André Fernandes

Guitar

Participated in the 2024 edition

André Fernandes was born in Lisbon. He studied at the Hot Clube de Portugal and was awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA.

An internationally recognized musician, he has collaborated over the years with artists such as Lee Konitz, Mário Laginha, Chris Cheek, Maria João, Cyro Baptista, Ohad Talmor, Perico Sambeat, Tomasz Stańko, Bernardo Sassetti, Dan Weiss, Pete Rende, Bill McHenry, Jochen Rueckert, Jeff Ballard, Julian Argüelles, David Binney, Chris Potter, Avishai Cohen, Eli Degibri, Jorge Rossy, Carlos Barreto, Akiko Pavolka, Jarmo Savolainen, Phil Markowitz, and João Paulo Esteves da Silva, among many others.

He was named Jazz Musician of the Year by the newspaper Público and featured on the cover of Jazz.pt magazine.

He is a regular guest with the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos, with whom he has performed as a soloist, as well as in projects alongside Maria Schneider, Mark Turner, John Hollenbeck, Joshua Redman, and Maria Rita, among others.

Having performed extensively across Europe, the United States, and South America, Fernandes has been a member of the Lee Konitz New Nonet, as well as groups led by Maria João, Perico Sambeat, Nelson Cascais, Mário Laginha, among others.

He was the founder of the jazz label Tone of a Pitch, through which he produced dozens of albums that represent a decade of Portuguese jazz, and led the Guimarães Jazz / TOAP Colectivo project over several years.

He has released eleven albums under his own name, collaborating with musicians such as Mário Laginha, Bernardo Sassetti, Perico Sambeat, and Bernardo Moreira, among others, and has appeared as a sideman on over forty recordings to date.

He is currently a member of the groups Chasing Penguins (Belgium) and Lithium (Finland), and leads his own projects Centauri, Fushi, and Kinetic.

In parallel, he leads the rock band ThE SPiLL, produces and mixes records for numerous artists at his Timbuktu studio in Lisbon, and teaches at the Lisbon School of Music and the University of Évora. He is also regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide, including at the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), the Conservatories of Barcelona and Valencia, Badejazz, and the University of Aveiro, among others.