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Javier Subatin

Javier Subatin was born in Buenos Aires in 1985 and he is now living in Lisbon.

In Buenos Aires, at the age of ten, he felt the calling for music and guitar playing. When he was 14 he started composing music for guitar and different ensembles and his curiosity about music led him to study jazz guitar, improvisation and composition with several teachers.

In 2005 he completed the first year of the Bachelor on Electroacoustic Composition at the Quilmes University and in 2008 he got a Bachelor’s degree in popular music with a specialization in Tango guitar. Between 2012 and 2013 he studied music production at INARTEC. In 2014, he moved to Paris where he worked on different projects including Tango ensembles, private teaching and composing original music for a stage production.

In the past years, he was selected to participate in various international contests and festivals such as the Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition 2015, Komeda Jazz Composers Competition 2017, the Euroradio Jazz Competition 2019 at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, So What’s Next? Jazz Festival 2020, Südtirol Jazz Festival 2019 and Gaudeamus Music Week 2020.

He started his path as a composer and guitarist in the European jazz scene in 2018 with the release of his first recording “Autotelic” with the support of Sintoma Records and Antena 2 radio station. And in the course of two years, he released three recordings and is currently working on two new albums to be released in 2021. Additionally, in 2018 and 2019, he won a grant from Fundação GDA for the production of his second album “Variaciones” and for his fourth album that will be recorded in March 2021 with the support of Antena 2 and Musiberia.

His first recording, “Autotelic”, is based on a duo of piano and guitar with the renowned Portuguese jazz pianist João Paulo Esteves da Silva. His second album, “Variaciones”, has the collaboration of some of the most relevant jazz musicians from Portugal. Variaciones (March 2020) had its debut presentations in 2019 in Hot Club de Portugal and Porta Jazz. His third recording (Trance), which was released by Ears&Eyes Records in November 2020, is based on a trio of guitar, alto saxophone and drums. With this project, he performed in festivals such as Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Südtirol Jazz Festival and Somersby Out Jazz. Currently, Javier is composing for a new trio project and working on a solo performance in which he works on compositions and free improvisations using extended techniques and electronics, thus creating a musical context that mixes contemporary improvised music, jazz and electronic music.

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5
Album Review

Javier Subatin: Mountains

Read "Mountains" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Guitarist Javier Subatin may have gotten his start in his native Argentina, but he's been in Europe since 2014, when he began working in Paris. An eventual relocation to Portugal put him in contact with some of that country's most adventurous improvisers. His debut release, Autotelic, was a duo record with João Paulo Esteves da Silva, released in 2018 on Portugal's Sintoma label, and he followed it up with Variaciones, a self-produced quintet album in 2019 and a trio album, ...

10
Album Review

Javier Subatin: Variaciones

Read "Variaciones" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


When Argentinian guitarist Javier Subatin released his album Autotelic (Sintoma, 2018), it was a refreshing examination of form that took its point of departure in the intimate interplay between guitar and piano, occasionally enhanced by drums, bass and saxophone. It was a concept that did Subatin's complex compositions justice as he managed to find the right balance between insistent energy and a dwelling sense of space. However, it might be wrong to say that Subatin himself found ...

5
Album Review

Javier Subatin: Autotelic

Read "Autotelic" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


The Wind and the Kite. Once upon a time there were two kite builders. They had studied their craft for many years and so they knew exactly how to build a kite. The spine had to be strong, combined with the spar, it is the skeleton of the kite, it is also called the frame. The cover, or the sail of the kite, was made of the finest materials, silk and rice paper so fragile it could easily be torn ...

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Argentinian-born Javier Subatin is gradually imposing on the Portuguese jazz scene and way beyond with music that plays with the contrast of the familiar with the stranger. The rhythmic and harmonic elements of jazz emerge in the place that the history of the genre was destined for, and the melodic work is what we could expect from the intersection of the post-bop tradition with the music of its author’s geographical origins. Drenched in live, surround electronics. Very exciting! (So What’s Next Jazz Festival) Javier Subatin is gradually imposing on the Portuguese jazz scene with music that plays with the contrast of the familiar with the stranger. The rhythmic and harmonic elements of jazz emerge in the place that the history of the genre was destined for, and the melodic work is what we could expect from the intersection of the post-bop tradition with the music of its author's geographical origins, but the way in which it deals with these parameters make the recognizable, the usual, something completely different. […] A song that is frankly difficult is heard as if it were an easy thing, and if in it all the codes of “mainstream” jazz are respected, they come up with treatments that would be more expected in the “avant-garde” trends of the genre. What a nice surprise. (Rui Eduardo Paes / jazz.pt)

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Primary Instrument

Guitar

Location

Lisbon

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

After 17 years of teaching experience, I’ve developed a flexible method that permits to adapt to each student giving priority to his particular needs and interests. The learning process is based on a set of personal goals that are discussed with the student during the first experimental lesson (free of charge) and usually cover the following topics: - Technique: if you are interested in jazz, improvisation is one of the most important aspects and to be able to create music at the moment the technique is essential. - Harmony and theory: to understand how to play and improvise over the standards is imperative to know about how the harmony works in order to play solos and to develop good comping. - Improvisation: it is not only important to know the scales and melodic elements in order to play and improvise, but it is also vital to learn what to do with all the notes! - Repertoire: the best way of learning jazz and being able to jam with other musicians is to study the standards. If the student is interested in composition and arranging both topics would be added to the previous ones.

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