Susana Santos Silva

Susana Santos Silva was born in Porto in the year of 1979. 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 from the College of Music and Performing Arts in Porto. She also holds a Graduate Diploma in Trumpet ‘2004 from the same school, finishing the course at the Stlaatliche Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe in Reinhold Friedrich‘s Class, where she also had lessons with Prof. Edward Tarr, Klaus Schuwerk and Klaus Braker.

She is a part of Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos, with whom she records Portology featuring Lee Konitz, OJM Invites Chris Cheek, Our Secret World featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel, Amoras e Framboesas featuring Maria João and plays with Mark Turner, Rich Perry, John Riley, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Bob Berg, Rick Margitza, Perico Sambeat, Conrad Herwig, Ingrid Jensen, Joshua Redman, Dan Weiss, John Hollenbeck, Theo Bleckman, Jordi Rossi, Maria Schneider, among others. The orchestra has been playing on the jazz festivals all over Portugal and in Milano, Brussels, Boston and New York.

She is 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 that will be released in June 2011 by the Lisbon based label Cleanfeed.

With LAMA, a Rotterdam based trio with Gonçalo Almeida on bass and electronics and Greg Smith on drums she records an album that will be released by Cleanfeed in 2011. In 2010 she records her first album as a leader of her own Quintet, Devil's Dress, released in April 2011 by the Lisbon based label TOAP Records. With this quintet she played, among other places, at Casa da Música in Porto, Festival de Jazz Valado dos Frades and 12 Points! Jazz Festival, Dublin in May 2011.

SUSANA SANTOS SILVA 5TET

SUSANA SANTOS SILVA . trumpet / flugel
ZÉ PEDRO COELHO . tenor sax
ANDRÉ FERNANDES . guitar
DEMIAN CABAUD . bass
MARCOS CAVALEIRO . drums

Released this year by TOAP, Devil’s Dress is the first album of the quintet led by the trumpet player Susana Santos Silva. This project, of original compositions, gathers musicians that inspire her in the pursuit of new challenges and artistic conceptions. Fruit of a diverse musical path, that wanders between erudite, jazz, improvised and experimental music, her compositions demand an unconditional sharing and a vibrant interaction between the musicians on stage. Without denying the mainstream the musical result challenges all the time the listener that wants to label the music and put it on the right shelf. It is music for the sake of music, without boundaries and preconceived ideas, a journey of discovery and commitment to the unknown as experimentation.

Press Quotes

“There's always that moment... when you realize you've just been blown away by some talented shit. That's the moment I had after being pierced by Susana Santos Silva and her hour long epic debut, Devil's Dress.” Stephan Moore

“With her impressive 2011 debut as a leader “Devil’s Dress” and involvement in various European projects, highly-educated trumpeter Susana Santos Silva looms as a nascent voice within progressive-jazz circles” Glenn Astarita

“Silva's quintet has proven itself among the ranks of adventurous modern jazz” Daniel Lehner

“Her tone can be buttery or bold, a rare combination for a trumpeter, and she isn't afraid to experiment with smeared notes and out-of-focus tones, which give the music a more personal sound” Dan Bilawsky

“She steps out into the limelight with her debut recording, the original and adventurous but always engaging “Devil's Dress” D.Macclenaghan

LAMA

SUSANA SANTOS SILVA . trumpet/flugel/fx

GONÇALO ALMEIDA . bass/loops/fx

GREG SMITH . drums/percussion

The particularly dynamic and inventive Portuguese jazz scene has a new front with the trio LAMA. Curiously enough, the project was born in Roterdam, where the double bassist and composer Gonçalo Almeida and the trumpeter Susana Santos Silva were at the time (2008) studying in the jazz department of the local conservatory. There, they met the Canadian drummer Greg Smith, who used to work in the nearby dance school. Acting in the frontier line between the “mainstream” and the so called avant-garde, “Oneiros” proposes a particular jazz vision for the 21st century, with an interesting use of electronics. The double bass is assisted by a pedal box, and Almeida likes to loop his rhythmic lines once in a while. The trumpet is sometimes digitally processed in real time, giving us different results than the ones presented by Santos Silva with her own quintet or the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos. Both are distinctive figures of the Portuguese jazz circuits: Gonçalo Almeida as a member of the Luso- Italian quartet Tetterapadequ (still living in Holland, he plays also with Atos, Spinifex Quintet, and the Michal Osowsky Collective) and Susana Santos Silva integrating the above mentioned big band, which performed and recorded with people like Lee Konitz, Carla Bley, John Hollenbeck, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Chris Cheek and Joshua Redman, among others. In his turn, Smith is a groove master, active in the International bands such as Colonel Red Live (England), Sandra St Victor’s Sinner Child (US/NL) and Kori Withers (US). Smith has also recorded and performed with NYC saxophonist David Binney. The main focus of the music here is in improvisation, and you’ll be surprised with how fantastic it sounds.

Press Quotes:

“From the onset of “Alguidar,” the trio's bold inventions make a cutting impression... In the end, it all comes down to musicians with complete facility on their instruments creating art through inventiveness....While there are shades of influences from the past and present, the trio successfully pulls off the hat trick by sounding totally unique while demanding respect with superlative musicianship. Oneiros is brilliant and distinguishable. - Mark F. Turner, AAJ

“The pieces fit together so tightly that there's hardly room for a wasted note, beat or breath as the musicians move gracefully through the set of songs, nimbly riding the contours between structure and freedom.” - Paul Acquaro, Free Jazz Blogspot

“Lama's jazz is innovative, avant-garde and outside conventions” - Journal Hard Musica

“Lama, Oneiros: Let's just call this avant-garde...An alluring set of dissonance and drive. Also on the Clean Feed label, who smartly scooped up this trio up. RECCOMENDED” - 17 Dots

“long beautiful trumpet calls, low and serene, over a sea of electronics and gentle rhythms... Electronics swirl about in a desert wind..an animated journey... released on the excellent Clean Feed label, who has time again proven themselves unafraid to take chances with challenging recordings” - Music is Good

“A democratic engagement modelled on structure and deft expressionism akin to a multi-colored water painting... contrasting loose movements, yearning lines, and efficent use of space... Lama is a band that imparts a signature voice due to an abundance of persuasive concepts and alternating frameworks” - Glen Astarita, Emusic

Jazz.pt - Best of 2011:

Best Album 2011: “Oneiros”, Lama - Rui Eduardo Paes Best Musician: Susana Santos Silva - Rui Eduardo Paes Best Musician : Susana Santos Silva - João Martins Best Album 2011: “Oneiros”, Lama - António Rubio Best Album 2011: “Oneiros”, Lama - João Moço Best Album 2011: “Oneiros”, Lama - Paulo Barbosa