A Brazilian Bossa Nova Celebration with Sounds From Brazil & Looking for Johnny Alf

The evening will open with David Von Kampen's new LNK Vocal Jazz ensemble, featuring a dozen young jazz singers. "Sounds From Brazil" features classic Bossa Nova hits from the late 1950s into the 60s by such iconic composers as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto, Roberto Menescal and more. "Looking for Johnny Alf" features a quartet of Brazilian musicians performing new arrangements of rarely heard tunes composed by Alfredo José da Silva, known as Johnny Alf. "Sounds From Brazil" performs a wide range of classic tunes from the Bossa Nova songbook.

Originally founded to perform for the first Water for Food Global Institute International Conference hosted by UNL in 2016, the group has appeared at numerous Lincoln events including Jazz In June and Meadowlark In May. Fronted by Christopher Neale, a Brazilian guitarist and vocalist, and Jackie Allen, a Blue Note Recording Artist, the group prides itself on recreating the sounds of boss nova from original charts and recordings. 

Adding to the authentic Brazilian experience, percussionist Dane Richeson brings with him years of experience of touring Brazil and having mastered a veritable orchestra of Brazilian instruments including the rarely heard berimbau. The berimbau is a single-string instrument attached to a gourd resonator. The string is normally hit or struck with a stick and a grooved stone is used to bend the string to change the pitch and tone of the sound. 

The featured vocalist for"Looking for Johnny Alf" began to formally study singing and piano at the age of 12 and appeared on Italian TV, which gave her a platform to perform with many established Italian artists. She discovered that singing was pure joy and that it was the ultimate way to express herself musically, and for the next few years worked on her vocals while collaborating with songwriters and musicians to write her debut album, +18, which was released in June 2017.

Although only just in her 20s, she has already performed across the world from Brazil to Italy, as well as Argentina, Belgium, France, Ireland, Holland, Austria, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Portugal and Gt. Britain. In 2024 she started a collaboration with a Brazilian pianist, creating a new project called “Looking for Johnny Alf”. Two became four, when they added a cellist and guitarist. "Looking for Johnny Alf" gained a huge following during the Brazilian and Argentinian four-month tour.

The music director of "Looking for Johnny Alf" is a composer, producer and pedagogue (Argentina/Brazil). He holds a Bachelor of Music from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and Master in Jazz Performance from the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML), where he currently resides.He has collaborated with numerous artists (Hermeto Pascoal, I Musici di Montreal, Cesar Camargo Mariano, Edu Lobo, Hamilton de Holanda, Marcus Wyatt, Carlos Malta, Eugene Friesen, Sid Jacobs, Mordy Ferber, Ehud Ettun, Wanda Sá, Quarteto in Cy, Victor Biglione, Gabriel Grossi, Maria João, Bernardo Lobo, among many others), in recordings, TV/Radio specials and tours in more than 30 countries.In 2021, he received the “Prémio Profissionais da Música” (Music Professionals Award) for the television series “Herdeiros de Saramago” – RTP (soundtrack category).And in 2022, he was nominated for the 23rd Latin Grammy in the “Best Instrumental Album” category.