Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini Album Release

Natalie Cressman: Trombone & Voice

Possessing a voice as cool and crystalline as an Alpine stream, Natalie Cressman draws inspiration from a vast array of musical currents. Deeply versed in Latin jazz, post-bop, pop, and Brazilian music, she’s released three albums under her own name as well as three acclaimed duo albums with Brazilian-born guitarist Ian Faquini, her primary musical partner for the past decade. Focusing on their original songs, the duo’s recordings include 2019’s Setting Rays of Summer, 2022’s Auburn Whisper, and 2024’s Guinga, a tribute to the revered Brazilian composer and guitarist. Cressman’s trombone prowess has earned her widespread recognition. In both 2019 and 2023 Downbeat awarded her “Rising Star Trombone” honors in the magazine’s annual critics’ poll. She’s spent the last 14 years touring as a horn player and vocalist with Phish’s Trey Anastasio, while also performing around NYC with jazz greats Wycliffe Gordon, Nicholas Payton, Anat Cohen, Dave Douglas, and Peter Apfelbaum. 

Ian Faquini: Guitar & Voice

Ian Faquini writes exquisitely sophisticated Brazilian pop music in the omnivorous tradition known as MPB (música popular brasileira), which has often been deeply influenced by jazz. Born in Brasília and raised in Berkeley, Faquini is a protégé of Guinga, the revered Brazilian guitarist and songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by dozens of MPB stars. In 2014, Faquini released his debut album with flautist Rebecca Kleinmann, Brasiliense, and followed up with 2016’s Metal na Madeira, a collaboration with acclaimed Minas Gerais vocalist Paula Santoro. Since then Faquini has focused on his partnership with trombonist, vocalist, and lyricist Natalie Cressman, with whom he was a finalist for duo of the year in 2023’s Jazz Journalists Association Critics Poll. With a singular set of skills, highly personal compositional style, and lush harmonic palette, Faquini is one of the Bay Area’s most respected guitarists. 

Describing the musical partnership of Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini as a duo is accurate, but their collaboration contains multitudes. She’s a trombonist, vocalist and songwriter from San Francisco. He’s a composer, guitarist, and singer from Brasilia. Together they’ve honed a singularly expansive creative communion encompassing their love of the Brazilian songbook, jazz, Impressionism and sophisticated pop songcraft. 

Their original material features lyrics in Portuguese, French and English set to music drawing from a vast stylistic spectrum. With sumptuous two-part vocal harmonies hugging Brazilian-accented Portuguese accompanied by trombone and acoustic guitar, Cressman and Faquini’s richly orchestrated sound seems to emanate from a much larger ensemble. They return to Pausa Art House in celebration of the release of their 4th album together.