He was born in Lagos and he is an autodidactic musician, having initiated his musical studies at about seven years of age in the city..s philharmonic. In 1991 it is in Faro that finds a small jazz community made up of local musicians, connected to what remained of a jazz club. In 1994 he begins private harmony, composition and Jazz classes with Zé Eduardo, participating in several workshops throughout the country. The first Big band appears in his career through Zé Eduardo in the ..Big Band Jazz in the Philharmonic... He studies in several workshops such as the Algarve Jazz Workshop (1996), or courses given by diverse musicians such as John Nugent, Doug Weiss and Dawn Thompson, Randy Brecker, Frank Tiberi, Scott Wendholt, among many others. After a quick stint in the ..Big Band Almada Cool.., he becomes part of 2000 the ..Zé Eduardo Unit.. in 2000 participating in the Matosinhos Jazz Festival alongside the high saxophonist Peter King. With the ..Unit.. he participates on José Duarte..s TV program ..Jazz in Black and White... In 2001 he becomes part of the ..Matosinhos Jazz Orchestra.., covering some of the most important Festivals of Jazz in the country until May of 2004. During this period the orchestra had noteworthy guests like: Bob Berg, Conrad Herwig, Ingrid Jensen, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Gary Valente. He was part of a big band which paid homage to Louis Armstong, directed by Laurent Filipe, in which Angela Hagenbach and the guitarist Danny Embrey participated. In 2001, rehearsals began for the Quartet that had its opening night at Faro..s 6th International Jazz Festival ..Jazz in the Winter.. that same year, he would come to record the ..Strange Nature.. CD in 2003, considered by Jose Duarte at http://www.jazzportugal.ua.pt as the ..Best Portuguese Jazz CD of 2003... On ..Strange Nature the musicians are: Bruno Santos (guitar), Nuno Correia (doublebass) and Jorge Moniz (drums). Still in 2001 Hugo Alves participates for about a year on a weekly program on channel RTP1. In 2003 he starts a regular participation with the ..Jorge Costa Pinto Orchestra.. (Lisbon) and is named honorary partner of the Association ..Córdoba Jazz.. (Spain) as recognition for being one of the new and more important attributes of Current Portuguese jazz. In 2004 he establishes the ..Lagos Jazz Orchestra.., in Lagos a Big Band with 18 musicians. In 2005 he edits the CD ..Taksi Trio.. once again with original music and alongside musicians Jorge Moniz (drums) and Zé Eduardo (doublebass), the CD was highly sponsored by Faro the National Capital of Culture, and recently distinguished as ..One of the Best Portuguese Jazz CDs of 2005.. (Jazz.pt magazine, Improvisos do Sul Blog). In 2006 Hugo contributes with two texts, one about Louis Armstrong, another about Dizzy Gillespie, for one of the most important edited Jazz collections in Portugal until now, the collection ..Let..s Jazz.. for the Public Periodical, guided by Jose Duarte. Theory becomes practice through the project Jazz In School (http://jazznaescola.com), in collaboration with the Regional Education Director of the Algarve, with the production of the multimedia CD-ROM to be used in the sessions, and he also records his new CD ..Given Soul.. with musicians Pablo Romero (piano, SPA), Rodrigo Monteiro (doublebass, POR) and Michael Lauren (drums, U.S.A.). 2007 is the year of the release of the ..Given Soul.. CD, that has meanwhile already had a Presentation Tour took the Quartet to Salamanca and Mérida in Spain, and also to the Hot Club Jazz Party at the São Luiz Theater in Lisbon. For 2007 another even bigger project will be undertaken by Hugo Alves, the AJMMA - Atelier of Jazz and Modern Music of the Algarve, that will soon be presented and shall be the first School of Jazz in the Algarve, with a Program of defined studies and Faculty, and will be located at the new headquarters of the Music Association of the South / Lagos Jazz Orchestra. Hugo Alves has participated in innumerable Festivals and events in countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, South Africa and Italy.

 

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