PEDRO MOREIRA SAX ENSEMBLE

Released in February 2021, Two Maybe More is the title of a show by Sofia Dias, Vítor Roriz and Marco Martins that was performed at Teatro Maria Matos in 2014, and for which I wrote the song, as the result of a commission from the Gulbenkian Foundation.  In the original version, the piece had 8 soloists from the Gulbenkian Choir and a small chamber ensemble.

 

Since then I felt the urge to adapt the piece to an ensemble of 8 saxophones, to which bass and drums would be added, to better explore the possibilities of opening to improvisation, which does not exist in the original score, maintaining as much as possible the formal consistency of the original. The vocal character of the saxophone is naturally sought as a bridge between the two versions.

 

In the original, the piece, both in music and in choreography, intends to invoke different possibilities and mechanisms of relationship with the other. With this idea in mind, a series of permutations of subgroups among the 10 instrumentalists is proposed, in a vaguely algorithmic way, in which the 8 saxophones are sometimes divided into two antiphonal quartets, using various polyphonic procedures.

 

Text: Pedro Moreira

 

Born in Lisbon in 1969, Pedro Moreira began studying saxophone at the age of 12.  After completing the Musical and Acoustic Training course at the Lisbon National Conservatory, he attended seminars with saxophonists Dave Liebman, Paul Jeffrey, Bill Pierce and Bobby Watson. In 1996, he leaves for New York where he develops his activity as a composer, in parallel with that of a saxophonist. Two years later, he completed a degree in Jazz and Contemporary Music at the New School University and in 2000 a “Master of Music” degree in Classical Composition at Mannes College of Music.

 

During his stay in the Big Apple he collaborated with Herbie Hancock (as music assistant and arranger on the album “Gershwin’s World”) and with Wayne Shorter on the acclaimed “Alegria”. As assistant to conductor Robert Sadin, he also worked on recreating Gil Evans’ arrangements for “Porgy and Bess” and “Sketches of Spain”, with soloists Tom Harrell and Tim Hagans.  During this period, he also had the opportunity to play with other relevant jazz figures such as David Liebman, Joe Chambers, Benny Golson and Eddie Henderson, to name just a few.

 

Between 1991 and 2009 he directed the Big Band of Hot Clube de Portugal, with which he performed numerous concerts. In 2003, he formed and directed the Big Band Nacional da Juventude, a project supported by the Ministry of Culture.  The following year he was the guest conductor and composer of the European Jazz Youth Orchestra on a tour of Europe and Brazil. He directed the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (in concerts with the Big Band of Hot Clube and Mário Laginha), the Orquestrutópica, the Orquestra do Algarve, and, from the beginning, the Orquestra Angrajazz (in collaboration with Claus Nymark).

 

Pedagogically, he has been an adjunct professor at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa since 2008, having been director of the institution between 2011 and 2015, and coordinator of the Jazz variant between 2008 and 2011.  He was pedagogical director of the Luiz Villas-Boas Jazz School, Hot Clube de Portugal, from 1993 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2008, professor in the jazz course at the Funchal Conservatory and in the music degree at the Piaget Institute, as well as at the National Conservatory. He was artistic director of the Alta Estremadura Jazz Festival.

 

From: https://www.jazz.pt/entrevista/2021/02/23/ligacao-misteriosa/