Jazz Fusion Quintet

The project was born at the end of the academic year 2010/11 of the degree in Jazz Music at ESML, Escola Superior de Musica de Lisboa.

Following training they began acting in Lisbon in several places where there is a weekly Jazz agenda, and began to act also outside this context (Italian Film Festival, Volvo Ocean Race, Universidade Nova with David Murray, Quinta da Regaleira Jazz, Douro Jazz Festival etc.).

In this past year the quintet have recorded his first album.

The Line-up is:

– Tenor and soprano Sax, Bass Clarinet and/or Tenor sax & flute

– Trumpet

– Piano

– Drums

– Double Bass

The Quintet proposes a modern jazz and fusion music with Mediterranean and Iberian classic and traditional music. The aim is to join the universal language of jazz music and an array improvisative original arrangements and also expressing the essence of the music from the land of origin of the musicians, in particular different styles and sounds of the Mediterranean.

The 1º album is a reference to the ancestral house used by natives in Amazon, the reason about this reference is the interest about the culture of Brasil, in his diversity and hibriditys forms, in precolonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. This album has the meaning of the centre of the universe, and at the same time the house where natives receives foreign people, where they enact the interchange of knowledge, experiences, music, social practices and diversity: the idea of the album was born during a trip that they did in Brasil, Bolivia and Peru.

So through this album (and the 5tet), would like to suggest the parallel idea of a meeting of people from differents parts of the world sharing experiences, ideas, friendship, and music.

The 2º album is an homage to the Iberian peninsula. It contains original compositions, arrangements of anonymous pieces of classical andalusian music, and contemporary pieces like those of Catalan pianist and composer Federico Mompou, all arranged by members of the group. Anonymous poetic texts from the Al-Andalusian period, like those of Federico Garcia Lorca are interpreted and highlighted, and inspiration from imagery presented in José Saramago’s book ‘The Stone Raft’ (1986) is emphasized.

An Iberian imagery which is converted into live music, presented in the key of Jazz in which the musicians arrangement and improvisation are fundamental. All in all, it’s a little homage to ‘Olisipo’, the city of Lisbon, where this album was conceived and recorded.