Jazz Calendar

In 19th century Brazil, the musical style known as chorinhos resulted from the styles of playing several musical genres (polka, schottische, waltz, mazurka and habanera) by carioca musicians, who were also strongly influenced by Afro-Brazilian rhythms, principally the lundu and the batuque. The shortened term “Choro” was used informally at first to refer to the style of playing, or of a particular instrumental ensemble; (e.g. in the 1870s flutist Joaquim Antônio da Silva Calado formed an ensemble called "Choro Carioca” with flute, two guitars and cavaquinho) and later the term referred to the musical genre of these ensembles.

Ian Coury specializes in this genre.  He is an award-winning 10-string bandolim (Brazilian mandolin) Choro player from Brazil who has shared stages with Brazilian legends such as Brazilian jazz guitarist Toninho Horta, Brazilian singer/composer/bandolimist Armandino and Choro/jazz bandolimist Hamilton de Holanda.

At twenty-two years of age, Coury is a gifted composer, arranger, educator, producer as well as a phenomenal master of his instrument.  He is in fact, one of Brazil’s most-respected virtuosos of the 10-string mandolin.  As he continues to push the boundaries of the instrument and of the Choro genre, he has now also performed with such jazz luminaries as saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, Brazilian singer/guitarist Rosa Maria Passos and trumpeter Claudio Roditi, and in the past years has received important awards: “Best Instrumentalist” in Brazil’s 2020 National FM Radio Festival and second place (by popular vote) in Brazil’s 2021 eFestival; both wins were for performances of original compositions.  In 2022, he also won Berklee College of Music’s String Department Award, “In Recognition of Outstanding Achievement.”

Ian comes from Brazil’s capital city, Brasília, where he began playing mandolin at age 8, studying with Marcelo Lima at the prestigious Raphael Rabello School of Choro. Then, in 2019, Ian received a full scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where, last year, he received the String Department Award.  A master at his instrument, he has already taught Choro workshops at the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2018, at Harvard University in 2022 and at MIT in 2022 as well. He also taught mandolin courses at the 2022 Choro Camp in Massachusetts and at CIVEBRA in Brasília, Brazil in 2024, among others. In addition, Ian launched the first online course in Brazilian mandolin in the U.S. Titled “Brazilian Choro Mandolin,” at the invitation of the platform pegheadnation.com in 2022.

Before coming to the United States to study, Ian had already performed at NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) in 2017 and 2018, but his professional trajectory in Brazil began much earlier.  In 2014, he played both solo and with Armandinho at the Clube do Choro in Brasília and in 2014 and 2015, he was recognized for his merits by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Arts, History, and Literature.  In 2016, he appeared on the cover of Choro Magazine and also received a Culture Award from Brazil’s House of Representatives.

It is worth noting as well that Ian has, from the beginning of his career, had many appearances on Brazilian radio and TV shows (Globo, TV Senado, TV Câmara, TV Brasil). In addition, he has had a video on the web that received more than 5 million views, being shared by Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer and poet Chico Buarque and samba/pagode singer/songwriter/guitarist Jorge Aragão, among others.

Ian released his first single in 2020—an original tune titled "Historia de Vida” with Brazilian bassist Michael Pipoquinha and Renato Galvão. In 2022, he released his first album, entitled Bora Brasil, which featured a wide repertoire of Brazilian popular music, Frevo and Samba, along with original songs and arrangements of compositions of highly respected Brazilian artists, such as Gilberto Gil, João Bosco and the band O Rappa.

-edited by Sue Auclair