"Portuguese jazz musician of the year"
by JAZZ.PT, 2018
The music press is unanimous in stating that Mário Costa became, in just a few years, one of the most important drummers of the European jazz scene. The success of the project OXY PATINA confirms it, and also its continuity now with Cuong Vu joining the trio formed with Benoit Delbecq and Bruno Chevillon and confirming the Portuguese musician as a composer with ideas of his own. A success already obtained when Costa made himself noted in the project "Sfumato" lead by Émile Parisien, side by side with veterans Michel Portal, Joachim Kuhn and Wynton Marsalis. Also when he collaborated with Andy Sheppard in the saxophonist’s quartet and, back in time, when he recorded “Nebulosa” with Hugo Carvalhais with Tim Berne, received with special enthusiasm worldwide by journalists and reviewers. In this same musical area, his personal success is associated with the international achievements of Portuguese jazz, collaborating with various musicians from different generations, from João Mortágua or Hugo Carvalhais to Carlos Bica or Mário Laginha. But the fame of Mário Costa transcends the jazz field: his work with Portuguese fado singers/songwriters Miguel Araújo, António Zambujo and Ana Moura brought him to venues like Carnegie Hall NYC, Sidney Opera House, Berlin Philharmonic, Barbican Center (UK), SFJAZZ Center (USA) among many others.
What comes next promises much more, beginning with the new record CHROMOSOME...