Trails

Marcio Philomena's debut album - Trails

Hailing from Porto Alegre in Southern Brazil but now based in Brooklyn, New York, jazz guitarist and composer Marcio Philomena creates music that reflects his experience as an international troubadour.

‘Trails’ is Philomena’s debut album and contains nine instrumental tracks that are a refreshing blend of jazz, Brazilian music, rock and soundscapes that also showcase his love of melody.

The album sees Philomena perform eight pieces with a traditional jazz quartet that includes Julian Shore (piano), Rick Rosato (upright bass), and Roberto Giaquinto (drums), with ‘Vibrações' steering towards the Brazilian tradition and featuring Hélio Alves (piano), Peter Slavov (upright bass) and Rafael Barata (drums).

Philomena first picked up an acoustic guitar at the age of 11 after seeing Green Day perform on MTV. By 13, he had discovered a love of jazz after seeing his music teacher play through a book of Pat Martino transcriptions. “I didn’t know you could sound like that on the guitar, and it looked challenging, so that inspired me to learn jazz.” Receiving a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in 2009 to study guitar and production, he was shortly thereafter selected as a semi-finalist in the Montreux Jazz Festival Guitar Competition. After a period in Brazil, he settled in Brooklyn, where he has become a fixture in NYC’s music scene.