Still Time to Trance

My name is Fernando Arruda, but I also use Fjazz for publishing purposes. I began my musical studies with Gedeao Silva at the School of Music of Brasilia (Brazil) at the age of 11. Five years later, at the age of 16, I moved to Sydney, Australia to join the Performance Arts Unit (PAU) playing saxophone for the Big Bang and Symphonic Wind Ensemble of New South Wales and tuba for the Millennium Marching Band. I returned to Brazil to study classical music at the Federal University of Brasilia (UnB) from 2005 to 2007, than moved to New York to pursuit an education at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, expanding my knowledge under jazz masters such as Sam Yahel, Rich Perry, Reggie Workman, Rory Stuart, Jimmie Owens, Rachel Z and Charles Tolliver, to name a few.

I have performed in Chile, Brazil, Australia, and the USA including symphonic orchestras (conducted by Roberto Farias and Elena Herrera), jazz and saxophone quartets, drum’n'bass and avant-garde ensembles, and festivals such as the James Morrison’s Mount Gambier Generations in Jazz. My musical ambition pushed me to also engage as sound designer for theatre and short movies under the direction of professionals Zishan Ugurlu, Jesse Berger, Cecilia Rubino and Terry O’Reilly.

I have been studying piano for the past 3 years and I can also play the tuba, but so far I have mastered the acoustic guitar, tenor, baritone and soprano saxophones, flute, clarinet, and the electronic wind instrument EWI4000s. I also perform with synthesizers as well as loop and drum machines. To make my work come to life I compose, mix, master and do sound design using Ableton Live and Logic Pro.

On a personal and artistic level I seek diversity, technical quality, accurate emotional expression and originality. Those interests are exemplified in my passion for jazz, Brazilian and classical music, dubstep, drum’n’bass, techno, trip hop, the liberating power of sound as it was introduced by John Cage, the residues of militarized technology developed during the Cold War in current digital society, posthuman art, audio sampling, electro-acoustic and digital elements in dance, and theater.

I graduated from 20th Century European History at Eugene Lang College and Jazz at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. At the present I am active in the music scene of New York. I perform regularly with my Brazilian Jazz Quartet, Dark Inc. Project, Sound Carta Y Su Orchestra, Hannis Brown Group, Art&Sax Saxophone Quartet, DJing for Neon Hitch among other freelance gigs. I also regularly work as composer, sound designer and musical director for theater and musicals. Among works I have done are From the Fire, Realm of Darkness, Peach Blossom Land, Purge and House of Atreus.

My focus at the moment is in musical production, where I get to merge my live acoustic playing with heavily produced electronic music. I hope you enjoy my album Posthuman Times. Let me know if you like it at fjazz.com. I already have composed and mixed 6 tracks of my next CD, coming out soon!