Mário Franco


Mário Franco is a dancer, doublebass player and a composer.

Studies

Mário Franco started music lessons at the age of 4 in Centro de Estudos Gregorianos and continued his studies in :pt:Academia de Amadores de Música|Academia de Amadores de Música, and where he started double bass lessons with Fernando Flores, and composition with Pedro Rocha as well as studying chamber music.
He studied bass guitar with António Ferro, Double Bass with David Gausden in Escola de Jazz do :pt:Hot Clube de Portugal|Hot Clube de Portugal; and took part in workshops with Rufus Reid, Niels Henning Orsted Pederson, Eberhard Weber.
In 1986-87, he attended double-bass courses given by Ludwig Streicher in Estoril and in 1988 won 1st prize in the Prémio Jovens Musicos ; later became a member of Orquestra Sinfonica Juvenil where he worked on classical repertory with conductor Christopher Bochmann.

Performing

Since 1984, he has played jazz and improvised music in Portugal and abroad with musicians such as António Pinho Vargas, Mário Laginha, João Paulo Esteves de Silva, Bernardo Sassetti, Carlos Martins, Tomás Pimentel, José Peixoto, Jarmo Savolainen, , Ralph Peterson Jr., Paolo Fresu, Andy Sheppard, Peter Epstein and Ralph Towner.
In 1990, he presented his based on original compositions and was awarded 1st prize for his group and 2nd prize for composition in the competition “A Juventude e a Musica”.
He has performed outside Portugal: in Macau, Japan, Spain, France, Belgium and Norway and has participated in some of Portugal's music festivals such as:
Also composes for and .
is also a dancer from the since 1986.

Recordings

As a Side Musician:
:
António Pinho Vargas Quintet and Carlos Martins Quartet: ;
João Paulo Esteves da Silva Quartet: ;
Tomás Pimentel Septet: ;
;
José Peixoto: ;José Peixoto: A Tempo ;
José Peixoto: , featuring Ralph Towner.
As a Leader:
Mario Franco Quintet with David Binney