived for four years in USA studying music at Berklee College of Music and in 2005 he was invited by a friend to live in Rio de Janeiro to produce music. Joo and his partner created the production house Lontra Music, where he works as guitar player, producer and arranjer. His first album, SAPO was born while Joo was living overseas, but it's debut only ocurred at the begin of 2007 in Brazil. Right at it's release, the album received top stars at Globo, the biggest Brazilian newspaper, Joao and his group where at the cover of Estado de Minas newspaper, the biggest of Minas Gerais, being considered the new generation of musicians from Minas like Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta. The album was also claimed by the Canadians at the jazzwolrdquest.com. an exuberant and elegant fusion of Brazilian rhythms with modern jazz sounds. Joo Ferraz harmonies are reminscent of Toninho Hortas sonorities and the album is recommended for those who want to hear whats new and criative in the actual Brazilian music.