CYRO BAPTISTA
Composer/Percussionist/Producer
JUSTIN BIAS
Producer/Engineer
ELEONORA ALBERTO
El Presidente
OMM Recording Studios is a full service Pro Tools based recording studio.
OMM serves as the "home base" for world renowned percussionist and composer Cyro Baptista. With Cyro's vast collections of percussion instruments from around the world, and
his numerous handmade concoctions -
Recording at OMM Studios allows Cyro to get the job done right without worrying about going into overtime or constantly looking at the clock! It also allows him unlimited access to his entire arsenal of instruments! Get in touch today about having Cyro record on your project!
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
CYRO BAPTISTA
Composer/Percussionist/Producer
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Cyro Baptista arrived in the U.S. in 1980 with a scholarship to the Woodstock-based Creative Music Studio. During the '70- and '80's, the Woodstock-based Creative Music Studio was considered the premier study center for contemporary creative music and is credited as the birthplace of world jazz - the improvisational and compositional expansion of the world's musical traditions. Founded in 1971 by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso and Ornette Coleman, CMS brought together leading innovators in the jazz and world music communities. After his time at CMS, Cyro moved to New York City where he started his career on the streets of lower Manhattan. He has since emerged as one of the premier percussionists in the country. Coinciding with the rise in the public's interest of world music, Cyro has recorded and toured with some of music's most popular names. His mastery of Brazilian percussion and his numerous homemade instruments, have catapulted him into world renown. In short, if you’ve listened to the radio in the past 30 years, chances are you have heard Cyro’s caxixi, pandeiro or one of his (now famous) homemade instruments. Cyro's credits read like a "Who’s Who" of modern music. He has toured extensively with Yo-Yo Ma's Brazil Project, Trey Anastasio's Band (of Phish), John Zorn's Electric Masada, Herbie Hancock's Grammy award-winning "Gershwin’s World”, Sting and Paul Simon's "Rhythm of the Saints". Other artists Cyro Baptista has performed and recorded with include David Byrne, Kathleen Battle, Gato Barbieri, Dr. John, Brian Eno, Robert Palmer, Melissa Etheridge, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniel Barenboin, Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Medeski Martin & Wood, Spyro Gyra, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Santana. He has also played with many respected Brazilian artists such as Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Ivan Lins, Marisa Monte, and Nana Vasconcelos.
Cyro has performed on numerous Grammy award -winning albums: Yo-Yo-Ma’s "Obrigado Brasil", Cassandra Wilson's "Blue Light 'Til Dawn", The Chieftains' "Santiago", Ivan Lins' "A Love Affair", and Herbie Hancock’s highly-acclaimed "Gershwin's World". A documentary on Cyro's main project, “Beat the Donkey”, was recorded for the WGBH-TV Boston program 'La Plaza' and continues to air on PBS stations nationwide. Cyro collaborated with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra for a Brazilian Carnaval modern jazz concert. The first Beat the Donkey recording (Tzadik) was picked by The New York Times as one of the ten best alternative albums of 2002. Readers of JAZZIZ and DRUM magazine voted it "Best Brazilian CD of the Year" and named Cyro 2002 percussionist of the year! Cyro's first solo recording, Villa Lobos/Vira Loucos, a heady mix of his own compositions with the work of the brilliant Brazilian composer Heitor Villa Lobos, has been acclaimed as "the most courageous, bright, funny, dramatic, and imaginative work in recent memory."
Blue Note Records released “Supergenerous”, a duo CD recorded with guitarist Kevin Breit (KD Lang, Cassandra Wilson). Billboard called “Supergenerous” "pure aural pleasure" and the Washington Post called it "a marvelous debut that manages to feel outside and intimate at the same time."
His latest project is BANQUET OF THE SPIRITS, a quartet featuring three of the best young musicians out of the New York City downtown scene. The quartet embodies the philosophy of Anthropofagia, a Brazilian cultural movement from the 1920's. The band, is a musical manifestation of the process of eating, swallowing, and digesting all the tendencies that are part of the sonic landscape and our environment. The music is the product of all sounds that they have collectively consumed over the years; some of them they've digested and others they have rejected. When all is said and done, it is difficult to identify what belongs to what country, culture, or religion. Cyro recently released his 7th studio album, entitled INFINITO. For this album, Cyro called on The Banquet of the Spirits as his core band and enlisted the help of several guests. These guests included members of Beat The Donkey, Kevin Breit, Eric Friedlander (John Zorn, Laurie Anderson), Romero Lubambo, Ikue Mori, Anat Cohen and many more. John Zorn called this album, “Another wonderful CD from the driving force of Beat The Donkey, Vira Loucos and so much more.”
Most recently, Cyro was named 2010 percussionist of the year by the Jazz Journalists Association at their annual awards dinner in New York City!
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
JUSTIN BIAS
Producer/Engineer
Justin first got "out of his mind" in 2007. It was at that time he joined the team and he has been working closely with Cyro and all of the members of the OMM family ever since.
Before he lost his mind, Justin worked in the promotion and production departments of Gamelan Productions - a Boston based company that produced numerous concerts throughout New England. Bias was part of a five-person team responsible for putting on two large scale summer festivals: The Berkshire Mountain Music Festival and The Mid Atlantic Music Experience.
After moving to New York - Justin met Cyro and Eleonora and the rest, as they say, is history!
Bias has engineered tracks on several of Cyro's albums and is Cyro's touring Sound Engineer and Tour Manager. In addition, Justin frequently works with Baptista recording music for soundtracks, overdubs for major labels and anything else that might come their way.
Justin also works in the world of theatre - providing live sound for various productions throughout the New York City area. He is the sound engineer for The National Dance Institute's Harlem performance space.
Bias is also a proud co-founder of "The Sound of Community" project which brings music to those factions of the society which are too often overlooked!
Justin has recorded and worked in live and studio settings with Cyro Baptista, Shanir Blumenkranz, Brian Marsella, Tim Keiper, Vincent Segal, Ira Coleman, Kenny Wollesen, Romero Lubambo, Howard Fields, Paula Robison, Billy Martin, Nilson Matta, Eyal Maoz, Vic Juris, Jon Madof, Gail Lou, Basya Schechter, Kyle Rowland, Gil Oliveira, Clay Ross, Todd Clouser, Zé Mauricio, Chikako Iwahori, Jason Fraticelli, Daniel Jodocy, Roy "The Cutie" Beinfest and many others
Bias has also worked with many of the top names on Broadway including Brian Stokes Mitchell, Terrance Mann, Victoria Clark, Tony Yazbeck, Jessica Molaskey, Andre De Shields and many more.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
ELEONORA ALBERTO
El Presidente
