Felipe Salles Ugandan Suite at Regattabar

Felipe Salles presents The Ugandan Suite Album Release Celebration on Wednesday, May 21 at 7:30 PM at The Regattabar, located at 1 Bennett Street, Cambridge. Tickets are $20 and $15 for students and can be reserved online by visiting www.regattabarjazz.com or by calling 617 661 5000.

Felipe Salles, born in Sao Paolo, Brazil, is an innovative saxophonist, composer and arranger who has recorded and played with Randy Brecker, Jerry Bergonzi, George Russell and Dave Liebman among others. Salles is 2009-2010 winner of the French American Jazz Exchange Grant from FACE and a 2005-2006 winner of the Chamber Music America New Works: Creation and Presentation Grant Program. He has also been awarded First Place in the Concurso SGAE de Jazz “TETE MONTOLIO”, in 2001. He has also been awarded the Boston Jazz Society Scholarship award in 1997. Salles is now based in New York City and teaches at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst. ...

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Felipe Salles presents The Ugandan Suite Album Release Celebration on Wednesday, May 21 at 7:30 PM at The Regattabar, located at 1 Bennett Street, Cambridge. Tickets are $20 and $15 for students and can be reserved online by visiting www.regattabarjazz.com or by calling 617 661 5000.

Felipe Salles, born in Sao Paolo, Brazil, is an innovative saxophonist, composer and arranger who has recorded and played with Randy Brecker, Jerry Bergonzi, George Russell and Dave Liebman among others. Salles is 2009-2010 winner of the French American Jazz Exchange Grant from FACE and a 2005-2006 winner of the Chamber Music America New Works: Creation and Presentation Grant Program. He has also been awarded First Place in the Concurso SGAE de Jazz “TETE MONTOLIO”, in 2001. He has also been awarded the Boston Jazz Society Scholarship award in 1997. Salles is now based in New York City and teaches at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst.

In 2010 Salles was awarded a fellowship from the Whiting Foundation for the financing of a research trip to the East African country of Uganda. This 2011 trip was a life changing experience for the jazz artist. “Although the specific influence of Ugandan music in jazz is undocumented, the rhythmic similarities point to a great philosophical affinity and great potential for dialogue between the two musical cultures. Africa has always been part of the jazz evolution and development,” says Salles. The unique opportunity to travel to Uganda allowed Salles to bring back primary source knowledge about African music and a clearer understanding of how such musical concepts have been taught through generations by African musicians. Inspired by this music and tradition, Felipe composed The Ugandan Suite, which is now available on Tapestry Records.

The suite is inspired by Ugandan traditional music and the legend of the five most powerful animals of the jungle: the lion, the elephant, the Cape buffalo, the leopard and the rhinoceros. Each one of the five movements will combine a specific Ugandan tribal rhythm and an animal characteristic or personality.


Salles will be joined by saxophonist Tucker Antell, pianist Maxim Lubarksy, bassist Keala Kaumeheiwa and drummer Bertram Lehmann. Also accompanying Salles is Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Boccato.

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