Home » Jazz Musicians » Pedro Melo Alves
Pedro Melo Alves
Pedro Melo Alves is one of the most prominent drummers and composers in the recent avant-garde music scene in Portugal. Explorer of the expanded possibilities of percussion, improviser, ambitious composer for small and large formations, his work is known for the exploratory attitude and for boldy intersectioning different aesthetic circuits from jazz and erudite, to electronic, experimental and rock music.
Having been awarded with multiple awards and nominations (Bernardo Sassetti Composition Award, Premio Internazionale Giorgio Gaslini, El Intruso Best Revelation Group), he's been increasingly present in the international music scene, presenting his projects in events such as Jazzahead (Germany), 12 Points Festival (Dublin), Europe Jazz Conference (Portugal), Saalfelden Jazz Festival (Austria), Ljubljana Jazz Festival (Slovenia), Suoni Per Il Popolo (Canada), Südtirol Jazz Festival (Italy) or Jazz em Agosto (Portugal).
Born in 1991, in Porto, Portugal, Pedro has studied Jazz Drums (ESMAE, Porto, 2011), Jazz and Classical Piano (ESTAL, Lisbon, 2014) and Music Composition (ESML, Lisbon, 2015).
With commissions from institutions such as Guimarães Jazz, Culturgest, RTP or Fundação Serralves, Pedro has become one of the most prolific and requested musicians of his generation and has shared stage and studio with musicians such as Mark Dresser, Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Joe Morris, Marshall Allen, Eve Risser, Luke Stewart, Theo Ceccaldi, John O'Gallagher, Hery Paz or Jacqueline Kerrod.
Today he plays and composes for his Omniae Large Ensemble, The Rite of Trio, In Igma, his percussion duets with João Pais Filipe or Pedro Carneiro, and is a part of many projects, such as Luís Vicente Trio, Alma Tree with Ra Kalam Bob Moses and Vasco Trilla, Catacombe, Surma, Memória de Peixe, Tim Tim por Tim Tum, Rodrigo Brandão or Dead Club.
In parallel, Pedro also composes for Theatre, Dance, Cinema and erudite music commissions and programs music series on his venues Ermo do Caos (Porto) and Água Ardente (Lisbon).
Awards
★ NOMINATION FOR BEST JAZZ ALBUM 2022 ★
PLAY – PRÉMIOS DA MÚSICA PORTUGUESA
★ PREMIO INTERNAZIONALE GIORGIO GASLINI 2019 ★
★ BERNARDO SASSETTI COMPOSITION AWARD 2016 ★
★ BEST NEWCOMER GROUP OF 2021 ★
EL INTRUSO – 14th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CRITICS POLL 2021
★ NATIONAL MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR 2017 ★
JAZZ.PT
Tags
Alma Tree: Sonic Alchemy Suprema
by Karl Ackermann
New York native Ra Kalam Bob Moses grew up in the same building as Max Roach, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. Early on he saw performances by many of the best jazz drummers in history, including Roy Haynes, Rashied Ali, Milford Graves, Billy Higgins, and Ed Blackwell. As a teenager in the mid-1960s, he played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Moses was not only destined to be a drummer; he had soaked up a variety of jazz styles and sub-genres that ...
read moreLuis Vicente Trio: Chanting In The Name Of
by Glenn Astarita
All-world jazz man, world music maker and fierce improvisational drummer Hamid Drake penned venerating liners for this album led by the always in demand Portuguese trumpeter Luis Vicente and his trio. And Drake's correlations with estimable Sufi mystic and teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan's view that music is life, and a means of discovery that parallels the harmony of the entire universe among relationships with nature and other pleasurable perceptions is spot on. Hence, the trio attains a symbiosis, rooted in ...
read morePedro Melo Alves: Lumina
by Mark Corroto
If the title was not already taken by author Dave Eggers, Portuguese drummer and composer Pedro Melo Alves might have titled this recording A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. During a brief reprieve from the global pandemic, in November 2020, Melo Alves presented the 22-piece Omniae Large Ensemble at the Centro Cultural Vila Flor in Guimarães, Portugal. He expanded his Omniae Ensemble with vocalists, electronics, tuba, clarinets, flutes, bassoon, cello, and classical guitar to present this commissioned work.
read moreJavier Subatin: Mountains
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, ...
read morePedro Melo Alves, James Brandon Lewis Quartet & Ohad Talmor Trio
by Maurice Hogue
Here's another of those almost-all-music editions of One Man's Jazz, with just an intro at the top of each hour. The music includes samplings from new releases by Portuguese drummer/percussionist Pedro Melo Alves & his Ominiae Large Ensemble, bassists Juan Bayon from Buenos Aires and Tomo Jacobson from Copenhagen, and several saxophonists: James Brandon Lewis Nick Mazzarella, Darius Jones, Patrick Shiroishi, Lena Bloch & Feathery, Loren Stillman (with pianist Russ Lossing), and Ohad Talmor. Enjoy! Playlist James Brandon ...
read morePedro Melo Alves: Lumina
by Karl Ackermann
On the burgeoning Portuguese jazz scene, drummer Pedro Melo Alves is becoming one of the more prolific artists. The multiple award-winning composer has accumulated international praise for four unique recordings in the space of a year. On Lumina he has extended his existing ensemble and assembled the Omniae Large Ensemble of twenty-two musicians for a project commissioned by the Guimarães Jazz Festival. Melo Alves' Clean Feed Records debut was a quartet outing (with vocalists), In Igma (2020), a ...
read morePedro Melo Alves: In Igma
by Karl Ackermann
Jazz has had a presence in Portugal since the mid-1920s but had found itself in decline from the 1970s. The revolutionary jazz scene in Portugal, circa the 2010s, has produced a profusion of rising stars. Violist Ernesto Rodrigues, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, Orquestra Jazz De Matosinhos, and the Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble are among those who have emerged as influential beyond the Portuguese border. Two driving forces in that country's improvised music—drummer-percussionist Pedro Melo Alves and experimental guitarist Abdul Moimême—team ...
read more“…MIRACULOUS DRUMMING. LIGHT AS A FEATHER, FAST AS A HUMMING BIRD , DEEP TONES, COLORS AND INFINITE CREATIVITY . BRAVISSIMO!”
– RA KALAM BOB MOSES (USA) 2022
“…AN INSTRUMENTALIST AND COMPOSER WITH SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL AT HEARTH (…) PEDRO MELO ALVES IS A FIERCE APPROACH TO MUSIC“
– TOR HAMMERØ, Nettavisen (NOR) 2022
