Marcel Camargo & Dan Schnelle

ABOUT MARCEL CAMARGO:

Marcel Camargo was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil to a "musical extended family;" he started learning to play guitar, percussion and sing with his uncle. At the age of 16 he moved to the United States where he graduated high school and later earned his B.A. in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His interests in school were varied but he was particularly attracted to folk music from different parts of the world; taking full advantage of being in the United States, Marcel focused his studies on America's great folk idiom, Jazz. At UCLA Marcel had the honor of studying under some of Jazz's most significant musicians - Kenny Burrell, Billy Higgins, Harold Land, Gerald and Anthony Wilson. He also spent two years studying traditional Ghanaian music under master drummer Kobla Ladzekpo, with whom he later visited Ghana.

Since his graduation from UCLA, Marcel has been making his living as a professional musician in different locations all over the Unites States and internationally. He currently resides in Los Angeles, working both as a sideman and as a frontman. His own project is called Marcel Camargo And The Brazil You Never Heard, an ongoing concert series that features Marcel's arrangements and compositions in the context of a chamber orchestra. The music the group plays is a mix of Brazilian, Classical music and Jazz. Though the pieces don't always come from Brazil, the arrangements tend to add a Brazilian twist to everything.

His main job as a sideman is playing guitar and singing back-up vocals for international pop star Michael Bublé. His other sideman work has been diverse, ranging from working with legendary Brazilian and Jazz musicians - such as with Sérgio Mendes, Bebel Gilberto, Tom Harrell, Airto Moreira, Arthur Verocai and ever rising star Gretchen Parlato - to doing collaborations with R&B/Hip Hop icons - like MeShell N'Degeocello, Seu Jorge, Flying Lotus, Chris Dave, Talib Kweli, Bilal, Pharoahe Monch (all via Miguel Atwood-Ferguson) - to touring and recording with artists like Macy Gray, Inara George (from Merrick, the Bird and the Bee), Quadron, the Watson Twins, Missy Higgins. He has also been featured as a guitarist on films like Rio 2, TV shows like "Dexter" (on Showtime) and "Supernatural" (the WB).

As an educator, Marcel has lectured on a variety of musical subjects such as music theory, musicianship, composition, songwriting, group performance and guitar. He has taught at several institutions such as the California State University Northridge (CSUN), Shepherd University in Los Angeles, the Larchmont Music Academy in New York, the French-American Lyceum Kennedy in New York City and the South Pasadena Music Conservatory in California.

ABOUT DAN SCHNELLE:

Dan Schnelle is one of the most talented, in-demand drummers in the Los Angeles area. Known for an intuitive ability to provide precisely what is necessary for each performance, Schnelle understands how to make other musicians comfortable, while bringing enough of the unexpected to his playing to keep it consistently exciting. Unsatisfied with the idea that the drum set is merely a time-keeping device, Schnelle is thoughtful about how this unique instrument, with its nearly limitless variety of sounds, can be tastefully and effectively deployed in a wide variety of musical situations. Years spent collaborating with some of the best musicians in Los Angeles (and beyond) have earned him a reputation as a hard-working, professional, and creative team player; one who is, above all, committed to musical excellence. A list of collaborators include: Josh Nelson, Daniel Rosenboom, Anthony Wilson, Laurence Hobgood, Walter Smith III, Joshua White, Sara Gazarek, Larry Goldings, Philip Dizack, Dayna Stephens, Larry Koonse, Ben Wendel, Nick Mancini, and more.