"Joao Lencastre is a drummer/composer native from Lisbon. Started playing the drums at the age of 13 and he is now one of the most active and creative musicians on the Portuguese musical scene. He has played all different kinds of music, from avant garde Jazz to mainstream,Alternative Rock, Afro Beat, Reggae, Metal, World,Electronic/Dance, etc.

His interest in jazz started when he first joined the Hot Club Jazz School in 1995, where he studied with the drummer Bruno Pedroso.

Apart from Portugal, has also played in different venues around the world, including New York, Czech Republic, England, Brazil, Poland, Spain, Macau,and Panama.

Over the years, JL had extensive training and practice, in order to stay continuously up to date on new styles and improve his knowledge and skills, which included private lessons with some top drummers, either in England, with Mark Mondesir or in New York, with Ralph Peterson, Billy Kilson, Ari Hoenig and Dan Weiss.

Has played and/or recorded with David Binney, Bill Carrothers, Andre Fernandes, Mario Franco, Thomas Morgan, Jacob Sacks, Afonso Pais, Carlos Barreto, Phil Grenadier, Andre Matos, Demian Cabaud,Leo Genovese,Peter Bernstein, Masa Kamaguchi, Benny Lackner, Nelson Cascais, Spill, Joao Paulo Esteves da Silva, Vojtech Porchaska, David Doruzka, Noah Preminger, Russ Johnson, Sean Conly, Randy Ingram, Demian Cabaud, Jeremy Stratton, Tiago Bettencourt & Mantha, Blasted Mechanism, Jacinta, Cacique 97, among many others...

Lencastre has put out four records as a leader with his group Communion, "One!" and "B-Sides" on Fresh Sound/New Talent and "Sound it Out!" on TOAP Records, all with great national and international reviews on some of the most prestigious magazines, Modern Drummer, Jazz Times, Ipslon, Jazz.PT, All About Jazz, NYC Jazz Record, just to name a few...

The fourth Communion record, featuring David Binney, Phil Grenadier, Jacob Sacks, Thomas Morgan, Andre Matos, plus guests Sara Serpa, Tiago Bettencourt, Ary and Benny Lackner, came out in November 2014 on Auand Records."

"Saxophonist, renowned for his vigorous sound, melodic and abrupt phrasing, and great versatility in terms of musical styles, collaborates in numerous projects of the most diverse nature, from the most classic to the most contemporary and risky jazz, even in some of them closer to pop National or song author.

He began his musical training at the age of six with the violin as his main instrument. A few years later, by the hand of Professor Alfons Carrascosa, will change this by the tenor sax. After years of classical training at the Music School of Igualada and many others in modern music schools in Barcelona, ​​he continues his formative career at the Catalan School of Music where he receives classes from Eladio Reinon, Xavi Figarola, Dani Pérez, Agustí Fernández among others. He also moved to The Hague (Holland) to study for a year at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague with John Ruocco, graduating finally in 2007. During these years he also receives advice from Tony Malaby, Ellery Eskelin, Bill Mchenry, Perico Sambeat ..

Since 2011 leads su propio quartet Albert Cirera & Tres Tambor forming part también en proyectos as Duot, Agusti Fernandez Liquid Trio / Quintet, Free Art Ensemble, Landspace, Javier Galiana & the Spice berberechos, Wooookam, Triot, IED'8, Nelson Projecte, Free Orchestra Association, Esther Condal, El Petit de Cal Eril, etc, receiving with some of them prizes such as the AMJM (Association of Jazz Musicians and Modern Music of Catalonia) in 2011 to the best jazz group with Duot and also, That same year, the Enderrock prize of the critic to the best disc of jazz by "Vol.2 Mode Joe" of Nelson Project.

He has played and continues to do so with musicians like Joe Morris, David Mengual, Joe Smith, Agustí Fernandez, Johannes Nästesjö, Massa Kamaguchi, Carlos Zingaro, Ulrich Mitzlaf, Dani Perez, Jaume Llombart, RJ Miller, David Soler, Celeste Alias, Alessandra Patrucco, Marc Egea, Tom Chant, Pablo Rega, Vasco Trilla, Olle Vikstrom, Julian Sánchez, Sonia Sanchez, etc., in various clubs and other jazz venues in the Iberian peninsula, Belgium, Hungary, Italy and Portugal as well as in festivals Jazz of Barcelona, ​​Vic, Tarrasa, Egido, Girona, Granollers, Banyoles, Lleida, Ibiza, Ezcaray, Sant Juan Evangelista, Hurta BCN color, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Skodra, Hungary), Noth Sea Jazz (Holland), Rocella Jonica (Italy) and Minde (Portugal).

He currently resides in Lisbon where he integrates into the eclectic music scene by playing and building new projects with musicians such as Hernani Faustino, Miguel Mira, Luis Vicente, Vasco Furtado, Fededico Pascucci, Marcelo Dos Reis, Marco Franco, Big Band Reunion, Francisco Andrade, Joao Lencastre or Gabriel Ferrandini."

"Saxophonist Ricardo Toscano grew up playing ball and listening to jazz. The young musician began in the Band of the Philharmonic Society Operária Amorense, where at age 8 he played the clarinet, continuing his musical education at the Metropolitana professional school and at the Luis Villas Boas Jazz School where, at the age of 16, he started playing the saxophone.

Considered the best national musician in 2015, with only 22 years, that year he sold out two dates at Culturgest and already in 2016 he filled the Centro Cultural de Belém. The celebration of a journey that was not merely a school learning, but above all a passion for jazz, when still small the father familiarized it with Cannonball Adderley discs in duet with Bill Evans, Miles Davis or John Coltrane.

From an early age Ricardo Toscano became aware that his future was for jazz and for the saxophone dictated by the saxophone. He began to record his name in the music scene, gaining visibility while lounging Mário Laginha in the resuscitated Lisbon Sextet Jazz, and having in the curriculum shows at Estoril Jazz and Angra Jazz, performances with the Sexteto de Lisboa, Decateto de Nelson Cascais, the Mingus Project or in the formations of Júlio Resende.

Still very young, Toscano revisits the tradition hard bop, drinking in Coltrane, Parker or Ornette Coleman, historical period of the jazz that considers more stimulating. In Seixal, he is accompanied by young musicians, João Pedro Coelho, Romeu Tristão and João Pereira. Passionate about the same musical record, balanced between melodious repertoire and free improvisation, the quartet has established its jazz language and plans to record its first record."

"Born in Berlin to an American father and a German mother, Benny Lackner, moved to California at the age of 13. He received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts under the direction of Charlie Haden and David Roitstein. From 1997 - 1998 he studied privately with his mentor, pianist Brad Mehldau. He has performed at numerous jazz festivals including the North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux and Monterey. He has worked with artists such as the late Billy Higgins, Marc Ribot, BradShepik, Pheeroan akLaff and is now residing in NYC and Berlin where he is working with his internationally touring trio as well as a sideman and composer.

The Benny Lackner Trio just finished its fifth huge world tour playing 19 concerts in 19 cities starting with Auckland, NZ and ending in Lausanne, CH. The trio featuring Benny Lackner (piano, electronics), Jerôme Regard (bass) and Matthieu Chazarenc (drums) was founded in New York City in 2002. Past concerts include five extensive Asia - Australia - New Zealand tours taking them to places such as Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Jakarta. Other tours included Brazil, South Africa, Canada, Portugal, Spain, United States, Germany, France, Croatia, South Africa, Austria, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The trio has headlined at jazz clubs such as the Blue Note in NYC, Joe's Pub in NYC, Smalls in NYC, Birdland in Vienna and the A-Trane in Berlin, sharing the stage with John Scofield at the Traumzeit Jazz Festival, the American Jazz Festival in Paris, as well as concerts at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival, Viersen Jazz Festival, Leverkusener Jazztage, the Augsburger Jazzsommer and the Düsseldorfer Jazz Rallye."

André Fernandes was born in Lisbon, Portugal. He is a very active guitar player having played/recorded with musicians like Lee Konitz, Mário Laginha, Chris Cheek, Maria João, Cyro Baptista, Ohad Talmor, Tomasz Stanko, Bernardo Sassetti, Dan Weiss, Pete Rende, Bill McHenry, Jochen Rueckert, Perico Sambeat, Jeff Ballard, Julian Arguelles, David Binney, AviShai Cohen, Eli Degibri, Jorge Rossy, Carlos Barreto, Akiko Pavolka, Jarmo Savolainen, Phil Markowitz and João Paulo Esteves da Silva, amongst many others. He is a regular member of the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos (OJM) with whom he has worked with Maria Schneider, Mark Turner, Joshua Redman, Maria João, John Hollenbeck and Maria Rita, to name a few. He has played extensively in Europe, the USA, South America and Africa. He was a member and did a number of tours with the Lee Konitz New Nonet, as well as with singer Maria João ́s group, and alto Perico Sambeat ́s group. He has several released albums s a leader, and has played on more than 40 records to date.

"Pedro Branco is a Portuguese guitar player now residing in Amsterdam. Born in Lisbon, he has studied with some of the finest jazz musicians on the portuguese scene (André Fernandes, Afonso Pais, Mário Delgado, Demian Cabaud, Gonçalo Marques, Desidério Lázaro) and participated in several workshops and masterclasses (Kurt Rosenwinkel, Aaron Goldberg, Dave Holland, Matt Renzi, David Doruzka, Peter Bernstein).

Graduated from the Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa in 2013, he has participated in many projects, not only in jazz (Pedro Branco Quartet, Reflections Trio, Jorge Moniz, Then They Flew, Oh! Calcutta!), and has played in such venues as the Hot Club of Lisbon, Café Tati, Fábrica Braço de Prata, Bacalhoeiro and many others. In 2013 he received a distinction during "Festa do Jazz São Luiz" for "Best Instrumentalist". In the following year he was asked to join the "Jacob Sacks Ensemble" led by the renowned pianist from New York for a concert in the same festival, "Festa do Jazz São Luiz 2014", where he returns now in 2015 with his own group, "Pedro Branco Trio", formed by two of the best portuguese jazz musicians (Demian Cabaud and Marcos Cavaleiro).

Now studying at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, he could study with people like Maarten van der Grinten, Martijn Van Iterson or Rob van Bavel, have masterclasses with names like Miguel Zenon, Gilad Hekselman, Mark Turner, Lage Lund, Branford Marsalis, Avishai Cohen or Ambrose Akinmusire and started new projects such as the new post-rock/noise band called Oh! Calcutta!, featuring Dario Trapani (guitar), Valdimar Olgeirsson (bass) and Tristan Renfrow (drums). Their debut EP "The Greatess Story Ever Told" is going to be released still in the 23th of February of 2016.

​ In 2015 he puts together his own project as a leader - Pedro Branco Quartet - with Allison Philips (trumpet), João Hasselberg (doublebass) and Luís Candeias (drums). They toured in Portugal in the summer of 2015 where they played in some of the most prestigious jazz clubs in Lisbon and recorded what is going to be the first record of the group. Also in 2015 he records three new records with different projects, all of them coming out in 2016.BRANCO | CUSTÓDIO | MONIZ is a trio formed by Branco with João Custódio on the doublebass and Jorge Moniz on the drums. Their first record is coming out with the portuguese label Sintoma Records. Also in 2016 is coming the first record of the duo BRANCO | LENCASTRE, a duo of improvised music with the drummer João Lencastre that explores all the musical possibilities of a power duo. They also perform in trio with the prestigious guitar player André Fernandes.

His latest project is a duo co-leaded with João Hasselberg. Their record is coming out in the fall of 2016 and is called "Dancing our Way to Death". The record had the participation of several guests such as Afonso Pais, Afonso Cabral (You Can't Win Charlie Brown), João Paulo Esteves da Silva, João Lencastre and Elina Silova.

In 2016 he starts a new artist-based collective called Flea Boy Records, together with four other upcoming musicians from different nationalities with the goal of putting their music out in the open and creating new ways of sharing their music with a larger audience."

"I am a doublebass/electricbass player currently living in Lisbon, trying to learn and play as much as I can. I'm teaching doublebass at the "Villas-Boas Jazz School" from the Hot Clube de Portugal.

Just released my first album as a leader called "Whatever It Is You're Seeking, Won't Come In The Form You're Expecting" for Sintoma Records.

Some of my projects are:

•My own band

feat. Luis Figueiredo piano ; Bruno Pedroso drums ; Ricardo Toscano sax ; Diogo Duque trumpet ; João Firmino and Afonso Pais guitar ; Luisa Sobral and Joana Espadinha vocals

•Nuno Ferreira

feat. Nuno Ferrira guitar ; Chris Kase trumpet ; João Mortagua alto sax ; Luis Cunha trombone ; Abe Rabade piano ; Joel Silva drums

•André Santos

feat. André Santos guitar ; Ricardo Toscano sax ; João Pereira drums

•João Firmino Trio

feat. João Firmino guitar ; Luis Candeias drums

•Luisa Sobral

feat. Luisa Sobral vocals ; João Salcedo piano ; Carlos Miguel drums

•Spyros Manesis Trio

feat. Spyros Manesis piano ; Kaspars Kurdeko drums

•João Firmino 5tet

feat. João Firmino guitar ; Desiderio Lazaro sax ; Oscar Graça piano ; Luis Candeias drums

•Mariana Norton

feat. Mariana Norton vocals ; Bruno Santos guitar ; Oscar Graça piano ; Luis Candeias drums

•Bruno Santos Ensemble

feat. Bruno Santos guitar ; Rodrigo Gonçalves piano ; Luis Candeias drums ; Jorge Reis alt/soprano sax ; Cesar Cardoso tenor sax ; Paulo Gaspar bass clarinete ; Gonçalo Marques trumpet ; Luis Cunha trombone ; Mariana Norton vocals.

I was born on a cold January 1986 morning in Lisbon...

Piano was my first try to get in touch with music when I was a kid living in the countryside of Alentejo but soon I found out that this was not my instrument but something else. It wasn't until my 16th easter that I got my first electric bass as a gift. A gift that changed my future as nothing else did before.

During this period I studied with Gregg Moore and Miguel Amado who taught me the fundamentals of electric bass playing as well as the masters of this instrument, but as soon as I finished High School I moved back to Lisbon to study jazz in the Hot Clube de Portugal "Luis Villas-Boas Jazz School".

When I turned 20 I found out that I couldn't express what I wanted with an electric bass and so I decided to learn double bass with Nelson Cascais as a teacher.

One year later I moved to Holland to study in the Amsterdam Conservatory, with 3 great teachers: Franz van der Hoeven, Arnold Dooyawerd and Ernst Glerum and I graduated in June 2010 with 9 out of 10.

During the period I studied in Amsterdam I got the 3rd Prize in the "Bucharest International Jazz Competition" and went to the semi-finals of the "Keep an Eye Jazz Award 2009" - nothing really came out of it, but I met some great people on the way. Recently I won the "Premio Jovens Musicos 2011" jazz combo category with Ricardo Toscano Quartet.

I had the opportunity to play in some major jazz Festivals around the world like London Jazz Festival (UK), Cully Jazz (switzerland) , Den Hague Jazz Festival, Jazz Ahead (germany) IJ Jazz Festival, Breda Jazz Festival, Meer Jazz festival, Trytone Jazz Festival, (Holland), Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona, Festival de Jazz de Cartagena, Europa Fest (Romania), Sudoeste TMN, CoolJazzFest, Festa de Jazz do S.Luis, Festival de Valado dos Frades, Jazz no Castelo, Seixal Jazz (Portugal).

I had the pleasure to learn with John Clayton, Larry Grenadier, Reuben Rogers, Ben Street and Clemens Van der Feen.

I'm currently beeing taught by Alejandro Oliva."

"Much more than a double bass player, Nelson Cascais established himself - with the release of five albums under his name - as a composer with a personal and consistent idea regarding the music he performs.

A major musician of the European scene, Nelson Cascais has already teamed up with Aaron Goldberg, David Binney, Logan Richardson, Ben Van Gelder, Rick Margitza, John Ellis, Mark alban Lotz, António Faraó, Brad Shepik, Maria Schneider, Matt Renzi, Avishai Cohen, Maria João, Mário Laginha, Salvador Sobral, Bernardo Sassetti, Perico Sambeat, Dave O ́Higgins, André Fernandes, João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Ricardo Toscano, Jesus Santandreu, Jerome Richardson, Dave Schnitter, Orquestra de Jazz de Matosinhos, Abe Rabade, Jesse Davis, Igor Trekusov, Jarmo Savoleinen, Ivan Padduart, Sara Serpa, Benny Lackner, Markku Ounaskari, Jarmo Savolainen, among many others.With some of them Cascais founded the perfect teams for his projects and just the mentioning of their names is a guarantee of quality.

Pursuing an open, wide influenced, adventurous and challenging music Nelson has been composing for small and large ensembles, from his quintet recordings on "Cyclope", "Nine Stories", "Guruka" and "The Golden Fish", "A Evolução da Forma" with a ten piece ensemble, and his most recent release "Remembrance: The Poetry of Emily Brontë".

Over the last two decades, he's been featured on more than 30 recordings and countless concerts around the world.

Nelson has a master´s degree in jazz performance from Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa where he has been teaching since 2008."