Brazilian artist Lucas Santana has firmly established himself on the international music scene, making a shift from Brazil to Amsterdam. The saxophonist was in Mumbai earlier this year, and made his debut performance in Mumbai, where he performed at the World Jazz Festival  in Mumbai on the weekend of29th & 30th April 2023 at the Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Bandra.

Verus Ferreira spoke with Lucas about his early days, current band, his influences, his two albums and how he crafts his unique soundscapes.

Can you tell us something about how you got into music and your growing up days?

I was born in the favelas in São Paulo. At some point my parents decided to raise me countryside, in a quieter place. In this small city called Piracaia, my dad Luiz Carlos Santana created a project to teach music for kids and young adults. This project was growing up slowly, and I was learning music within this project. My dad was my first teacher and inspiration. I started playing clarinet when I was 6 years old, and changed to saxophone when I was 11 years old.  I had classical music as background but I always had jazz and Brazilian music as a hobby. 

When I turned 16 I decided to study jazz and become a professional. I moved to São Paulo to study in one of the best music schools in Brazil called music school of São Paulo State (EMESP Tom Jobim).

Did your parents play a role in influencing you into music?

My mom is an art teacher and my dad a history teacher. I was surrounded with art since I was a kid, and I think this was really important as I was growing up. As I said before, my dad was my first musical inspiration, and I wanted to be like him when I was growing up. His patience to teach and his ability to think about the community was encouraging, and I tried to bring that to myself. 

As a Quintet, who are the other members of your band and what role do they play in bringing the sound that goes as the Lucas Santana Quintet?

As part of my band, I have great friends and amazing musicians on my side. On drums we have Tim Hennekes from the Netherlands, on Double Bass Matheus Nicolaiewsky from Brazil, on piano Timothy Banchet from the Netherlands and on guitar Davor Stehlik from Serbia. In Amsterdam there’s a big jazz community, and I had the chance to play with great musicians, but I was fortunate enough to have these people playing with me. They find new music inside of my own music, I get surprised every time we play the same songs. With them I feel free to discovery and explore new colors and sounds. 

You fuse electronic and organic textures, samples from classical music, pop and jazz, Brazilian and global influences in your music. Can you tell us something about this?

For this tour I bring a mix of modern jazz chord progressions, mixed with several rhythms such as straight ahead swing, salsa, bossa, bolero. Being raised in Brazil means that you have all the culture from the globe around you. This mix of culture made me who I am today, and I tried to bring this into my songs.

On that note, are you influenced by Brazilian tropicalismo music and is it part of your music

Brazilian tropicalismo was a big musical movement in Brazil. I can’t say that this movement influenced me directly, but I recognize some of the ideas in some of the songs. Tropicalismo was a rupture of parameters and standards in Brazilian music. Looking from this perspective, my music doesn’t bring anything new, instead, I bring a collection of the musical tools that enchanted me throughout my life being played by my heroes. 

As a Brazilian saxophonist you’ve made a name in the Dutch jazz world. How did the switch from Brazil to Amsterdam happen? Why did you decide to move to Amsterdam? 

Moving to Amsterdam was never my plan. I was in Brazil studying to become a music teacher when I applied for a scholarship to study abroad. I was granted with a scholarship by Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation awards to come to the Netherlands and study jazz music at Conservatorium van Amsterdam. I remember that at that point I couldn’t speak English very well and I didn’t have any money. I arrived in the Netherlands in 2015, I had the chance to do my Bachelors and Master degree in the same educational institution, and after my studies I started my band.

What music has influenced you?

The first music style that influenced me was classical music. I remember when I was young and my dad put a lot of classical music to play in the house. Later on I started watching musicals with my dad, he was a big fan of Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. That’s the part where Classical and Jazz meets. George Gershwin, Cole Porter was a few composers that I started listening when I was younger and then later on, I had a chance to listen to Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nate King Cole and Louis Armstrong. Brazilian music was always around in my house, some of my heroes are Pixinguinha, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Nailor Proveta, Chico Buarque, among others.

To date you have released two albums, ‘Reflections’ (2021) and ‘Ambivalence’. How different are each from the other?

The album ‘Reflections’ was released in 2021 just when I graduated from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. As the name suggests, the album brings a few reflections of my musical studies in the past few years. When I moved to the Netherlands, I had a intense journey into Jazz where I could explore a lot of the saxophone world, so in a few songs I intended to pay tribute to some of the great saxophone heroes that influenced me, such as John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Joe Henderson, among others. ‘Ambivalence’ is the second studio album of the quintet. On this album I wanted to make a contrast on everything I have written before. On this album, I try to explore a little bit with longer forms and stretching the harmony little bit more towards the modern Jazz chord progression. You can definitely notice on the song called Faith that there is a really strong classical background underneath, but as long as we progress with the tune, we can find also some Latin emphasis and even if you wanna call hip-hop influences.  In this album I dedicated two songs to my parents, Luiz and Regina. The song Regina is a lullaby song where I wanted to bring not only my mom, but more people in general closer to this jazz environment. The song I dedicated to my dad is called Luiz, and it’s a bolero. This song I composed because I wanted people to dance while we play, and my dad loves dancing.

What is a Lucas Santana jazz set like? What can the audience at the Banyan Tree’ World Jazz Festival expect?

The people in the audience can expect a really energetic jazz concert with the musicians exploring the most of their instruments. I’m lucky enough to share the stage with amazing musicians, and they make every song sound unique. Expect to dance, to shake the body, to go into reflection moments. 

How are you feeling about coming to India and performing? Is this your first visit to the country?

I’m super excited to visit India for the first time.  I’m from the generation that already grew up with internet, so throughout YouTube sometimes the Indian culture and music always crossed my path. I’m looking forward to visit places, but also to bring a little bit of jazz and Brazilian music to your country. 

What have you heard of Indian music and Bollywood Music?

When I was young I had the chance to study the Konnakol rhythm method. It was really challenging and fun to learn. This method helped me every day, especially when I have to solve rhythmic problems. 

What’s your plans for the future?

I want to travel with my band around the world, play to as many people as possible and visit places. I think playing music is a privilege, we get know people and places, coming to India is one of the greatest gifts I ever had, and exchange this culture with mine will make my music in the future sound differently than now. I want this kind of experiences. I wanna exchange and make music as much as possible.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira