"Rodrigo Pinheiro was born in 1973 in Covilhã, a small town in the center of Portugal. He started learning the piano when he was five at the Conservatory of Covilhã and later at the Conservatory of Lisbon until he was eighteen. He soon got involved with the free Portuguese improvisation scene, having played with Américo Rodrigues, José Oliveira, Nuno Rebelo, Rodrigo Amado, Luís Desirat, Bruno Parrinha or Ernesto Rodrigues. Pinheiro's intuitive approach to improvisation and exploration of the piano timbres, using both classical and extensive techniques, makes his music energic, polyrhythmic and full of contrasts. Moreover, he has honed his technique at workshops of improvisa- tion and composition where he has played with virtuous names, such as Carlos Zíngaro, Peter Kowald, Gunther Muller or Patrick Brennan. He has also performed with several musicians, like Hiroshi Kobayashi, Cristin Wilboltz, Nathan Fuhr, Blaise Siwula, Per Anders Nilsson, John Zorn, Nobuyasu Furuya, Jason Stein, Nate Wooley, John Butcher, Lotte Anker, Joe McPhee, Keir Neuringer, among others. In 2010 Pinheiro formed his project RED Trio, with Hernâni Faustino (bass) and Gabriel Ferrandini (drums). The band has recorded four albums with Clean Feed and Nobusiness Records and performed live at jazz and improvised music festivals and concerts in Portugal, USA, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland and Romenia. He is also a member of the Nobuyasu Furuya Quintet, which has two released albums by Chitei Records e Nobusiness Records. His most recent projects are his trio earNear, with João Camões (viola) and Miguel Mira (cello), and the Clocks and Clouds' quartet, with Luís Vicente (trumpet), Hernani Faustino (bass) and Marco Franco (drums)."-Luis Vicente Website (http://luis-vicente.wixsite.com/luisvicente)
4/28/2025

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"After establishing his name during the Eighties as an electric bass guitarist in alternative rock bands, like the now legendary K4 Quadrado Azul, Hernani Faustino turned to avant-jazz and free improvised music and chose the double bass as his self-taught instrument. Two decades later of multiple interactions with Portuguese and international musicians, he's now considered one of the most intense and solid bassists in the Portuguese scene. The association he maintains with drummer Gabriel Ferrandini (RED trio, Nobuyasu Furuya Trio & Quintet, Rodrigo Amado Wire Quartet) has been pointed as a dynamic and powerful rhythm section. His visceral playing is well showed by the contortions of his face during a performance: he goes to the limits of pleasure and pain.

Music is his life: besides being a musician, he was one of the members of the label Clean Feed, considered one of the five more important on the planet in what regards jazz, and the Trem Azul Jazz Store, located in Lisbon. He also composed for theatre, produced radio programs, and wrote about music in a couple of magazines. A good part of his activity in photography is also music oriented: Faustino is one of the most accomplished stage photographers around. This says all about his passion and commitment.

Hernani Faustino's numerous meetings and collaborations with other improvisors is astonishing: John Butcher, Lotte Anker, Nate Wooley, Carlos "Zíngaro", Agustí Fernández, Sei Miguel, Rafael Toral, Jason Stein, Nuno Rebelo, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Gabriel Ferrandini, Pedro Sousa, Rodrigo Amado, Albert Cirera, Manuel Mota, Luís Lopes, Jon Irabagon, Taylor Ho Bynum, Gerard Lebik, Piotr Damasiewicz, Harris Eisenstadt, Neil Davidson, Heddy Boubaker, Gerard Lebik, Elliott Levin, Katsura Yamauchi, Mats Gustafsson, Chris Corsano, Nikolaus Gerszewski, Rob Mazurek, Reinhold Friedl, Ernesto Rodrigues, José Oliveira, Helena Espvall, Nuno Torres, Ricardo Jacinto, Blaise Siwula, Virginia Genta, Elliott Levin, Daniel Carter, Federico Ughi, Floros Floridis, Matt Bauder, Dennis González, Vítor Rua, and many more, covering a wide range from free bop to extreme experimentation, going through electroacoustic improv, reductionism and noise."

-Hernani Faustino Website, Rui Eduardo Paes (http://www.hernanifaustino.com/bio/)
4/28/2025

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"He started playing drums at fourteen, when he took up his musical studies at the Crescendo School in São João do Estoril, near Lisbon. At nineteen, he made studies at the Hot Clube Portugal, where he stayed for a year and a half. In 2006 he entered the Academia de Amadores de Música where he studies to this day with Alexandre Frazão as his master. In 2007 he did a workshop with the drummer Paal Nilssen-Love.

Towards the end of 2007 and to date he has taken part in various concerts with multiple projects alongside artists and ensembles like: Nobuyasu Furuya Trio, Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio, Alípio C. Neto, Carlos Zíngaro, DJ Ride, Variable Geometry Orchestra, Riot Trio, Luís Lopes Duo, John Butcher, Jason Stein, Jon Irabagon, Ernesto Rodrigues Septet and the Nikolaus Gerszewski Ensemble."

-Gulbenkian Music (https://gulbenkian.pt/musica/en/biography/gabriel-ferrandini-2/)
4/28/2025

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"John Butcher's work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and extreme acoustics.Originally a physicist, he left academia in '82, and has since collaborated with hundreds of musicians - Derek Bailey, John Tilbury, John Stevens, The EX, Akio Suzuki, Gerry Hemingway, Polwechsel, Gino Robair, Rhodri Davies, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Toshi Nakamura, Paul Lovens, Eddie Prevost, Mark Sanders, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Phil Minton, and Andy Moor - to name a few.

He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of place. Resonant Spaces is a collection of site-specific performances collected during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.His first solo album, Thirteen Friendly Numbers, includes compositions for multitracked saxophones, whilst later solo CDs focus on live performance, composition, amplification and saxophone-controlled feedback.

HCMF has twice commissioned him to compose for his own large ensembles. Other commissions include for Elision (Australia), the Rova (USA) & Quasar (Canada) Saxophone Quartets, reconstructed Futurist Intonarumori (USA), "Tarab Cuts" (based on pre-WWII Arabic recordings, and shortlisted for the 2014 British Composer's Award) and "Good Liquor .." for the London Sinfonietta. In 2011 he received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists.

Recent groupings include The Apophonics with Robair and Edwards, Anemone with Peter Evans, Plume with Tony Buck & Magda Mayas and a trio with Okkyung Lee & Mark Sanders.Butcher values playing in occasional encounters - ranging from large groups such as Butch Morris' London Skyscraper and the EX Orkestra, to duo concerts with David Toop, Kevin Drumm, Claudia Binder, Paal Nilssen-Love, Thomas Lehn, Fred Frith, Keiji Haino, Ute Kangeisser, Matthew Shipp and Yuji Takahashi."

-John Butcher Website (http://www.johnbutcher.org.uk/Biog.html)
4/28/2025

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