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Marcelo Coelho

About Me

A native of Brazil, Marcelo Coelho began his music studies when he was fourteen years old. His first instruments were the clarinet and the alto saxophone. When he was eighteen years old, he changed to the tenor saxophone that would become his main instrument.He finished his bachelor in Popular Music at Campinas State University - UNICAMP, in 1999. During the undergraduate studies, he played in several combos which include jazz bands, Brazilian jazz combos, big bands, as well as dancing bands. Because jazz has exerted a great influence and attraction in his musical formation, he developed during his undergraduate years a research project entitled The Harmonic Concepts of Bebop. In 1995, he won a scholarship from the Brazilian Government to work on this project, whose purpose was to investigate how bebop harmony was developed and its influence on Brazilian music. This work has been presented in many research seminars and it’s been reviewed to be published.

In the beginning of 1997, on scholarship given by the Brazilian Government, he investigated the jazz influence in the way of playing Brazilian music on the saxophone, entitled The Brazilian Saxophone Language. He interviewed several Brazilian saxophonists who perform Brazilian music intensively. This research will be published soon.

In 1999, he won a full scholarship from the Brazilian Government in order to earn his Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies from University of Miami, under supervision of Gary Keller and Don Coffman. During his graduate studies in USA, he studied with Gary Keller, Ron Miller, Gary Campbell, Whit Sidener, and others, played in several jazz ensembles and combos. After his graduate studies, he played in several Latin jazz combos, Brazilian jazz groups which include his Brazilian jazz trio ‘The Bambam Z Project’, deserving a whole page article from the Miami New Times newspaper. He also taught saxophone and music appreciation at high schools and conservatories of music in South Florida.

In 2002, he attended the annual David Liebman’s Saxophone Masterclass where he had the opportunity to present and play his compositions with David Liebman’s quartet. Based on polyrhythm and crossing-rhythms structures, his compositions would be the main purpose for his doctoral research at the Campinas States University, in 2003.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, he is currently a teacher of saxophone and advanced music theory at Souza Lima-Berklee Conservatory of Music. He is active in numerous jazz combos and bands as saxophonist, composer and arranger, leading his own jazz groups: MC3, MC4 and MC5. He also appeared on the same bill as many prominent American and Brazilian artists, including Roy Hargrove, Kenny Garret, Mike Stern, Jane Monheit, John Pizzareli, Diane Shuur, Gary Brown, Dori Caymmi, Joao Bosco, Ney Matogrosso, Fernanda Abreu, at Bourbon Street Music Club, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.