João Lencastre
drummer/composer
Place where I'll be posting new videos,
records, random thoughts...
November 14th, 2024
Excited for these upcoming gigs with my most recent project "Dancing on Rail Tracks".
On the 16th at Salão Brazil in Coimbra and on the 21st at Bota in Lisbon.
Hope to see you!
October 6th, 2024
I had an amazing time playing with this quartet featuring Rodrigo Amado, Samuel Gapp and Hernâni Faustino at Jazz ao Centro Festival in Coimbra on the 4th and 5th of October.
Record from this gigs coming out in 2025 on JACC Records.
Check out the review for Jazz.pt by Gonçalo Falcão.
September 20th, 2024
Couple more great reviews on "Free Celebration" record!
June 20th, 2024
June 15th, 2024
Coming out on July 5th on Robalo Music !
CD release gig at Robalo Festival on July 18th
July 2nd, 2023
Jazz no Parque, "JMalaby/Formanek/Lencastre" , Fundação de Serralves - (Tony Malaby, Michael Formanek & João Lencastre )
Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, 2 de julho de 2023.
Fotos © André Delhaye
June 1st, 2023
May 6th, 2023
Had a wonderful time at Beginnings Festival, for the premiere of a project that I've been working in the past few years, based on electronic/dance music with some improvisation and acoustic drums.
I was joined here by Ludovico Andrenacci on dance improvisation.
May 1st, 2023
IGreat review for Jazz.PT from the gig with "Unlimited Dreams" at Festival de Jazz de Portalegre. It always a blast playing with this group!
December 22, 2022
Really pleased for receiving the RTP/Festa do Jazz award of "musician of the year"
November 7th, 2022
Very happy for having "Safe in Your Own World" on The Best Jazz on Bandcamp list!
Click on the image below to check it out.
October 22nd, 2022
Great reviews on "Studio Adventures" & "Safe in Your Own World" by António Branco for Jazz.PT
Click on the image below to read it.
October 7th, 2022
New record out now!
Click on the cover below to check it out.
September 2nd, 2022
Just released on Bandcamp some improvisations recorded during the "Unlimited Dreams" session.
Click on the image below to check it out.
August 6th, 2022
It was a blast presenting "Unlimited Dreams" live for the first time at Jazz em Agosto Festival at Gulbenkian open-air amphitheater.
Check out here some of the reviews about the concert and festival.
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June 15th, 2022
Happy to make part of these two new recordings. Very different from each other, but equally sounding great!
"Neighbour Lizard" with Nelson Cascais on bass, André Fernandes on guitar and João Moratágua on alto sax.
And "Affinitty Suite" with Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, José Lencastre on alto sax, Miguel Mira on cello, and Hernâni Faustino on bass.
May 25th, 2022
So much looking forward to this!!
"Unlimited Dreams" live at Gulbenkian Jazz em Agosto Festival.
August 4th, save the date!
May 5th, 2022
Couldn't be happier to see "Unlimited Dreams" winning the Vodafone/RTP Prémios Play award for best Jazz album of 2021.
January 10th, 2022
Happy new year everyone!
2021 it was a challenging but still very productive year. I'm very glad to see "Unlimited Dreams" having so many great reviews all around the world and chosen to make part on many "best of 2021" lists. (please find everything on the "Press" section.
Looking forward to what's coming, already with many ideas and projects in mind..More news about that soon.
Ok, stay safe you all!
November 2nd, 2021
It was a blast playing with these guys at Seixal Jazz Festival and at Casa da Música in Porto. Here's a little snippet from the tune "Song of Hope"
September 28th, 2021
New record coming out on October 15th, on Clean Feed Records.
Pre-order available soon.
Stay tuned!
July 1st, 2021
Excited to announce that my new record with Commuion is coming out in October on Clean Feed records. Stay tuned for more news coming soon!
March 21st, 2021
Very happy to be featured on March's edition of Vogue Portugal.
I answer a few questions about the moment we're living, how does that affect the creative process, and some other things..
Click on the cover below to read it.
January 7th, 2021
Happy new year everyone!
New review on "No Gravity" by Paul Accuaro for Free Jazz Blog.
November 21st, 2020
New video from CD release gig at SMUP, check it out!
September 18th, 2020
""No Gravity" is out now!
(click image to buy it)
July 24th, 2020
Very much looking forward to play at Jazz 2020 with my group" Parallel Realities".
It will be at the Gulbenkian's open-air Amphitheatre, a beautiful and very especial place.
All the ingredients for a magic night!
Click on the link below to get your tickets.
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July 3rd, 2020
Bandcamp is waiving their revenue share today. If you feel like buying some music, today is the day!
(click image)
May 25th, 2020
The first time I heard Jimmy Cobb playing was on Miles Davis record "Kind of Blue". Finesse and class were the words that first came to my mind to describe Jimmy's playing, but goes way beyond that. His unique musicality, drive and time feel makes him one of the greatest of all time and his legacy will be forever an inspiration to the upcoming generations.
Thank you for everything master Jimmy, R.I.P.
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May 6th, 2020
I just came across of this video on Youtube from Roy Haynes Quartet live at the Blue Note New York 2019.
For those who don't know, Roy is a living legend, an innovator, also known as "The father of modern jazz drumming", that has played with all the greats from Charlie Parker to Coltrane , Thelonious Monk, Pat Metheny, including many many others.
As if all this weren't enough, seeing him playing in this video at the age of 94 with the same passion and fire he always had is something that leaves me speechless..
Thank you master!
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April 30th, 2020
Back in the Summer of 2001, I heard Tony Allen for the first time on the record "Black Voices".
It completely blown me away, not only the music, but his groove, his touch, his musicality, and everything...Sounded fresh to my ears, like something that I had never heard before
.I had the privilege to see him playing live for couple times, meet him backstage and chat with him for couple minutes. He was such a humble, sweet and genuine person, I could tell from that little meeting, although you can feel that by the way he always played, honest and pure..
Thanks a lot for inspiration master Tony, R.I.P.
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April 27th,2020
This video is from a home improvisation I did recently with my electronics kit. I invited my friend Deva Sanmart to perform and improvise some dance moves.
The idea is to perform with this project live near future.
April 23rd,2020
Couple new vídeos from CCB gig with Communion 3, featuring Jacob Sacks on piano and Eivind Opsvik on bass.