"Overheat" ~ Change From Within
"Overheat" is a song that touches upon concepts like depth, temperature, emotion, and interbeing. I consider the wellness of our biosphere (coral reefs in particular), our inner spheres (emotional in particular), and the interconnectedness of all beings . It also features a sick bass line and ferocious drums. To execute this vision, I enlisted two marvelous musicians from Brazil, Jaderson Cardoso and Enielse.
Click here to listen to “Overheat” on your preferred platform
Hoopin’ with drummer Jaderson Cardoso aka “Jadeco, Jader, Jazzerson, Jadão…”
“Overheat”, and most of Whatever You’re Feelin’– the full length album my team and I released on June 18, 2025 – was written and produced in São Paulo, Brazil. When my wife and I moved there in 2023, one of my first orders of business was to find musicians to practice with. The other priority was to spend a couple days walking up and down Rua Teodoro Sampaio until I found an 80’s Giannini SG that felt just right, but I digress.
The 1980’s Giannini I found on Rua Teodoro Sampaio
My musical adventures in São Paulo were jumpstarted by my dear friend and former bandmate Jaderson Cardoso, who I knew from my time in Santa Catarina. He introduced me to Enielse, a bassist from the state of Minas Gerais, and at our first practice session, we hit it off instantly. The three of us started meeting up periodically to, as they say in Brazil, levantar o repertório (“raise” the repertoire), with the intention of playing club gigs and the like.
Bassist Enielse aka “Eni” helping us move out of our apartment in São Paulo
During our band practices, I started sharing some of the songs I was writing for the new album. Jaderson and Eni’s enthusiasm for helping me develop these demos led us to shift our primary focus from repertoire to recording.
Every session was a blast. To get to Jaderson’s studio, in the neighborhood of Butantã, I’d either take the bus or he would pick me up at the metro station, my backpack full of recording gear, earbuds pumping the latest bounces. Eni would meet us in front of Jaderson’s garage in his Chevy hatchback. We’d set up in the studio, play a little, take a break for coffee and conversations, and go back downstairs for a few more takes. The process continued for months.
Meanwhile, at night, I went to as many of their gigs as I could manage, all over the city. We became closer and closer. While the three of us have yet to play a live show together (after a year in São Paulo spent mostly working on the record, Leticia and I relocated to upstate New York), the fruits of our collaboration and friendship can be heard on a majority of the album’s 12 tracks. For us, these recordings, and our friendships, are lifelong treasures.
You can read the individual biographies of my friends Jaderson and Eni below and follow them on social media to accompany their musical journeys. Whatever You’re Feelin’ can be heard on your preferred platform by clicking here or purchased on CD.
Love,
Tien Viet Nguyen
November 25th, 2025
Accord, NY
About Jaderson Cardoso
Jaderson Cardoso began his musical studies in 2005, taking drum lessons in Itajaí, a city in the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil. In 2009, he enrolled in the Itajaí Conservatory of Popular Music, where he acquired knowledge in other areas of musical practice such as harmony, perception, rhythm, and choral singing.
Since 2011, in parallel to his studies, he has been working as a professional drummer and music teacher. He has been a member of several rock and pop bands from the coast of Santa Catarina, as well as some Jazz and MPB groups. In 2015, he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Music from the University of Vale do Itajaí (Univali). The following year he moved to São Paulo and began his studies at EMESP Tom Jobim.
Since 2016 he has been a teacher at Bateras Beat Pinheiros.
He has played Jazz and Blues festivals throughout Brazil, accompanying visiting artists from the North American Blues scene. In 2019, he participated in the "Alucinação - Um Concerto Bárbaro (Hallucination - A Barbaric Concert)" tour, a tribute to Belchior (1946-2017) featuring vocalist Jarbas Homem de Mello and Banda Radar, a group that played with Belchior for over 10 years.
Currently, he plays with Altemar Dutra Júnior and with various musical projects throughout São Paulo.
About Enielse
Enielse began his musical career at age 15, playing at dance parties in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. At age 17, he was invited to join the Meyer Big Band, of the renowned saxophonist Ivan Meyer, where he presented a danceable repertoire of Jazz Standards, Bolero, Mambo, Bossa Nova, and other genres.
In 2015 he entered EMESP Tom Jobim, where he studied popular bass with Gabriel Bahlis for 4 years, deepening his knowledge of the language of jazz and Brazilian music. During this period, he was also able to have musical experiences and perform with other great names in music, such as Paulo Braga, Edu Ribeiro, Itamar Collaço, and Sizão Machado.
He has performed and recorded with various artists such as Filippe Dias, Daniel Daibem, Alexandre Magnani, Bryan Behr, Silvia Machete, Matheus Torres, among others. At the Rock in Rio 2019 festival, he performed with singer Dani Vellocet. He has performed at multiple editions of the Ilha Blues international blues festival on the island of Ilha Cumprida.
Currently, he is a member of the Filippe Dias Trio, Daniel Daibem Trio, and plays with various other artists.
Listen to the entire album below:
