Fail Better!
Born in 2012, Fail Better! is a quintet that brings together musicians living in different cities (Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon). The base is the union of two pre-existing projects: the duo formed by João Guimarães (saxophone) and João Pais Filipe (percussion), which in 2012 produced one of the most interesting free jazz records made in Portugal (Ancestral, Sonoscopia Records) and the trio THE NAP, which joins Marcelo dos Reis (guitar), José Miguel Pereira (bass) and Pais Filipe. Luis Vicente (trumpet) completes the “pentagon”, adding richness of timbre and increasing the expressive possibilities of the quintet, whose music is able to drive to distinct territories. Sometimes more jazz, sometimes making use of collage of different sources apparently irreconcilable, post-rock, free improvisation and contemporary music.
If this group had some pronouncement, it could be summed up in the desire of producing a group language in real-time without any pre-written musical notes. From here comes the reference to Beckett in the group’s name: “Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”.
In 2014 the group has edited ZERO SUM (JACC Records).
