The duo — with Cressman on trombone and Faquini on guitar, both contributing vocals — draws from jazz, improvisation and the great Brazilian songwriting traditions, like samba and bossa nova, as well as European classical music. They met at California Brazil Camp, a music and dance immersion under the redwoods, where Faquini was teaching and Cressman’s mother was helping translate Portuguese.
“It was the first time we really got to play together, just the two of us,” Cressman said. “We were realizing how nice a sound the guitar and trombone are together, that they almost have the same range. It opens up a lot of possibilities.”
If Cressman’s trombone stays in the low register, Faquini has the space to carry a melody. If she’s in her upper register, he can create a solid foundation around that. They swap roles when the music calls for it.
At the time they met, Faquini, a prolific composer, was working heavily with Brazilian lyricists who were putting Portuguese lyrics to his songs. But he had a few that he thought could also sound nice in English, which is how the duo started collaborating.
Cressman has released three albums under her own name, and three acclaimed duo albums with Faquini, her partner for a decade, including 2019’s “Setting Rays of Summer,” 2022’s “Auburn Whisper” and 2024’s “GUINGA,” a tribute to Brazilian composer Guinga.
Cressman grew up in a house of musicians, with her dad, Jeff Cressman, playing trombone in bands like Santana. Watching him perform and hearing the sound of brass in the house was a big reason she was drawn to it. The fact that there was a spare trombone in the closet, and a “built-in teacher” at home, helped, too.
“I love the mellowness of it and how it really can sound like the human voice,” she said of the trombone. “There’s a lot of different styles and timbres that you can express on the same instrument. I love that range of moods it can create. I would be listening to my dad play in all these different bands, and hearing the trombone as this really important part of each sound.”
Cressman has since collaborated with Carlos Santana and the late Phil Lesh, and spent 14 years touring with Phish’s Trey Anastasio, performing with jazz greats like Wycliffe Gordon and Dave Douglas.
She says that her trombone work informs her vocal work, and vice versa, especially in her collaborations with Faquini, which can be heard in their crystalline harmonies amidst the interplay of strings and horns. The melodies are easily digestible, as she puts it, and are emphasized over the perhaps more esoteric route the duo could go.
Well-versed in Latin jazz, post-bop, pop and Brazilian music, Cressman and Faquini bring traditional sounds to the modern era through a unique pairing of instruments.
“We do feel a lot of freedom in that there’s not a lot of other people that sound like us,” Cressman said. “We’re able to pave our own way. We’re not defined by a genre or traditional instrumentation. It gives us a lot of room to try different things.”
They just finished recording a Christmas record for the next season. They’re also going to start recording their next album soon, which will likely be released later this year.
“We’re feeling a desire to have something recorded that really sounds like the live concert experience,” she said. “Our first record was like that. Then we were locked up during the pandemic, so our second record had all these expansive arrangements, with lots of layers and textures. We just want to do something that’s a little bit more of what we’re like playing together in the same room.”
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.
How to go
What: Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini, with Eleanor Dakota
When: 7:30 p.m., Jan. 31
Where: Brightside Music & Event Venue, 905 E. 3rd St., Dayton
Cost: $25, general admission
Tickets: thebrightsidedayton.com/upcoming-shows
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