Joel Xavier

Biography

Born in Lisbon on 25th April 1974 (day of the peaceful revolution in Portugal) At the age of 15, he begins to study guitar, self taught. At the age of 16, he signs a contract for two albuns with BMG label. At the age of 17, he records his first album: "18". At the age of 19, he wins the "NAMM-SHOW" guitar competition in Los Angeles, which had 70 participating guitarrists, and he was considered one of the best 5 guitarrists of the year in the US, by American critics. At the age of 22, he record...

Born in Lisbon on 25th April 1974 (day of the peaceful revolution in Portugal)

At the age of 15, he begins to study guitar, self taught. At the age of 16, he signs a contract for two albuns with BMG label. At the age of 17, he records his first album: "18". At the age of 19, he wins the "NAMM-SHOW" guitar competition in Los Angeles, which had 70 participating guitarrists, and he was considered one of the best 5 guitarrists of the year in the US, by American critics.

At the age of 22, he records his second album: "Sr. Fado". At the age of 23, he is selected alongside the best latin guitarrists of the world: Larry Coryell, Bireli Lagrene, Tomatito, Luis Salinas and Rene Toledo, to record "Palabra de guitarra Latina" for BMG-Spain. He performs in the "1º MIDEM LATINO" in Miami, with the musicians that recorded the album, and tours the best auditoriums and bull squares in Spain, such as the "Palau de La Musica" in Barcelona and the Bullring in Palma de Maiorca.

At 25 years old, he records "Latin Groove" in Arturo Sandoval's private studio in Miami, with the special participation of Paquito D'Rivera, Michel Camilo, Larry Coryell and Sandoval himself. The cd is presented live in the "Maria Matos" Theatre, in Lisbon, and is recorded by RTP (Portuguese national television network) and broadcasted several times on RTP's channels, including RTP Internacional and RTP Africa. In that same year he receives endorsement from one of the most prestigious guitar brands: GIBSON.

At the invitation of Chucho Valdés, he performs in Habana's International Jazz Festival "Jazz Plaza 2000", beside Herbie Hancock, Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove, Chucho Valdés, Dave Valentin, Danilo Perez, Kenny Barron, Ronnie Mathews, Chano Dominguez, Jorge Pardo, Carles Benavent and Jane Bunnet, among others.

At the age of 26, he performs in Barcelona's Guitar Festival together with Paco de Lucia, Vicente Amigo, Tomatito, John Williams and Ichiro Suzuki.

In April 2001 he invites Bireli Lagrene and Juan Manuel Cañizares to create the 1st Guitar Meeting in Lisbon.

At 27 years of age, he records "Lusitano" with the special participation of Richard Galliano, starting a new musical step of his career. Inspired and influenced by "Novo Tango" of Astor Piazzola and "Nova Musette" of Richard Galliano, Joel Xavier creates a new musical language between portuguese traditional music (fado) and jazz. In April 2001, he presents "Lusitano" live, together with Richard Galliano in Lisbon and in Viana do Castelo.

In August 2001, he performs with Joey DeFrancesco in the Jazz Festival of Viana do Castelo.

In 2003 he records "Lisboa", continuing the musical project started with "Lusitano", in which Toots Thielemans and Carlos do Carmos participate as special guests. At the beginning of 2003, Joel Xavier is invited by Richard Galliano to be a part of his Acoustic Trio together with Jean Phillipe Viret (Stephane Grapelli's bass player) and perfoms in some of the most importat Jazz Festivals in the World (France, England, Brasil...)

In 2004, he is invited by the Camões Institute in Portugal, to be this country's representative in the European Community's Jazz Festival, taking place in Rabat, Morocco. In August 2004, he performs with Didier Lockwood in the cloister of the Mafra convent.

At age 30, he records with Ron Carter in New York, "Joel Xavier & Ron Carter, in New York". Recorded on the 24th of September 2004, in a mythical Manhattan studio, this CD celebrates the meeting of Xavier and the legendary jazz bass player.

In August 2005, the cd is presented live in the cloisters of the Mafra convent, recorded and broadcasted by RTP and by the french music channel MEZZO.

On 28th and 29th of July 2007, Joel Xavier and Ron Carter perform two special concerts in Viana do Castelo and Figueira da Foz.

In December 2007, he records SARAVÁ (CD&DVD), live in the São Luiz Theatre in Lisbon. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.