Rio Nido is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vocal group based in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Band history

Rio Nido is a jazz vocal trio that began as part of the Minneapolis

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

music scene in the early 1970s. The first incarnation of the group consisted of Prudence Johnson on vocals,

Tim Sparks Tim Sparks (born October 31, 1954) is an American Steel-string guitar, acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer. Life Raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he was given his first guitar when a bout of encephalitis kept him out of ...

on vocals and guitar, and Tom Lieberman on vocals and guitar. Rio Nido performed classic jazz and swing at many Minneapolis hot spots such as The Dakota, New Riverside Cafe and Coffeehouse Extempore. Their first recording was ''I Like to Riff'', released on Shadow Records and featured arrangements of

The Boswell Sisters The Boswell Sisters were an American close harmony singing trio of the jazz and swing eras, consisting of three sisters: Martha Boswell (June 9, 1905 – July 2, 1958), Connie Boswell (later spelled "Connee", December 3, 1907 – October 11 ...

, The Cats and the Fiddle,

Stuff Smith Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song " If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, al ...

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and

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

. When Tom Lieberman left the group in the late '70s he was replaced by Roger Hernandez on vocals and drums. Dave Maslow joined on bass and vocals. Rio Nido then focused on the

vocalese Vocalese is a style of jazz singing in which words are added to an instrumental soloist's improvisation. Definition Vocalese uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos, as opposed to scat singing, which uses nonsen ...

style of

Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were an American vocalese trio formed by jazz vocalists Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross. From 1962 to 1964, Ross was replaced by vocalist Yolande Bavan. History The group formed in 1957 and recorded their ...

and

Eddie Jefferson Eddie Jefferson (August 3, 1918 – May 9, 1979) was an American jazz vocalist and lyricist. He is credited as an innovator of vocalese, a musical style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo. Jefferson himself claims ...

. They also included

Doo-Wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

classics in their performances. In 1983 they released ''Hi Fly'' on

Red House Records Red House Records is an independent folk and Americana record label in St. Paul, Minnesota. The label was founded in 1983 by Bob Feldman after seeing a performance by Iowa folk singer Greg Brown. Origin The label is named for a farmhouse in I ...

and featured Dave Karr on flute and tenor sax and Jimmy Hamilton on piano. Rio Nido’s last recording was ''Voicings'', recorded for the ProJazz label, one of the first early digital recordings released in CD format. Johnson later became a semi-regular on

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' was a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

and has a successful solo career. Sparks continued his successful musical career as a solo guitarist. Lieberman was the guitarist for ''A Prairie Home Companion'' for 10 years, and became an award-winning writer and producer for radio, television, stage and screen. With the re-release on CD of ''Hi Fly'' and ''I Like to Riff'' in 2007 by the Japanese label Bittersweet America, Johnson, Sparks and Lieberman performed a number of reunion shows. After joining forces for the benefit of the environmental group Friends of the Headwaters in 2016, the three original members have now reunited, building on their original repertoire with arrangements of "new" classics, and many original compositions. Rio Nido was inducted into the Minnesota Rock and Country Hall of Fame in April, 2007.City Pages.
Accessed on January 30, 2008.

Discography

*'' I Like to Riff'' (1978) *'' Hi Fly'' (1983) *'' Voicings'' (1986)

References

External links

Official Tim Sparks websitePrudence Johnson websiteTom Lieberman websiteCity Pages
{{authority control American vocal groups Jazz ensembles from Minnesota Musical groups from Minneapolis Musical trios from Minnesota Vocalese singers Vocal trios Vocal jazz ensembles Red House Records artists