"Susana Santos Silva is a trumpeter, improviser and composer from Porto, Portugal.

She holds a Master Diploma in Jazz Performance '2010 from Codarts, Rotterdam, where she worked with Eric Vloeimans, Jarmo Hoogendijk and Wim Both.

She holds a Graduate Diploma in Jazz/Trumpet '2008 and in Trumpet '2004 from College of Music and Performing Arts in Porto, attending the last year of the course at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe in the class of Prof. Reinhold Friedrich, where she also had baroque trumpet lessons with Prof. Edward Tarr.

She is a member and co-founder of the Porto based jazz musicians association Porta-Jazz and it's label, Carimbo. 
With Coreto, an ensemble of musicians from this association led by João Pedro Brandão, she recorded in 2012 the first album of the label, 'Aljamia'. Two more were released after that, 'Mergulho' and 'Sem Chão'.

In 2011 she releases her first album as a leader of her own Quintet, 'Devil´s Dress' on Tone of a Pitch Records. With this band she played 12 Points Jazz Festival, Dublin in 2011. In 2015 she releases her second album as a leader, 'Impermanence' on Carimbo Porta-Jazz. Life and Other Transient Storms, her new project with Lotte Anker, Sten Sandell, Torbjörn Zetterberg and Jon Falt, premiered last year at Tampere jazz Happening and their new album is now out on Clean Feed Records.

Her other main projects include LAMA, a Rotterdam based trio with portuguese bassist Gonçalo Almeida and canadian drummer Greg Smith, 'Oneiros' (2011), 'Lamaçal' (2013) feat. Chris Speed and 'The Elephant's Journey' feat. Joachim Badenhorst (2015), all released on Clean Feed Records, a duo with swedish bassist Torbjörn Zetterberg, 'Almost Tomorrow' Clean Feed 2013, a duo with the slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler 'This Love' Clean Feed 2015, a duo with drummer Jorge Queijo 'Songs from my Backyard' Wasser Bassin 2013, a collaboration with the belgian trio De Beren Gieren, 'The Detour Fish' Clean Feed 2014, a trio with Torbjörn Zetterberg and the swedish organist Hampus Lindwall 'If Nothing Else' Clean Feed 2015 and a quartet with Christine Wodrascka, Christian Meaas Svendsen and Håkon Berre, 'Rasengan!' (Barefoot Records 2016).

She is also part of João Guimarães Octet, 'Zero' Toap 2014, Torbjörn Zetterberg 'Och Den Stora Frågan' Moserobie 2014, 'Om Liv & Död' Moserobie 2015, and Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos, with whom she played and recorded with musicians as Lee Konitz, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Cheek, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Maria Schneider, among many others.

She was a member of the European Movement Jazz Orchestra, with whom she played in Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Egipt. The orchestra recorded 'EMJO Live at Coimbra', released in 2011 on Clean Feed Records."

"Philipp Gropper (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, composition) was born in Berlin in 1978. He began to play the saxophone at the age of seven.

Gropper studied the jazz saxophone at the UDK Berlin and played with the concert section of Bujazzo for two years under Peter Herbolzheimer. He has since been busy as a freelance sax player and composer, dedicating most of his time to developing his musical ideas.In 2003, he started the trio HYPERACTIVE KID with Ronny Graupe and Christian Lillinger, and in 2012 founded the quartet PHILM with Elias Stemeseder, Robert Landfermann and Oliver Steidle. In 2013 - exploring yet again a completely different field of music - he initiated TAU, an electric acoustic group with Philipp Zoubek, Petter Eldh and Moritz Baumgärtner.

Concerts with these bands and others have brought Gropper to over 40 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America. He has had the honour of sharing a stage with wonderful musicians such as Rudi Mahal, Ralph Towner, Jim Black, Bobby McFerrin, Kresten Osgood, Tobias Delius, Clayton Thomas, Nasheet Waits, Pablo Held, Olaf Rupp, Ceylan Ertem, Matthias Schriefl, John Schröder, Maria Joao, Paulo Cardoso, James Knapp, Kaja Drachsler, Kit Downes, Dan Nicholls, Günter Baby Sommer, Håvard Wiik, Axel Dörner, Mat Maneri, Matthew Herbert, DJ IllVibe, Ibadet Ramadani, Peter Evans and many others.

As a sideman he plays with Wanja Slavin's Lotus Eaters, Pablo Held's Glow, Oli Steidle & The Killing Popes, Home Stretch, European Movement Jazz Orchester and some more.Gropper has recorded more than 50 albums and has been awarded several prizes. He has been a member of the Jazzkollektiv Berlin since 2009."

"Kaja Draksler (1987) is a Slovenian pianist and composer. After her studies in the Netherlands (BA in jazz piano and MA in classical composition), she decided to stay in Amsterdam, where she is an active member of the improvisors scene, performing extensively all over the Europe. Besides her frequent solo concerts, she has been working regularly with Čudars-Draksler Duo, Feecho, BadBooshBand, and Draksler-Santos Silva duo. She is also one of the founding members of the interdisciplinary group I/O. She recently formed her Octet. As a composer she has been commissioned by various international groups, ranging from vocal and chamber ensembles to big bands and orchestras. Kaja is interested in finding ways to merge the composition and (free) improvisation by working with different structures and musical logics. She is drawn to the idea of erasing the stylistic and historical musical borders, and discovering personal expression and language through composition and improvisation."

"Portuguese jazz bassist and composer André Carvalho is an active NYC freelancer whose works AllAboutJazz described as "both in bounds and out of this world." Nate Chinen of The New York Times dubbed Carvalho a bassist "you should get to know." André has played with Jazz stars Chris Cheek, Will Vinson, and Tommy Crane. And André's performance credits range from the Colors Jazz Festival (Paris), the Cairo Jazz Festival, and Jazz Festival Ljubliana, to venues such as Blue Note (New York), Konzerthaus Berlin, and Casa da Música (Porto).

Among the awards he has received are the "Carlos Paredes 2012" (a major annual prize that celebrates Portuguese music and culture) and the "Best Group" at Bucharest International Jazz Competition 2011. In addition, he has received multiple grants from the GDA Foundation to record ("Memória de Amiba") and to tour (2017 and 2019).

The scope of his work extends far beyond Jazz. With multi-Grammy award winner Gilberto Gil, André toured Europe performing his new opera "Prelúdio." The collaboration included Nova Ópera de Lisboa and the drumming ensemble Cortejo Afro, premiering portions of the new work in venues such as the Barbican Center (London) and Finlandia Talo (Helsinki). He has performed with classical conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Heinrich Schiff, and Franz Welser-Möst and collaborated with Fado singers Carlos do Carmo and Cristina Branco.

[...]

Mesmerised by Jazz, improvised music, and composition as a teenager, Andre's background was anything but traditional. Carvalho holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. André relocated to the US in 2014 as a Fulbright grantee. While finishing his first bachelor in Computer Science (Faculdade de Ciências Lisbon), he fell in love with music, leading him to study at the Hot Club de Portugal and Academia de Amadores de Música (with Fernando Flores)."