RODRIGO AMADO: THE ATTIC (Portugal/The Netherlands)

Rodrigo Amado – tenor saxophone

Gonçalo Almeida – double bass

Onno Govaert - drums

Winner of the Album of the Year title for 2023 (Beyond The Margins, with The Bridge quartet) by a poll of the most prestigious free jazz and improvised music portal Free Jazz Collective, and voted as the Best Tenor Saxophonist on Argentinian El Intruso International Critics Poll, as stated by a poll of 50 critics from all over the globe, the Portugal saxophonist Rodrigo Amado (1964) is one of the most impressive improvisers on the current European jazz scene.

He took direct part in starting the label Clean Feed, the leading presenter of avant-garde jazz in the 21st century, with At Seixal, by the Portuguese/American quintet The Implicate Order, being their first release. He recorded 17 albums as the leader and the co-leader (Lisbon Improvisation Players, Wire Quartet, Motion Trio...), and a couple of dozen more as a guest or a sideman (Black Bombaim, Luis Lopes, Rocky Marsiano, Sei Miguel...).

Amado previously participated in the Belgrade Jazz Festival in 2017 when he presented the Motion Trio, one of the most powerful acts in the Americana Hall in the last ten years. This time, he will perform with The Attic trio, founded in 2015. The band includes the outstanding Portuguese double bass player Gonçalo Almeida, the Festival's guest in the bands Spinifex (2021) and Luis Vicente Trio (2022), as well as the experienced Dutch drummer Onno Govaert. Their joint venture celebrates the essential characteristics of the new Portuguese/European jazz as a music of freedom and passion, high-octane energy and no compromise. So far, they have released three albums, and this year, they announced a new release with a guest from France, pianist Eve Risser.