Biography
Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado focuses his energies on spontaneous, freely structured jazz that arises in the moment while also pursuing a parallel career as a skilled photographer. Though embraced by listeners devoted to both avant-jazz and free improvisation, he consistently tilts toward the jazz end of that spectrum. By the time he issued his first recording as leader, 2003’s The Space Between, alongside Carlos Zingaro and Ken Filiano, Amado already possessed extensive experience as a supporting player; since then he has typically produced about one album annually, occasionally more. The 2010 quartet date Searching for Adam demonstrated the complete ripening of his approach to balancing improvisation, composition, and harmonic architecture. He assembled an audacious quartet featuring Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler, and Chris Corsano, and the group issued widely praised benchmark recordings such as This Is Our Language (2015), The History of Nothing (2017), and Let the Free Be Men (2021). Another landmark arrived in 2022 when Trost issued the solo concert document Refraction Solo: Live at Church of the Holy Ghost.
Born in Lisbon in 1964, Amado took up the saxophone at seventeen and pursued brief formal studies at the Hot Club Music School of Lisbon under Carlos Martins, Pedro Madaleno, and Jorge Reis, as well as other prominent Portuguese jazz figures. Drawn to varied musical idioms, he examined how improvisation functions across genres, yet his work with ensembles including the Lisbon Improvisation Players and the Motion Trio—completed by Miguel Mira and Gabriel Ferrandini—remains squarely within twenty-first-century jazz, and he has remained a sought-after studio contributor on many projects.
Amado applied sustained effort to refining his abilities as a collaborator, answering calls from any jazz or avant-garde musician who invited him. His earliest appearance on record came in 1988 with trumpeter and composer Sei Miguel’s group on Breaker; two years later he contributed to João Peste & O Acidoxibordel’s self-titled EP. The 1990s proved dynamic for Lisbon’s jazz and experimental scenes, as musicians forged cross-genre alliances in anticipation of the new century. In 1998 Amado participated in the classic Mensagem with avant-rocker José Eduardo De Almeida and in avant composer and multi-instrumentalist André Maranha’s Nacht und Träume; the next year he rejoined Miguel’s band for the double-length Token.
In 2001 he co-established Clean Feed with Pedro and Carlos Costa, a label that rapidly became one of the most active and respected platforms for avant-garde music. He appeared on the imprint’s debut release, At Seixal, with the Implicate Order trio of Ken Filiano, Lou Grassi, and Steve Swell. The following year the Lisbon Improvisation Players captured and issued Live LxMeskla.
Amado finally led his own Clean Feed session in 2003, enlisting bassist Filiano and violinist/electronicist Zingaro for The Space Between, which contained nine collectively improvised pieces. The recording earned strong critical notice and announced his arrival on the international stage as bandleader and soloist. Over the ensuing years he guided the Lisbon Improvisation Players through Motion (2004) and Spiritualized (2006).
In 2005 he departed Clean Feed to launch his own imprint, European Echoes, whose inaugural release, Teatro, documented a 2004 Spectrum Festival performance by the trio of Amado, bassist Kent Kessler, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love at Teatro Nacional São João. During 2007 he issued Surface (For Alto, Baritone and Strings) with Zingaro, Filiano, and cellist Tomas Ulrich, and contributed to the self-titled debut of Luís Lopes’ Humanization 4tet. In 2009 he formed the Lisbon-based Motion Trio with cellist Miguel Mira and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini; that same year the trio’s debut appeared, as did The Abstract Truth by the group of Amado, Kessler, and Nilssen-Love. The following year the saxophonist recorded Searching for Adam, a key Not Two release featuring trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and double bassist John Herbert, which presented six meticulously shaped, illuminating improvisations; he also appeared on Electricity, the second album by Luís Lopes’ Humanization 4tet.
The Motion Trio then began a sequence of recordings spotlighting guest soloists. In 2013 trombonist Jeb Bishop joined for the studio album The Flame Alphabet and the live set Burning Live at Jazz Ao Centro; in 2014 trumpeter Peter Evans appeared on The Freedom Principle. Amado simultaneously released the self-titled debut of his new Rodrigo Amado Wire Quartet, completed by drummer Ferrandini, guitarist Manuel Mota, and double bassist Hernani Faustino, an album that received enthusiastic notices from New York to Lisbon, Tokyo, London, and Sydney for its seamless blend of disciplined ensemble interaction and unfettered spontaneous invention.
In 2016 the quartet of Amado, multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, bassist Kessler, and drummer Chris Corsano delivered the fiery, deeply felt This Is Our Language, recorded four years earlier. That same year the Motion Trio released Desire & Freedom and toured in support, while Amado guested on Miguel’s (Five) Stories Untold. The next year Amado, bassist Gonçalo Almeida, and drummer Marco Franco issued the freely composed The Attic on Lithuania’s NoBusiness label.
Trost brought out A History of Nothing in 2018, a studio recording by the McPhee-Corsano-Kessler-Amado quartet. Also in 2018 Clean Feed released Praise of Our Folly by the all-star Lisbon Freedom Unit featuring Amado, Faustino, Lopes, pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, tenor saxophonist Pedro Sousa, and soprano saxophonist/clarinetist Bruno Parrinha. Amado and guitarist Dirk Serries improvised for nearly an hour at a Dutch festival, and the London-based Raw Tonk label issued the performance the following year as Jazzblazzt. Amado remained active, releasing the duo album No Place to Fall with Corsano while the Attic—now completed by bassist Gonçalo Almeida and Dutch drummer Onno Govaert—recorded for NoBusiness; he also rejoined the Luís Lopes Humanization 4tet for Believe, Believe on Clean Feed.
Three albums appeared under Amado’s name in 2021. With the Corsano-Kessler-McPhee quartet he issued Let the Free Be Men on Trost, a set recorded four years earlier in Copenhagen. Another four-year-old club recording, We Are Electric, surfaced by Rodrigo Amado Northern Liberties, a quartet completed by Gard Nilssen on drums, Jon Rune Strøm on double bass, and Thomas Johansson on trumpet. NoBusiness also released The Field, a 2019 Vilnius Jazz Festival concert by the Motion Trio with guest pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach. In August 2022 NoBusiness issued Love Ghosts by the Attic, and in December Trost presented Amado’s first unaccompanied recording, Refraction Solo: Live at Church of the Holy Ghost, captured inside a historic church in Caldas da Rainha in Portugal’s District of Leiria.
Born in Lisbon in 1964, Amado took up the saxophone at seventeen and pursued brief formal studies at the Hot Club Music School of Lisbon under Carlos Martins, Pedro Madaleno, and Jorge Reis, as well as other prominent Portuguese jazz figures. Drawn to varied musical idioms, he examined how improvisation functions across genres, yet his work with ensembles including the Lisbon Improvisation Players and the Motion Trio—completed by Miguel Mira and Gabriel Ferrandini—remains squarely within twenty-first-century jazz, and he has remained a sought-after studio contributor on many projects.
Amado applied sustained effort to refining his abilities as a collaborator, answering calls from any jazz or avant-garde musician who invited him. His earliest appearance on record came in 1988 with trumpeter and composer Sei Miguel’s group on Breaker; two years later he contributed to João Peste & O Acidoxibordel’s self-titled EP. The 1990s proved dynamic for Lisbon’s jazz and experimental scenes, as musicians forged cross-genre alliances in anticipation of the new century. In 1998 Amado participated in the classic Mensagem with avant-rocker José Eduardo De Almeida and in avant composer and multi-instrumentalist André Maranha’s Nacht und Träume; the next year he rejoined Miguel’s band for the double-length Token.
In 2001 he co-established Clean Feed with Pedro and Carlos Costa, a label that rapidly became one of the most active and respected platforms for avant-garde music. He appeared on the imprint’s debut release, At Seixal, with the Implicate Order trio of Ken Filiano, Lou Grassi, and Steve Swell. The following year the Lisbon Improvisation Players captured and issued Live LxMeskla.
Amado finally led his own Clean Feed session in 2003, enlisting bassist Filiano and violinist/electronicist Zingaro for The Space Between, which contained nine collectively improvised pieces. The recording earned strong critical notice and announced his arrival on the international stage as bandleader and soloist. Over the ensuing years he guided the Lisbon Improvisation Players through Motion (2004) and Spiritualized (2006).
In 2005 he departed Clean Feed to launch his own imprint, European Echoes, whose inaugural release, Teatro, documented a 2004 Spectrum Festival performance by the trio of Amado, bassist Kent Kessler, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love at Teatro Nacional São João. During 2007 he issued Surface (For Alto, Baritone and Strings) with Zingaro, Filiano, and cellist Tomas Ulrich, and contributed to the self-titled debut of Luís Lopes’ Humanization 4tet. In 2009 he formed the Lisbon-based Motion Trio with cellist Miguel Mira and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini; that same year the trio’s debut appeared, as did The Abstract Truth by the group of Amado, Kessler, and Nilssen-Love. The following year the saxophonist recorded Searching for Adam, a key Not Two release featuring trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and double bassist John Herbert, which presented six meticulously shaped, illuminating improvisations; he also appeared on Electricity, the second album by Luís Lopes’ Humanization 4tet.
The Motion Trio then began a sequence of recordings spotlighting guest soloists. In 2013 trombonist Jeb Bishop joined for the studio album The Flame Alphabet and the live set Burning Live at Jazz Ao Centro; in 2014 trumpeter Peter Evans appeared on The Freedom Principle. Amado simultaneously released the self-titled debut of his new Rodrigo Amado Wire Quartet, completed by drummer Ferrandini, guitarist Manuel Mota, and double bassist Hernani Faustino, an album that received enthusiastic notices from New York to Lisbon, Tokyo, London, and Sydney for its seamless blend of disciplined ensemble interaction and unfettered spontaneous invention.
In 2016 the quartet of Amado, multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, bassist Kessler, and drummer Chris Corsano delivered the fiery, deeply felt This Is Our Language, recorded four years earlier. That same year the Motion Trio released Desire & Freedom and toured in support, while Amado guested on Miguel’s (Five) Stories Untold. The next year Amado, bassist Gonçalo Almeida, and drummer Marco Franco issued the freely composed The Attic on Lithuania’s NoBusiness label.
Trost brought out A History of Nothing in 2018, a studio recording by the McPhee-Corsano-Kessler-Amado quartet. Also in 2018 Clean Feed released Praise of Our Folly by the all-star Lisbon Freedom Unit featuring Amado, Faustino, Lopes, pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, tenor saxophonist Pedro Sousa, and soprano saxophonist/clarinetist Bruno Parrinha. Amado and guitarist Dirk Serries improvised for nearly an hour at a Dutch festival, and the London-based Raw Tonk label issued the performance the following year as Jazzblazzt. Amado remained active, releasing the duo album No Place to Fall with Corsano while the Attic—now completed by bassist Gonçalo Almeida and Dutch drummer Onno Govaert—recorded for NoBusiness; he also rejoined the Luís Lopes Humanization 4tet for Believe, Believe on Clean Feed.
Three albums appeared under Amado’s name in 2021. With the Corsano-Kessler-McPhee quartet he issued Let the Free Be Men on Trost, a set recorded four years earlier in Copenhagen. Another four-year-old club recording, We Are Electric, surfaced by Rodrigo Amado Northern Liberties, a quartet completed by Gard Nilssen on drums, Jon Rune Strøm on double bass, and Thomas Johansson on trumpet. NoBusiness also released The Field, a 2019 Vilnius Jazz Festival concert by the Motion Trio with guest pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach. In August 2022 NoBusiness issued Love Ghosts by the Attic, and in December Trost presented Amado’s first unaccompanied recording, Refraction Solo: Live at Church of the Holy Ghost, captured inside a historic church in Caldas da Rainha in Portugal’s District of Leiria.
Albums
Live
