A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Salles is a saxophonist and composer whose work brings together musical influences from his homeland, the jazz idiom, as well as the contemporary classical idiom. He has had works performed by the Metropole Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Violas, Meta4 String Quartet, Arno Bornkamp, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Conservatory Jazz Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, and the UMass Amherst Wind Ensemble, among others.
An active musician in the U.S. since 1995, Salles has worked and recorded with prominent jazz artists including Randy Brecker, David Liebman, Lionel Loueke, Jerry Bergonzi, Chico Pinheiro, Jovino Santos Neto, Oscar Stagnaro, Duduka Da Fonseca, Maucha Adnet, Tony Lujan, Luciana Souza, and Bob Moses. He has toured extensively in Europe, North and South America, India and Australia, as a sideman and as leader of his own group....
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A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Salles is a saxophonist and composer whose work brings together musical influences from his homeland, the jazz idiom, as well as the contemporary classical idiom. He has had works performed by the Metropole Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Violas, Meta4 String Quartet, Arno Bornkamp, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Conservatory Jazz Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, and the UMass Amherst Wind Ensemble, among others.
An active musician in the U.S. since 1995, Salles has worked and recorded with prominent jazz artists including Randy Brecker, David Liebman, Lionel Loueke, Jerry Bergonzi, Chico Pinheiro, Jovino Santos Neto, Oscar Stagnaro, Duduka Da Fonseca, Maucha Adnet, Tony Lujan, Luciana Souza, and Bob Moses. He has toured extensively in Europe, North and South America, India and Australia, as a sideman and as leader of his own group.
Salles currently leads both The Felipe Salles Group and Felipe Salles’ Interconnections Ensemble, and also works as a member of the New World Jazz Composers Octet, Kyle Saulnier's Awakening Orchestra, Alex Alvear's Mango Blue and Gonzalo Grau's Grammy-nominated La Clave Secreta.
Salles’ fifth release, Departure (Tapestry, 2012) received rave reviews. In its four star review, Downbeat Magazine called Felipe’s music “crafting pieces that juggle intriguing complexity with buoyant rhythms and lush colors”, making DownBeat’s best albums of the year list in 2013. JazzTimes Magazine said “Felipe Salles blends the visceral and the cerebral on his fascinating fifth album, infusing classical modernist strains with the buoyant rhythms of his Brazilian homeland.”
His sixth album, Ugandan Suite (Tapestry, 2014), was described by jazz guitarist extraordinaire Lionel Loueke as follows: “This is one of the best progressive works I have heard in a long time. What a great blend of classical, African and Jazz music.” It also made DownBeat’s best albums of the year list in 2014.
Felipe’s seventh release, the CD Varanda (Tapestry, 2017), by the The Reunion Project, a Brazilian jazz collective, has received critical acclaim, including a 4.5 stars review on the July 2017 issue of DownBeat Magazine.
2018 marks the release of his first large jazz ensemble recording, The Lullaby Project and Other Works for Large Jazz Ensemble, which was composed for and recorded by his own Interconnections Ensemble.
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