Soprano, Alto and Tenor Saxophones / Clarinet / Bass Clarinet / Flute

Mário Santos was born in Porto, in 1965. In 1986, he started his musical studies at the Jazz School of Porto with Mário Barreiros, Pedro Barreiros, Isabel Dantas, Pedro Abrunhosa and José Menezes. Later on, at the same school, he taught Saxophone classes. He participated in seminars and workshops with Richie Buckley, Andrzej Olejniczak, Rosario Giuliani, Bill McHenry, Bob Sands, Greg Osby, Lee Konitz and Chris Cheek. He also collaborated in the formation of various jazz groups. He joined the group Clã and was a co-founder of Os Amigos da Salsa, where he stayed for five years.

He played in numerous national festivals and also in Nantes, Macau and Angola. He performed with Zlatko Kaucic, Joe Chambers, Martin France, Aldo Caviglia, Nelson Cedrez, Alexandre Frazão, Pedro Barreiros, Yuri Daniel, Bernardo Moreira, Pedro Gonçalves, Carlos Barretto, Pedro Abrunhosa, Mário Delgado, Pedro Madaleno, Ricardo Fabini, Aires Ramos, Nuno Ferreira, Vasco Agostinho, Paulo Pinto, Anthony Kerr, Diego Ebbeler, Carlo Morena, Pedro Sarmiento, Bob Sands, François Theberge, Toon Roos, Ramón Cardo, José Meneses, José Luís Rego, Pedro Moreira, João Courinha, Gerard Presencer, João Moreira, Thomas Walton, Eduardo Santos and k.a.f, among others. Mário recorded with Raul Marques and Os Amigos da Salsa, Pedro Abrunhosa, Clã, Vozes da Rádio, Ornatos Violeta, Carlos Azevedo Ensemble and Jacinta.

He taught at the Hot Club de Portugal School, at the Oficina de Música de Aveiro and at the Instituto Orff do Porto, and currently at ESMAE, where he completed a degree in Jazz and attended the first year of the Master in Artistic Interpretation in the Jazz area.

He leads the projects Os Rapazes do Jazz, quartet m.s., Mário Santos trio, Quintet Mário Santos “bloco de notas” and the Quartet Henry Lowther/Mário Santos, and is a member of the trio of Manuel Beleza, the Sextet Mingus and more of Laurent Filipe, Carlos Azevedo Ensemble, Orquestra de Jazz de Matosinhos, Big Band of the Hot Club de Portugal, Orquestra Anual do Guimarães Jazz, Sextet Mário Barreiros and Pedro Guedes Quintet.