In this section I share some information of past projects with people I had the chance to play, make releases and tour. Some of these are extinct, other on the verge of extinction, some others just sleeping...
ADK TRIO
Tobias Klein - alto sax, bass & contrabass clarinet
Gonçalo Almeida - doublebass
Martin van Duynhoven - drums
The idea started while chatting with Tobias, band leader and partner in crime on the electric sextet Spinifex, to play in acoustic trio format with some roots into tradition and dutch swing, and he brought us to play with drummer Martin Duynhoven a pioneer and a living reference of dutch jazz.
"The musicians involved have their own individual personalities and they don’t represent any organized tendencies. Two of them, saxophonist and clarinetist Tobias Klein and double bassist Gonçalo Almeida, may live in Holland but they weren’t born there – the first is German, the other Portuguese. Besides that, Klein had a past dedication to live-electronics and composes chamber music, and Almeida leads or co-leads electric bands and goes often into rock territory. These factors contribute to the rather different, and even special, approach here documented, confirming the definition provided by this trio «inspired by all kinds of adventurous music of the last 50 years». But the connection with the acoustic tradition, and with the “Dutch way”, is there and it’s solid: drummer Martin Duynhoven was a pioneer of this soundworld and, as such, is a living reference of everything happening in the country. His partners here can go very far, but it’s him who keeps their feet on the ground. That’s what you’ll find here: dreamy music with a sense of gravity."
Releases:
Almeida/Duynhoven/Klein "Live at Bimhuis" (Clean Feed 2019)
LAMA trio
Gonçalo Almeida - doublebass and effects
Susana Santos Silva - trumpet
Greg Smith - drums
I had the pleasure to meet Susana in Rotterdam, where I knew Greg, brought some scores to our first meeting and the trio came to life.
It was a great door for the three of us to enter something new and from there depart somewhere else.
Once someone wrote:
"Lama are formed by bassist and leader of the project, Gonçalo Almeida, Susana Santos Silva (trumpet) and the Canadian Greg Smith (drums). With four albums released on the prestigious Cleanfeed label, "Oneiros" (2011), "Lamaçal" (2013) with the collaboration of North American saxophonist Chris Speed, and "The Elephant's Journey" (2015) and "Metamorphosis" (2017) with the Belgian clarinetist, Joachim Badenhorst. LAMA play a wide range of contemporary jazz, from mainstream to more experimental, from peculiar to a broader sound, all in combination with an artistic expressive dimension that easily surpasses banal labels and ratings.
Releases:
Metamorphosis (Clean Feed 2017) + Joachim Badenhorst
The Elephant's Journey (Clean Feed 2015) + Joachim Badenhorst
Tetterapadequ
Daniele Martini - saxophones
Giovanni di Domenico - piano
Gonçalo Almeida - double bass
João Lobo - drums
Two Portuguese from Lisbon, two Italians from Rome, meet at a jazz bar ....
This was in the early 2000's ...the bar was called The Patter in Den Haag ,The Netherlands. Between beers and jam sessions they decided to make confusion with their academic language and started TETTERAPADEQU.
This anagram using the name of that bar , gave title to their first release "And the Missing R", guess why ?
Music , friendship, football, pasta and pasteis de nata, was the main core of this wonderful quartet, with whom I had the chance to be introduced to the world of free jazz and confundistic ideas. Great memories..., this project continues, with confundistic projects for the future, that nobody knows.
Releases:
bRack Again (Cylinder Recordingds 2019)
Descanso Del Dopo Popo (Cylinder Recordingds 2016)
Fire walks with us...here some of the projects that cook with high fire, hot pepper,gasoline, with no rules and no mercy... loud and proud!
IKIZUKURI
Julius Gabriel - sax & electronics
Gonçalo Almeida - bass
Gustavo Costa - drums
IKIZUKURI, with two Portuguese members Gustavo Costa and Gonçalo Almeida , along with German saxophonist Julius Gabriel, started in Porto in 2016 and for a little while was a quartet featuring French electronic artist Sukitoa O Namau.
Although the first release HEXUM was in trio format, followed by Suicide Underground Orchid featuring trumpetist Susana Santos Silva.
"Roaming dark alleyways connecting free jazz to experimental rock, rumbling from deep from within, electric bass and drums stumble into rolling thunder topped by a fuming and foaming saxophone snapping at the general direction of your own personal throat.
Free jazz decomposed, re-electrified and revivified, served alive and breathing."
Releases:
Suicide Underground Orchid // Ikizukuri + Susana Santos Silva (Multikulti 2021)
Hexum (Zona Watusa 2018)
CEMENT SHOES
Giovanni Di Domenico - fender rhodes
Gonçalo Almeida - bass
Balázs Pándi - drums
"To find Gonçalo Almeida, Giovanni di Domenico and Bálasz Pándi on the same stage seems something only one with great imagination could aspire. And that's because this musicians combination is inherent in the crossing of creative music today, from drone, metal to freejazz. The result is a trio of individuality foreground, each with their own concepts, imagine goulash made out of fish would land on a pizza. "A promising wall of sound and adventurous creative music, that will make you glued to the floor, like you would be wearing cement shoes."
Releases:
HEINZ KARLHAUSEN & THE DIATONICS
Daniele Martini - tenor saxophone & effects
Gonçalo Almeida - bass and electronics
Friso van Wijck - drums
Rotterdam based jazzcore trio HK&D was formed in 2008. Featuring Portuguese Gonçalo Almeida on bass and electronics, Italian Daniele Martini on tenor saxophone and effects, and propelled by Dutch Friso Van Wijck on drums, the band’s music was made of raw power with space for improvisation and an overall eclectic approach. Reflecting the wide musical background of its members.
Releases:
MICHAL OSOWSKI COLLECTIVE
Michal Osowski - electronics
Daisuke Terauchi - voice, flute, harmonica, small instruments
Tamaho Miyake - voice, theremin, small instruments
Gonçalo Almeida - doublebass
Wieland Moeller - drums
Releases:
Live at White Elephant( 2007 Ayler Records)
BASS BASS BASS !!! Here some of the collaborations with this big resonant box.
ALMEIDA & JACQUEMYN
Gonçalo Almeida - double bass
Peter Jacquemyn - double bass
Releases:
EAR CINEMA DUO
Gonçalo Almeida - double bass
Raoul van der Weide - double bass & objects
Releases:
Earcinema ( Cylinder Recordings 2015)
Duas Margens (Cylinder Recordings 2017)
ALMEIDA / DE JOODE / LONBERG HOLM
Gonçalo Almeida - double bass
Fred Lonberg-Holm -cello
Wilbert de Joode - double bass
Releases:
Live at ZAAL 100 (Cylinder Recordings 2015)
ALMEIDA & DE JOODE
Gonçalo Almeida - double bass
Wilbert de Joode - double bass
Releases:
Live at Atelier Tarwewijk ( Rnachtstuckrecordsecordings 2014)