PROJECTS MIGUEL AMADO QUARTET This is my own project. The one upon which I can develop my own music. It's a contemporary jazz group, where the compositions as well as the arrangements have the most important role. The musicians who usually play in this project are myself (bass), Guto Lucena (sax), Ruben Alves (keyboards) and Vicky (drums). But some other great musicians like Pedro Madaleno, Bruno Pedroso, Alexandre Manaia, Jorge Reis or Nelson Sobral have already played in this band. The band´s first CD was recorder in 2004, and released by the title "Mensagens de Fumo" under the label Escutar, in December 2004.
	Miguel Amado, Vicky, Ruben Alves and Guto Lucena UNDERPRESSURE Pedro Madaleno's Underpressure, is no doubt one of the bands where I get more pleasure in live performances. I've been friends with Pedro, for several years, since I got lessons from him in harmony and composition. Right then I was impressed with how much knowledge he has. He is without question one of the big names in the portuguese jazz scene. It´s allways a big pleasure to play with him, weather it is standards (we did many concerts in trio, with the great drummer Bruno Pedroso) or his own music, like with Underpressure. At the begining of Underpressure with played a lot as a trio, and the concerts were allways high in energy and sound power. Later we added the trumpet, which brought a lot more emphasis on the melodies and a wider dynamics range. The band´s firts CD is allready available, it´s a recording we did in only two days in Pedro's house. Besides Pedro on guitar and myself on bass, Underpressure are Vicky on drums (no doubt one of my favourite drummers!) and Lukas Fröhlich or João Moreira on trumpet. Anyone who allready saw a concert by Underpressure knows what I'm talking about when I say "energy and sound power"...! SPILL André Fernandes is one of the most talented musicians in his generation. A rare example of someone so young who allready found his own voice as a guitar player as well as a composer. I'm a big fan of music for some years now, and when he invited me to play with him in sPiLL, the least I can say is that it was a big honor! sPiLL's music is hard to lable... A meeting between drum n'bass, electronic music and improvised music. sPiLL are André Fernandes on guitar, João Gomes on keyboards, André Sousa Machado on drums, myself on bass and the greats Kalaf and Marta Hugon on vocals. FAUSTO Fausto's music has been one of the biggest references for me for many years. In 2003 he invited me to record "A Ópera Mágica do Cantor Maldito" with him. It was a big pleasure to go through 6 weeks of dayly work with him and musicians like Dudas, Manuel Costa Reis, Ruben Alves and João Balão, and get to know a bit of his creative method. After that I was fortunate enough to stay in the band for live performances. Concerts by Fausto are all excepcional and really first quality. All the musicians are top notch: André Sousa Machado (drums), Dudas or João Maló (guitar) Ruben Alves (keyboards) Ciro Bertini (keyboards), João Ferreira or Carlos Mil Homens (percussion).