Diogo ALEXANDRE

Diogo Filipe Quintino Alexandre is especially known for his distinct, bold drumming style, whose unique voice never goes unnoticed, regardless of the musical context, perhaps a reflection of his need to outdo himself and to push music and improvisation forward to ever-higher levels.
His interest in music grew from early on, having been motivated by his mother, herself a musician. He took his first musical steps in classical percussion, but his interest gradually began to decline, having given up after 5 years as a result of feeling unhappy with the teaching method. In consequence of this, he decided he wanted to play the drums. At 13 his mother gave him his first drum set, and at 14 he moved away from home to study jazz at a jazz school in Coimbra. From this point onwards, his life completely changed, having since not ceased from following his goals and his passion for music.

After moving to Lisbon to study jazz at university in 2016, he began to perform on a regular basis, gaining valuable musical and life experience. By the age of 19, he had already performed alongside artists such as João Barradas, Jeffery Davis, João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Pedro Moreira, Óscar Graça, Carlos Barretto, Victor Zamora, André Fernandes, Damien Cabaud, Eduardo Cardinho, amongst others. He has won various national music prizes, including “Best Performer” (2015 and 2017) and “Best Ensemble” (2015) at the São Luiz Jazz Fest in Lisbon. In addition, he participated in the recording of Javier Subatin’s AUTOTELIC (2018), alongside some of the most important musicians in the Portuguese jazz scene, expressly, Desidério Lázaro, André Rosinha and João Paulo Esteves da Silva.
More recently, he was selected to perform at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as part of an intercultural ensemble led by Fabrizio Cassol with musicians from all around the Mediterranean.

He is currently finishing his bachelor in Jazz at the Superior Music School of Lisbon (the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa) and performing with artists such as Miguel Calhaz, Javier Subatin and Victor Zamora, exploring musical repertoire ranging from jazz to world music, and is also working on Zé Cruz’s new album as part of the project USSEGUNDU.

Photo credit: Jorge Carmona