Nobresil is sophistication, pure energy and great melodies on stage translating in unique arrangements of samba, bossa nova, Brazilian jazz and world music.
The band Nobresil has an irresistible sound produced by Latin Grammy awarded Brazilian bass player Leo Nobre (Sergio Mendes, Shakira,Stevie Wonder) and enhanced by the sensual voice of 2015 Latin Grammy awarded singer Mari Nobre (also lead singer of the UCLA Bobby Rodriguez’s Latin Jazz Big Band.)
Nobresil is a magnet for world class musicians and participated as headliner in major jazz
festivals like the Central Ave.Jazz Festival, the Levitt Pavilion Summer Concerts and the Hollywood
Brazilian Film Festival. The band also performed in prestigious venues like Catalina Jazz Club, the
Jonathan Club, The Beverly Wilshire Hotel among many others.
Nobresil sophomore album “Original” is this year the recipient of the prestigious Jazz Educator Award
as Best Music Album of the Year and the lead singer Mari Nobre has been voted among the Best
World Artists/Bands of the Year. The award is viewable on Jazz Ed Magazine with this link: http://digitaleditiononline.com/publication/ Nobresil was also the recipient of the Akademia Music Award and nominated by the Hollywood Music and Media Awards as best World Jazz band of the year.
Mari Nobre, Nobresil lead singer and songwriter also received in 2016 the American Songwriting Award for her song “Thank you” as best world music composition of the year.
Nobresil is now back in studio to prepare for Chrome Records Inc. a new album which will be an active collaboration between famous American and Brazilian songwriters and musicians.
Mari Nobre – Vocalist
Mari Nobre is the lead singer of Nobresil Mari Nobre is a naturally gifted vocalist who
started her singing career in Europe as a child prodigy at the age of 14. An educated singer with a
BA in Jazz Performance at UCLA and currently a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at UCR
Mari is a true performer. She first moved to New York City where she performed with legends of
the Latin jazz scene.
She is very versatile and she is one of the few vocalists who can sing in six languages.
She was the vocal coach and on-camera singer/actress of the popular TV show “Little Women
LA” on Lifetime TV and she had her own reality show “That’s My Country” for Rai
International.
-2015 Mari is the recipient of a Latin GRAMMY Award Certificate as a vocalist on the
album Los Animales,
-2017 Mari’s Album “Live and Alive: From Gershwin to Jobim” charted on the top of the
Billboard Jazz charts and received a very enthusiastic critical acclaim.
2024 Mari’s work as a singer and songwriter was featured on the feature film “Invisible
Windows” on Netflix which won the Portuguese Film Festival.
2021 Mari became a Gold Record artist certified for her over 5 million
streaming of her song “Vida” released under an Italian label.
-2023 her tropical album “Sobran las Palabras” featuring Ibrahim Ferrer Jr. (legacy of
Buena Vista Social Club) was described by the international press as “a masterpiece that
captures the listeners and immerses them in an emotional journey without the need for verbal
explanations” -El Diario de Mexico.
-2023 Mari receives an American Grammy certificate for her participation on the
Grammy nominated album “If You Will” by Brazilian iconic singer Flora Purim.
Leo Nobre – Bass
Throughout these years Leo has performed in several worldwide jazz festivals such as North Sea (Holland), Umbria (Italy), Montreaux (Switzerland), Copenhagen (Denmark), Vitoria (Spain), Java (Indonesia), Cancun (Mexico), Detroit, San Jose, and the Pasadena Playboy jazz festival. In 2006 Leo has been awarded with a Latin Jazz Grammy certificate for his work on Sergio Mendes’ CD “Timeless”. His production of the CD “In Brazil” also was awarded with an Akademia Music Award. His most recent album with the band Nobresil has been nominated as by the prestigious Hollywood Music in Media Award and has been submitted to the 57th Grammy Award as Best Latin Jazz Album of 2014. Besides Sergio Mendes Leo Nobre toured with artists like Shakira, Filipino super stars Martin Nievera and Gary Feliciano, Spanish dancer Rafael Amargo among others…He has also participated to major TV shows like the Jay Leno Show for instance. He performed in many fundraisers and volunteer works such as, Aids Walk (Central Park, NYC), feed the homeless (thanksgiving in several shelters), cerebral palsy cliniques, Pasadena Shelter, and others. He is also recording his CD and recently arranged and released Nobresil’s CD with great success. He is already working on new compositions, which he plans to release this year.
You can catch him performing with Mari Nobre and the E-Motion band, Nobresil, and many other artists.
Leo was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where at an early age was exposed to several kinds of music through his parents and surroundings. Leo attended the American School of Rio de Janeiro, where he joined many bands and explored many different instruments. He started to study music (theory, acoustic nylon guitar and bass) more seriously, and soon was performing locally with many artists from Brazil. After high school he decided to pursue his music studies further and was accepted to the University of Miami School of Music. He studied theory, piano, arranging, and composition. He focused his studies on jazz and also studied upright bass and classical with Dr. Lucas Drew. After attending University of Miami from 1989 until 1994, he started touring, performing, and recording with many artists.
Justo Almario – Saxophone
A multi-talented master saxophonist , flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger and clinician, has a long list of distinguished accomplishments. His style is a fusion of Jazz, South American, and other world rhythms which are a reflection of his own elegant yet humble style. Mr. Almario’s mesmerizing sounds have been heard in Grammy-Award winning works such as Linda Ronstadt’s “Frenesi,” Placido Domingo’s “A Mi Alma Latina,” Luis Miguel’s “Romance,” Andrae Crouch’s “Mercy,” and Isreal Lopez Cachao’s “Master Sessions” & “Ahora Si;” as well as the Oscar-winning soundtracks from Happy Feet and Sideways.
Mr. Almario’s playing has been featured on diverse projects, such as Queen Latifah’s “Living Outloud,” Jennifer Lopez’s hit HBO Special “Let’s Get Loud,” Andy Garcia’s “The Lost City,” and John Turturo’s “Romance and Cigarette” staring Susan Sarandon and James Gadolfini. Mr. Almario has also been featured on various Platinum and Gold records and soundtracks, including “More Dirty Dancing”, “Wow Worship,” and Ron Kenoly’s “Lift Him Up.”
A native of Colombia, Mr. Almario went from child protégé to virtuoso. Mr. Almario was primarily influenced by John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bartok, Debussy and Bach. He studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music before doing a stint with Mongo Santamaria as the band’s musical director. He has also taught at the Henry Mancini Institute and has mentored inner city youth during workshops at the World Stage. These days, he teaches saxophone in the Jazz Department at UCLA’s Music School. – See more at: http://nobresil.com/bio/#sthash.5gr2mPIz.dpuf
Otmaro Ruiz – Piano
Considered one of the most important jazz pianists in the current scene, venezuelan Otmaro Ruiz is known for its versatility and virtuosity. After working intensively in Venezuela with artists such as Soledad Bravo and Ilan Chester, Otmaro moves to Los Angeles in 1989 to join the group of great names of the jazz world such as Alex Acuña, Justo Almario y Abraham Laboriel, with whom still collaborates in diverse projects.
With an intense musical career, filled with concerts, workshops and recordings worldwide, Otmaro worked for 5 years with Dianne Reeves as a pianist and musical director. During this period, Otmaro participated in the recording project of her CD “In The Moment – Live in Concert”, which won the Grammy Award 2001. In that same year, Alex Acuna’s album “Acuarelas de Tambores, also with Otmaro’s collaboration, was nominated to a Grammy. His collaboration with Weston Woods Studios for the Scholastic Series of animated children videos have won important recognitions like the “2004 Audie Award” in the Children Production Category and Bronze Remi at the 2004 Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival (for the Soundtrack of “Chato and The Party Animals”); Otmaro also received a Life Time Special Award “International Exposure” from the Venezuelan National Artist’s Institute (for outstanding career in a foreign country). In 2012, Otmaro was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Musical Arts from Shepherd University.
Regarded as one of the most sought-after keyboardists for recordings in today’s scene, Otmaro is still able to dedicate time to teaching, scoring of movie sound-tracks and to the production of his works as a leader with original compositional material, captured in the CDs “Otmaro Ruiz plays Ryuichi Sakamoto”, “Distant Friends”, “Nothing to Hide”, “Latino” and in his most recent album “Sojourn”. Released in September 2008, Sojourn encompasses the rhythmic complexity, harmonic sophistication and melodic beauty of his most recent compositions, under the architecture of a constant equilibrium, and presented with his own quartet, with the talented Jimmy Branly (drums), Carlos Del Puerto (acoustic bass) y Ben Wendel (saxophones and bassoon). Currently, Otmaro is a Jazz Piano Faculty at University of Southern California (USC), at Shepherd University School of Music and is also invited frequently as a guest clinician at Los Angeles Music Academy (LAMA) and Musicians Institute (MI).
Gibi Dossantos – Percussions
Since Gibi moved to the U.S., he has been successfully teaching, performing, and demonstrating his elite skills. He is currently working on many different projects. Gibi regularly performs with groups and artist such as Sergio Mendes, Airto Moreira, Afro Brazil, and Vivir Brazil Dance Company all over. He has performed with Sergio Mendes all other the world as a percussionist and has contributed in his last three albums (Timeless, Bom tempo, and Encanto). He has currently worked with great artists such as Kayne West, Enrique Iglesias, Airto Moreira, Luis Conte, Giovanni Hidalgo as well as Lorenzo Jovanotti.Also, he has participated as a percussionist in the sound tracks of the movie “RIO” and the video game “Angry Birds.”
Marco Dos Santos Aka “Gibi” was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, which is the center of all Afro-Brazilian culture. Exposed to this rich heritage in his childhood, Gibi was introduced to capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian dance/martial art form) and candombler. This discipline led to other expressions of dance in the form of Afro-Brazilian styles and folkloric performances. Gibi was a lead member of the renound Brazilian dance company “Bahia Axe Bahia” and received much recognition there for his contribution as and outstanding and skilled performer. He also was one of the original members, as a percussionist, of the very successful Brazilian group “Timbalada”1989. Gibi has performed with many folkloric groups in Bahia and the United States playing capoeira and percussion. He relocated to the United States in 1998 thanks to his brother Meia Noite, also a very talented percussionist, who introduced him to Sergio Mendes. Both worked together in the Sergio Mendes band for many years.
Tata’ Batera – Drummer
A professional drummer from Brazil who has been living in LA since the fall of 2019. Known for being a very versatile drummer she has worked with artists in the Brazilian, Latin, jazz, reaggae, funk, rock, surf rock and many other styles. She had the opportunity to tour for 2 years all around the USA with The Red Elvises. Then she decided to settle down in Los Angeles where she has been playing with Dionne Warwick’s pianist Todd Hunter and many local artists, such as: Sabine Pothier, Ted Falcon, Justin Chart, Viva Vinson, Chameleon, Gregg Wright, Crazy Tomes, and Nobresil”.