Afonso Pais

Afonso Pais was born in Lisbon in 1979. He began studying piano and drums in 1984. In 1993, he developed an interest in the guitar and, by 1995, decided to focus on it as his main instrument.

In September 1995, he enrolled at the Hot Clube de Portugal Jazz School, pursuing jazz as his professional path. His guitar teachers included Vasco Agostinho, António Pinto, Mário Delgado, and Nuno Ferreira.

In 1996, he began performing with the “Big Villas Band” (the Hot Clube de Portugal’s student and members big band), remaining with the group for two years and performing across the country. Around the same time, he also began giving concerts, particularly as a sideman.

He was awarded the highest scholarship among approximately 150 participants by Berklee College of Music. During that period, he also performed two concerts in a jazz club in Perugia with local musicians.

From 1997 onwards, he began performing regularly, both as a leader and as a sideman, collaborating with leading figures of Portuguese jazz such as João Moreira, Bernardo Moreira, Aldo Caviglia, Nelson Cascais, Rodrigo Gonçalves, Pedro Gonçalves, Nuno Ferreira, Carlos Barretto, Carlo Morena, André Sousa Machado, and Gualdino Barros, as well as international musicians including Bart Defoort, Dave Burnette, Esteban Pi, Alexis Cuadrado, and pianist Albert Sanz.

In the autumn of 1998, he moved to New York to study at the prestigious New School for Social Research, enrolling in the Jazz and Contemporary Music program, where he graduated in Performance in December 2000. There, he studied with renowned jazz figures such as Vic Juris and Peter Bernstein (regular guitar instructors), Kurt Rosenwinkel, Charles Tolliver, Buster Williams, Joe Chambers, Joanne Brackeen, and Andrew Cyrille, among others. During this time, he also performed with Peter Bernstein, Peter Zak, and Ben Waltzer in bars and clubs across New York.

He currently teaches at the Hot Clube de Portugal Jazz School and at the Madeira Music Conservatory, while maintaining an active freelance career in the Portuguese jazz scene.