Carlos Costa - Espacios (2023)

Carlos Costa, native of S/C de Tenerife, Canary Islands. Double bassist who focuses his work on Jazz, improvised music and free improvisation. He participates in various groups from his solo project, “Door of no return” to his presence in various projects where the interaction between improvisation and composition or free improvisation predominates.

Although he has participated in numerous recordings with musicians of very diverse tendencies, his most notable recording works are “Espacios” with his band Jet-Set, where he acts as composer, producer and bassist; “Energy” trio formed by Carlos Costa, José Miguel Méndez-drums and Manolo Rodríguez-guitar; “Both sides of the coin” project led with guitarist Manolo Rodríguez; “1+1=1”, by the duo CoZta-RodrígueS, “The Foucault Pendulum” with the band Two Sides of the Same Coin led by Manolo Rodríguez, “Macaronesia” recorded in Lisbon with Ernesto Rodrigues and Manolo Rodríguez. “Ínsulas: seven sound portraits of the Canary Islands” with Wade Matthews, Manolo Rodríguez and Javier Pedreira, “The Wait” album by Manolo Rodríguez with drummer Tom Rainey, “Door of no return”, solo project as a double bassist.

In recent years, after his time at the BIT in Los Angeles and the SIM in New York (School for Improvisational Music), he has performed concerts with Manolo Rodríguez, Tim Berne, Tomas Fujiwara, Ingar Zach, Wade Matthews, Javier Pedreira, Kike Perdomo, Abdul Moimeme, Ernesto Rodrígues, among others.

He is co-director of the Loft Music Festival (free improvisation festival) and coordinator of the In & Out ImproSeries concert series with Manolo Rodríguez.

On a pedagogical level, he teaches classes at the Guillermo González Music School in La Laguna and has collaborated in the translation into Spanish of the double bassist Mark Dresser's method. He also proposes his workshop “Speaking Rhythm” based on the nature of rhythm in his personal pedagogical project: “Rhythmic City”.

Always interested in his training, he studies with double bassists such as Ladislav Stukowski, Alain Bourgignon, Mark Dresser, Mark Helias or Ben Street. And with other musicians such as Ralph Alessi, Tomas Fujiwara, Miles Okazaki, Steve Coleman, Gerald Cleaver, Marc Ducret, Andy Milne, Sergio Brandao, Matthew Garrison, Jeff Andrews...among others.

In the summer of 2015 he participates in a month-long residency in Chicago with Steve Coleman and Five Elements.

He has received a degree in Theology with a Thesis work titled: “Beauty and Faith in the musical work of Olivier Messiaen. An evangelizing proposal” of which an article was published in the month of January 2019 in the Theology magazine “Nivaria Theológica” Segunda Época No. 28.

His name appears in the recent publication of the book “Cruciales”. The music in CRUCE told by its protagonists on its 25th anniversary, (Wade Mattews ED. CRUCE art and contemporary thought) with an interview where he exposes his vision and involvement in the practice of free improvisation.

In the last two years, since 2021, he discovered another great musical and rhythmic passion, the pandeiro, which made him delve deeper and travel to Rio de Janeiro and make contact with great tambourine players such as: Marcos Suzano, Tulio Araujo, Bernardo Aguiar, Netinho Albuquerque, Celsinho Silva, Ivison, Rodrigo Jesús.

“Green Fireflies” is his new album recorded in Brooklyn, New York with Tomas Fujiwara, drums; Patricia Brennan, vibraphone; Manolo Rodríguez, electronics.