Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado specializes in free form, composition-in-the-moment jazz. He is also an accomplished photographer. Celebrated widely by avant-jazz and free improv fans alike and equally comfortable in both worlds, Amado has a preference that lands firmly on the jazz side of the divide. He was a well-seasoned sideman by the time he released 2003's The Space Between, his leader debut with Carlos Zingaro and Ken Filiano. He has released roughly an album a year since -- sometimes more. 2010's quartet offering Searching for Adam revealed the full maturity of his balance between improvisation, composition, and harmonic structure. He formed a wildly imaginative quartet with Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler, and Chris Corsano and they released acclaimed, standard-setting albums like This Is Our Language (2015), The History of Nothing (2017), and Let the Free Be Men (2021). In 2022, Amado reached another milestone when Trost released the unaccompanied concert recording Refraction Solo: Live at Church of the Holy Ghost.

Born in Lisbon in 1964, Amado began studying the sax at the age of 17, and briefly at the Hot Club Music School of Lisbon and with mentors Carlos Martins, Pedro Madaleno, and Jorge Reis, among other leading Portuguese jazz artists. With diverse musical interests, he explored how improvisation is handled in other genres, although his work with his various ensembles like the Lisbon Improvisation Players and the Motion Trio (with Miguel Mira and Gabriel Ferrandini) falls clearly under the umbrella of 21st century jazz, and he has been an in-demand studio player on numerous recorded projects.

Amado worked hard and with enthusiasm to develop his skills as a sideman with any jazzman or avant-gardist who called on him. He made his debut recording with trumpeter/composer Sei Miguel's group on Breaker in 1988. Two years later he assisted on João Peste O Acidoxibordel's self-titled EP. The '90s were an exciting and fruitful time for Lisbon's jazz and vanguard music communities. Excited for the coming millennium, musicians engaged in all sorts of collaborative projects, paying no regard to genre. In 1998, Amado joined avant-rocker José Eduardo De Almeida to release the classic Mensagem, and avant composer and multi-instrumentalist André Maranha's Nacht und Träume. The following year he rejoined Miguel's band for the double-length Token.

In 2001, Amado co-founded Clean Feed with Pedro and Carlos Costa -- it is one of the world's most prolific and foremost avant-garde labels. He assisted the Implicate Order -- a trio composed of Ken Filiano, Lou Grassi, and Steve Swell -- on At Seixal, the label's inaugural release. The following year, his own Lisbon Improvisation Players recorded and released Live LxMeskla.

In 2003, Amado was finally presented with the opportunity to lead his own Clean Feed date. He enlisted bassist Filiano and violinist/electronicist Carlos Zingaro for The Space Between, offering nine collective, in-the-moment compositions. Lauded critically, it signaled his international arrival as a bandleader and soloist. Over the next couple of years, he worked with the Lisbon Improvisation Players to release Motion (2004) and Spiritualized (2006).

In 2005, Amado left Clean Feed to start European Echoes, his own label. Its first release was Teatro, offering the trio of Amado, bassist Kent Kessler, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love performing at 2004's Teatro Nacional São João, February 14, 2004, at the Spectrum Festival. In 2007, Amado released Surface (For Alto, Baritone and Strings), utilizing a quartet with Zingaro, Filiano, and cellist Tomas Ulrich, and played on the eponymous debut by Luis Lopes' Humanization 4tet. In 2009 , Amado formed the Lisbon-based Motion Trio with cellist Miguel Mira and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini; their eponymous debut appeared that year as did The Abstract Truth from the trio of Amado, Kessler, and Nilssen-Love. The following year, the saxophonist recorded Searching for Adam, one of his most important outings for Not Two. Accompanied by trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and double bassist John Herbert, it offered six carefully constructed, revelatory improvisations. That year, the saxophonist also played on Electricity, the sophomore outing from Luís Lopes' Humanization 4tet.

Amado's Motion Trio commenced recording a series of albums featuring guest soloists. In 2013 they collaborated with trombonist Jeb Bishop and netted the studio offering The Flame Alphabet and Burning Live at Jazz Ao Centro. In 2014, it was The Freedom Principle with trumpeter Peter Evans. Amado also managed to release the self-titled debut by his new group, the Rodrigo Amado Wire Quartet, with drummer Ferrandini, guitarist Manuel Mota, and double bass legend Hernani Faustino. The album drew rave reviews from New York City and Lisbon to Tokyo, London, and Sydney, for its fluid weave of tight, disciplined group interplay and abundant, spontaneous creativity.

In 2016, the quartet of Amado, multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, bassist Kessler, and drummer Chris Corsano delivered the incendiary, soulful This Is Our Language, which had been recorded four years earlier. The Motion Trio issued Desire Freedom in 2016 and took it out on the road. The saxophonist also guested on Miguel's (Five) Stories Untold that year. ?The following year, Amado, bassist Gonçalo Almeida, and drummer Marco Franco released the spontaneously composed The Attic for Lithuania's NoBusiness label.

In 2018, the Trost label issued A History of Nothing by the quartet of McPhee, Corsano, Kessler, and Amado, this time recorded in a studio. In July 2018, Clean Feed released Praise of Our Folly by Lisbon Freedom Unit, an all-star improvising ensemble that included Amado, Faustino, Lopes, pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, and saxophonists Pedro Sousa (tenor) and Bruno Parrinha (soprano and clarinet). Amado and guitarist Dirk Serries appeared together at a festival in the Netherlands and improvised for nearly an hour. The following year, the London-based Raw Tonk released the performance as Jazzblazzt. Amado stayed busy. He and Corsano released the duo offering No Place to Fall, while the Attic (Amado, bassist Gonçalo Almeida, and Dutch drummer Onno Govaert) recorded for NoBusiness. The saxophonist rejoined the Luís Lopes Humanization 4tet for Believe, Believe on Clean Feed.

Amado released three albums in 2021. With the quartet of Corsano, Kessler, and McPhee, he released Let the Free Be Men on Trost (it was recorded four years earlier in Copenhagen). Also recorded four years earlier -- in a club -- was We Are Electric by Rodrigo Amado Northern Liberties with Gard Nilssen (drums), Jon Rune Strøm (double bass), and Thomas Johansson (trumpet). The year also saw NoBusiness release The Field, a 2019 concert recording at the Vilnius Jazz Festival by the Motion Trio with guest pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach. In August 2022, NoBusiness released Love Ghosts by the Attic, and in December, Trost issued his first unaccompanied recording, Refraction Solo: Live at Church of the Holy Ghost, which was cut in a historic church in the Caldas da Rainha, District of Leiria in Portugal. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi