A very active part of that inexhaustible source of jazz vitality that emanates from Scandinavian soil, this Norwegian quartet has been steadily affirming its “Avant Garde Party Music” for almost two decades now – Daniel Spicer™ in Jazzwise. An apparent and somewhat contradictory expression, but one that is coined here with impunity, for music that starts from the procedures of free jazz and turns it into a celebratory act, avoiding the confrontational or 100% cerebral stance that is too often the norm in these fields of exploration. Formed by Thomas Johansson on trumpet, Kristoffer Berre Alberts on saxophone, Ola Høyer on double bass, and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums, they have carved out their own language among their compatriots such as The Thing and Atomic for their spiritual commitment to the most exultant side of the free jazz tradition of the 1960s, without making it a reverential act or a mere rewriting of its foundations. The themes, simple in nature and mostly crafted by Johansson in harmonic harmony with Alberts, open up to fiery improvisations, exploring a seemingly endless melodic and rhythmic skein that continually renews itself with a sense of direction and risk that is always on point.
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José Lencastre, Hernâni Faustino, and João Sousa come together in a trio that delves deeply into the art of free improvisation. Three key figures on the Portuguese jazz and experimental scene, each with extensive experience in national and international projects, explore together the limits of sound, silence, and musical interaction. An intense sonic journey, where each note is created in the moment and each silence is as meaningful as the sound itself.

José Lencastre
José Lencastre is an improviser, composer, and saxophonist from Lisbon, Portugal. He is known for his versatility in interpreting different musical genres over the years and has been part of the vibrant Portuguese improvisation scene since around 2005, sharing the stage and recording with most local musicians, as well as collaborating with international artists from around the world. Between 2012 and 2016, he lived in Brazil, where he had the opportunity to develop his interest in the rich rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic musical culture of Choro, Frevo, Ciranda, etc. In Pernambuco, he formed Inconsciente Coletivo, a sax, keyboard, and drums trio that mainly played his compositions. Back in Lisbon, together with Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernâni Faustino, and João Lencastre, José formed the Nau Quartet. This group has released four albums to date, all of which have been very well received by critics and audiences alike, both in Portugal and abroad. In November 2019, Clean Feed released Live in Moscow, a recording of one of the concerts from the group’s tour in Russia. He has participated in several other albums as leader or co-leader and has received very positive reviews in prestigious newspapers and websites such as Jazz.pt, All About Jazz, Free Jazz Blog, Salt Peanuts, NYC Jazz Records, Ipsilon, among others. He has had the opportunity to perform live in several countries, such as France, Germany, England, Slovenia, Serbia, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Morocco, and Spain. Since 2017, he has traveled to the Netherlands several times, and as a result of his encounters with musicians from the Amsterdam free and improv scene, he released the album Spirit in Spirit – Live at Zaal 100 with Raoul van Der Weide and Onno Govaert. Another group resulting from these trips is the trio with Miguel Petruccelli and Aleksandar Škorić. In 2020, he released Anthropic Neglect together with Jorge Nuno, Felipe Zenícola, and João Valinho. This group played the following year at the Jazz em Agosto Festival, to a sold-out crowd in the large auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. José Lencastre is co-founder of the Phonogram Unit record label. This project was born during the 2020 pandemic and aims to release improvised and contemporary music in which the musicians who are part of it are involved. In September 2021, Phonogram Unit will release the album “Thoughts are Things,” where the Nau Quartet invites Pedro Carneiro to add his marimba to the quartet’s sound.

Hernâni Faustino
After establishing himself in the 1980s as an electric bassist in alternative rock bands such as the now legendary K4 Quadrado Azul, Hernâni Faustino turned to avant-jazz and free improvisation, choosing the double bass as his self-taught instrument. Two decades after multiple interactions with Portuguese and international musicians, he is now considered one of the most intense and solid double bassists on the Portuguese scene. His association with drummer Gabriel Ferrandini (RED trio, Nobuyasu Furuya Trio & Quintet, Rodrigo Amado Wire Quartet) has been hailed as a dynamic and powerful rhythm section. His visceral touch is clearly visible in the contortions of his face during a performance: he goes to the limits of pleasure and pain. Music is his life: in addition to being a musician, he was one of the members of the Clean Feed label, considered one of the five most important in the world in terms of jazz, and of the Trem Azul Jazz Store, located in Lisbon. He has also composed for theater, produced radio programs, and written about music in several magazines. Hernani Faustino’s numerous encounters and collaborations with other improvisers are surprising: John Butcher, Lotte Anker, Nate Wooley, Carlos “Zíngaro,” Agustí Fernández, Sei Miguel, Rafael Toral, Jason Stein, Nuno Rebelo, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Gabriel Ferrandini, Pedro Sousa, Rodrigo Amado, Albert Cirera, Manuel Mota, Luís Lopes, Paal Nilssen-Love, Jon Irabagon, Peter Evans, Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Taylor Ho Bynum, Gerard Lebik, Piotr Damasiewicz, Harris Eisenstadt, Neil Davidson, Heddy Boubaker, Gerard Lebik, Elliott Levin, Katsura Yamauchi, Mats Gustafsson, Chris Corsano, Nikolaus Gerszewski, Rob Mazurek, Reinhold Friedl, Ernesto Rodrigues, José Oliveira, Helena Espvall, Nuno Torres, Ricardo Jacinto, Blaise Siwula, Virginia Genta, Elliott Levin, Daniel Carter, Federico Ughi, Floros Floridis, Matt Bauder, Dennis González, Vítor Rua, and many more, covering a wide range from free bop to extreme experimentation, including electroacoustic improvisation, reductionism, and noise.

João Sousa
João Sousa was born on November 25, 1990, in Faro. He graduated in Jazz and Modern Music from the Lusíada University of Lisbon. In 2014, he began his master’s degree in Jazz Performance – main instrument drums, at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where he studies with renowned Dutch master Erik Ineke. During this period, he played with saxophonists Ben van den Duncan and Simon Rigter, Belgian pianist Johan Clement, and recorded two albums as a sideman, “So Far” with the Gottfried di Franco quintet, released in 2018, and “It’s Time” with the Vivienne Chuliao trio, released in 2017. He also came second in the prestigious Leiden Jazz Award. In 2017, he completed his master’s degree and returned to Lisbon, where he remains and continues his artistic exploration and research. He co-leads with guitarist Pedro Branco and is a founding member of the Old Mountain project. This group was formed in 2016 and since then has collaborated with different musicians, including George Dumitriu, Demian Cabaud, Gonçalo Marques, Nicóló Ricci, José Soares, Felicia Erlenburg, João Hasselberg, Alessandro Fongaro, Mauro Cottone, Carlos Barreto, and Nelson Cascais. João Sousa has also had the opportunity to present his music in different venues, theaters, and national and international festivals, including Znojmo Jazzfest (Czech Republic), Sibiu Jazz Festival (Romania), Nova Jazz Cava (Spain), Hot Clube Portugal, Casa da Música, Teatro Capitólio, Festival Robalo, Loulé Jazz Festival, and Minde Jazz Festival. During 2020, he released two albums on behalf of Old Mountain, recorded in 2017 and 2018 in Amsterdam, and another by the collective created during the artistic residency led by trumpeter Gabrielle Mitelli (with Pedro Branco and João Hasselberg), a partnership between the Árpád Szenes Vieira da Silva Foundation and the Italian Cultural Institute in Lisbon.