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Massimo Cavalli
Massimo Cavalli- Bass player, Double Bass Player, Composer
About Me
Born in Italy in 1969 where he started studying electric bass with Flavio Piantoni and Enzo lo Greco
and double bass and jazz improvisation with Paolino Dalla Porta. He moved to live in Portugal in
1996. Studied jazz double bass at Oporto University where he got his degree in 2006 and his
master in jazz in 2011. He has a PhD degree in jazz performance by the Évora University. He started
his professional activity as a musician in 1990 playing in different clubs in Northern Italy. He played
in Dubai with the Four Winds Quartet and worked with the American singer Trisha Smith. In March
1996 he participated to the young musician jazz contest in Krakow (Poland) and the same year he
recorded with the group Consorzio Acqua Potabile. He worked and played with groups and artists
such as: Jean Pierre Como, Antonio Faraò, Benoît Sourisse, André Charlier, Perico Sambeat,
Ferdinando Faraò, Eric Séva, Laurent Filipe, Melissa Walker, Fernando Tordo, Amelia Muge, Susana
Félix, Alexandre Diniz, Jacinta & Michael Bluestein, Ala dos Namorados, Fiçcões, Joel Xavier e Didier
Lockwood, Politonia, among others. He attended some jazz workshops like “Jazz em Agosto”
directed by Phil Markowitz, Ed Neumeister and Arnie Lawrence, the doublebass masterclass
conducted by William Parker and a masterclass oriented by Peter Erskine. He played in several
festivals: Avignon (France), Oeiras Jazz Fest (Portugal), Porto 2001 Festival (Portugal), Vigo Music
Fest (Spain), 6th Matosinhos Jazz (Portugal), 2th Curitiba Jazz Fest (Brazil), 7 sois 7 luas Music
Festival (Portugal), 4th Portalegre Jazz Fest (Portugal), CompoJazz 2007 (Spain), Gaia Blues Festival
(Portugal), Aveiro 2003 Music Fest 2003 (Portugal), Lagoa Jazz Festival (Portugal), Festival Il
Portogallo at Catania (Italy), 9th Festival Jazz aux Oudayas (Morocco), Mafra Cultural Summer 2004
(Portugal), 17th Macao Arts Festival (Macao).
His Cd “Varandas do Chiado”, with original composition, has been published in 2012 and he is
promoting and touring with his quartet. He’s currently playing with The New European Quartet
(with Benoît Sourisse, André Charlier and Perico Sambeat), with the
Liebman/Laginha/Ineke/Cavalli/Pinheiro Quintet, with the project “Cinema&Dintorni”, and with the
acoustic world music project called “Latitude Quatro”.
He is head of the department of Jazz and Modern Music at the Lusíada University in Lisbon where
he teaches also electric bass, double bass, jazz combo, improvisation and introduction to the study
of popular music.