Club Brasil History - Club Brazil History

CLUB BRASIL was born in 1990 when Michael Mitchell (aka 'DJ Mitch') brought the sounds of Brazil to the streets of London.

CLUB BRASIL had humble, if pioneering roots, with Mitch setting up the first ever Brazilian and Latin music stalls in Portobello and Camden markets, the biggest street outlets in Europe.

The music couldn't be confined to Vinyl Junkies for long and that same year he got together with Brazilian's Regina Webb and DJ Edson to open one of London's first Brazilian Clubs, 'Cantinho Brasilero' which quickly became a cornerstone of Latin America on London's world-famous Oxford Street.

Inspired by the response to 'Cantinho Brasilero' (View Poster Artwork) and the growing demand for quality music, Mitch spent time in Brazil throughout 1991 listening to sounds and returning with a stock pile of Brazilian music on LP and CD for the stalls in London. Meanwhile a new trend had emerged, the thousands of Japanese visitors to London each year would come, not in search of Harrods and Buckingham Palace, but of rare 60' s and 70's Brazilian albums.

The popularity of the music grew amongst natives and visitors alike. Mitch returned to Brazil in 1993 to organise the reissue of some classic Brazilian albums for the Japanese market.

The following years were a period of whirlwind activity, not only did CLUB BRASIL collaborate with HPI Brazil and reissue classic albums from artists including Joyce, Marcos Valle, Banda Black Rio, Flora Purim, Tania Maria, Azymuth and Wanda Sa but also reappeared in a burst of sound and colour on London's live scene.

This was inspired by a night in Rio De Janeiro in 1993 when Mitch met the legendary Brazilian Superstar Ed Motta. The two, having agreed on their mission to bring the spirit of Rio across the Atlantic.

Mitch organised a show featuring Ed at Dingwalls
(View Poster Artwork) in Camden which proved a revelation and it was the beginning of CLUB BRASIL's transition to a wider stage.

That same year Mitch DJ'd at the Notting Hill Carnival, the street party 2nd only to Rio's Mardi Gras. After his first set lit up the streets of west London, he became a fixture at carnival. It wasn't just the crowd he turned on, sound system owner David Boland saw the immediate popularity of CLUB BRASIL and since then Mitch has played every year. He and David are now rapidly approaching their eleventh year appearing with the CLUB BRASIL crew to undiminished acclaim.

CLUB BRASIL's show at Carnival 2000 was a defining moment, having brought the cream of London's Latin DJ's together under one banner, Mitch played alongside luminaries including Alex Chileno, Andrew Lorenzo, CC Romain and Frank Binder.

Not only was this a celebration of three decades of Brazilian sounds, they mixed cutting edge hip-hop and drum & bass in a two day extravaganza which kicked the English reserve in to touch and raised the roof at the Millennium Carnival.

Following this success, this Latin DJ 'Dream Team' launched a series of parties in and around London as a unified CLUB BRASIL, all of which saw huge crowds abandon themselves to new and original Latin sounds.

As CLUB BRASIL rapidly progressed, it introduced Samba shows and performances of the Brazilian Martial Arts Dance Capoeira into the experience.

To join CLUB BRASIL's next party see the 'Party Guide'.

In 2000 Mitch decided to take CLUB BRASIL to its next logical step of creating and releasing it's own music on a Record Label.

After co-producing the album 'Bossa Jazz' in 1999 with London's hippest Latin Jazz outfit 'Vida Nova', Mitch and the CLUB BRASIL team launched it's first solo album 'Sangue Latino' in 2002 and the follow up 'Sangue Latino 2' in 2003 and Sangue Latino 3 in 2004.

This series of albums features the cream of the UK's finest jazz talents including, John Crawford and Finn Peters from Grupo X, Andy LaFone from Negrocan, Guida de Palma from Jazzinho, Tristan Banks from De Lata and Ive Mendes to name a few.

In the spring of 2004 Mitch travelled to Rio to meet the legendary Brazilian keyboardist Thomas Improta, who had been recommended to him by close friend and musician Ricardo Camargos. Tomas Improta had worked with a wide range of Brazilian popular music icons (Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa). So when Mitch asked him to form a band Tomas had no trouble in attracting some of the finest old and new musicians active in Brazil today. The line-up featured legendary percussionist Robertinho Silva, Jurim Moreira on drums, Alberto Continentino on bass, Gabriel Improta on guitar, Andrea Dias on flute and rising Jazz star Jesse Sadoc on trumpet. This all star line-up then recorded two albums, The Ipanema Set and Bossa Beats during the early summer of 2004.

In July 2004 DJ Nik Weston (mukatsuku) joined the Club Brasil team bringing a lot of guidance and direction to the label. He proposed and compiled the first 12" release The Sound Of Club Brasil Volume 1' which was a huge success receiving airplay on Gilles Petersons radio 1 show, Patrick Forge's Kiss FM show, Mike Chadwicks Jazz FM show, Helen Mayhew's radio 2 show indeed this ep was a hit with djs all over the globe.

This exposure lead to the labels profile being raised, it also made Mitch realise that as the jazzy instrumental by Finn Peters 'Aldeia de Ogum' was by far the most popular track on the 12" then maybe it was time to use a much more jazzier approach on the next Club Brasil release.

So in winter 2004 Mitch asked Tomas Improta to again gather our Brazilian all star band together to record the album Jungle Kitten. This Rio recording session provided us with yet more monster tracks! Once the new recording sessions were sent to the UK, Mitch enlisted respected sound engineer Robin Hughes who has worked with the likes of Jazzinho, Suede and Talvin Singh to produce the mix and Chris Lewis who has worked with Airto, Flora Purim, Roy Ayers to master the album. Also recruited to add some more of his dazzling flute was Finn Peters - the results of the whole project were excellent.

Nik Weston has selected three tracks from the album Jungle Kitten to go on our new sound of Club Brasil Volume two 12". These tracks are Jungle Kitten (Tomas Improta and Finn Peters) Vera Cruz (Mariana Feo) Vera Cruz Inst (Jesse Sadoc). Also included on the 12" is the track Cravo e Canela (Valeria Lobao) from The Ipanema Set - this limited edition sampler will be released in November.

Also we are very happy to announce that the Japanese label Impartmaint/Rip Curl Recordings will be releasing the album Jungle Kitten on CD exclusively throughout Japan on November 27th 2005.

CLUB BRAZILIAN's can now wear their souls on their sleeves with CLUB BRASIL's own line of clothing (View Magazine Covers) as sported on the torsos of Latin music lovers from London to Rio to Tokyo and all points between.

Check Out the CLUB BRASIL SHOP for all the latest CDs and Merchandising.