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Alex Pinto
Inner State, released on Pursuance Records, is available NOW!
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INNER STATE Review - click here
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bio
- My Story
A L E X P I N T O
Biography
Guitarist/composer Alex Pinto embodies jazz’s international reach, with a sinewy sound steeped in North Indian classical music, rock, and exploratory post-bop forms. His debut CD Inner State announces the arrival of a musician brimming with stimulating ideas, an artist who also possesses an essential gift for bringing fellow players into his singular vision. Rather than flaunting his abundant technique, Pinto makes a powerful first impression with his fluid phrasing, bright tone, and a program of seven original compositions marked by engaging melodies and unorthodox harmonic forms.
Featuring tenor saxophonist Jon Armstrong and bassist Dave Tranchina, stellar musicians based in Los Angeles who bonded with Pinto while they were all studying at California Institute for the Arts in Valencia, the album captures the excitement of young artists embarking on an extended journey. Holding the session together is San Francisco–raised drummer Jaz Sawyer, who returned to the Bay Area in 2009 after a decade in New York City backing luminaries like Abbey Lincoln, Wynton Marsalis, Irvin Mayfield, and Jacky Terrasson.
“Jaz is such a powerful force on the drums, and he’s been so supportive of my music,” Pinto says. “I met Jon and Dave at CalArts, and they’re both extraordinary musicians, with so many influences, from avant-garde jazz to contemporary classical music. They were finishing right when I got there, and I connected with them immediately.”
The album opens with the crunching “1 by 4,” a subterranean blues full of surprising rhythmic shifts. Pinto’s deep affinity for Hindustani music is apparent throughout the album, starting with “Chai Kind of Day.” Opening with a twangy drone reminiscent of a tanpura, the tune is based on the rag Bhairav, and sounds like a modal excursion. He draws on the sinuous rag Todi for “CIA,” a piece written for CalArts rather than as a statement about undercover American intelligence operations. And “Two Pictures of Love” opens with a suspenseful alap, or improvised introduction, that leads to a tender, loping melody.
“My concept with ‘Two Pictures’ was to break up the 16 bars in a different way,” Pinto says. “It’s a cowboy love song. I was listening to a lot of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan when I wrote it.”
Pinto can claim both classical Indian music and Midwestern troubadours as his birthright, as his father hails from Mangalore in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka and his mother is from Wisconsin. While based in the suburbs of Washington, DC (Alex was born February 8, 1985, in Silver Spring, MD), the family spent years abroad due to his father’s work for the World Bank. Pinto was in the midst of a three-year stay in Warsaw when he started playing guitar around the age of five.
Back in the States he continued to explore the guitar, and got turned onto jazz by his middle school band director, Frankie Ball, and by his guitar teachers, Fred Wilcheck (early years) and Donato Soviero (high school). His father’s posting to Moscow during Pinto’s junior high years didn’t interrupt his studies, as he enrolled at the demanding Gnesin Academy of Music. By the time the family moved to Bethesda, Maryland, Pinto was a passionate jazz player who earned a chair in several regional honor bands.
“Wes Montgomery and Jimi Hendrix were my initial guitar heroes,” Pinto says. “You can drop the needle anywhere on Smokin’ at the Half Note and I can tell you exactly where it landed. I got enamored with John Coltrane, and I still listen to recordings that span his career. And Hindustani music has been huge for me, masters like Ali Akbar Khan and Nikhil Banerjee, who makes me feel the same as Hendrix and Coltrane.”
Rather than apply to Berklee or Manhattan School of Music, Pinto decided to enroll in Montreal’s prestigious McGill University, which boasts a large music conservatory with a respected jazz studies program. It was a setting in which he thrived, and by his senior year Pinto was getting regular calls for gigs. His undergraduate years were also a time of personal ferment, as Pinto decided to delve into his Indian cultural roots. Frequent visits to his father’s family in Karnataka instilled a love and familiarity with the sounds, smells, and tastes of India, but like many college students he began to define himself once he left home.
“I distinctly remember at McGill thinking what’s my identity, what am I supposed to be, not only as a musician but as a person,” Pinto says. “I needed to address my Indian heritage. People always assume I’m from Latin America and that I’m good at bossa nova and salsa. But my father’s from a south Indian Christian family, and he grew up listening to the Beatles and John Denver.”
He reached a career epiphany while attending the Banff Creative Music Workshop, a creative hothouse run by trumpeter Dave Douglas in the Canadian Rockies, where he forged ties with heavyweight improvisers like guitarist Rez Abbasi, drummer Gerald Cleaver, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, and Kneebody keyboardist Adam Benjamin. Realizing that a master’s degree could open up teaching opportunities, he got turned onto CalArts by Benjamin, a graduate of the program. Drawn particularly by the school’s strong Hindustani music program, Pinto studied with guitar expert Larry Koonse, bass legend Charlie Haden, multi-instrumental wizard Vinny Golia, and sarod master Aashish Khan.
“Those four people really shaped my experience there,” Pinto says. “Larry is a master of the guitar, just incredible. Aashish Ji took me under his wing. He’s just a beautiful man, and so willing to explore. For my senior recital I performed pieces for quartet and a large ensemble featuring Aashish Ji and Golia, and that still blows my mind.”
Pinto arrived in San Francisco in 2009 as part of the inaugural class of MusicianCorps Fellows for Music National Service, and spent a year serving as the music coordinator at Horace Mann Middle School. Now forging ties on the vibrant Bay Area jazz scene, Pinto gained some international attention when he placed third at the 2008 Gibson Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition. He also earned a finalist spot in the Yamaha Six String Theory Guitar Competition, an international talent search engineered by Lee Ritenour in 2010.It’s a safe bet that he’ll be back in the spotlight with the release of Inner State, an album introducing a guitarist with a sound and concept unlike any other player on the scene. ▪
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Posts
- February 2012
Feb 10th 8pm Viracocha
Sitting in w/ The Lawlands
Feb 16th 9pm El Valenciano
AP Trio
Feb 29th 7pm 50 Mason Social House
AP Trio
- January 2012
Jan 5th 7pm 50 Mason Social House
Performing w/ Jeremy Rourke & Aaron Kierbel
Jan 12th 9PM El Valenciano
AP Trio
- November 2011
- October 2011
Oct 15th 8pm Prema Soul at Red Poppy Art House San Francisco
Sitting in with LA-based group, Prema Soul
Oct 16th 9pm Alex Pinto Trio at the Rockit Room
- September 2011
Sept 3rd, 9:30pm Club Deluxe San Francisco
AP TRIO w/ Shaun Lowecki & Scott Browm
$5
Sept 29th 10:30pm El Valenciano San Francisco
AP TRIO closing out for ROVA Quartet and David Boyce
$5
- July Concerts
JULY 8th Club Deluxe SF 8pm
Alex Pinto trio w/ Jaz Sawyer and Scott Brown
JULY 10th Cafe Royale SF 7PM
Alex Pinto trio w/ Shaun Lowecki and Scott Brown
JULY 16th, 17th Santa Cruz and Monterey with Gedina
JULY 27th Revolution Cafe 8:30pm
Alex Pinto Trio w/ Shaun Lowecki and Doug Stuart
- June Concerts
June 8th 6pm Jazz and Democracy Fundraiser at Infusion Lounge, San Francisco
w/ Doug Stuart and Shaun Lowecki
June 12th 7pm La Pena, San Francisco
w/ Doug Stuart
June 18th Revolution Cafe, San Francisco
Alex Pinto Trio w/ Shaun Lowecki and Scott Brown
- May Concerts
May 6th, 7th 9PM, 11PM Twins Jazz Washington D.C.
w/ Tom Balwin, Paul Carr and Jaz Sawyer
May 16th 8PM Kaleidoscope San Francisco
w/ What’s a Chord Four, Alex Pinto Trio
May 19th 8PM Luggage Store San Francisco
w/ Shaun Lowecki and Doug Stuart…dbl bill w/ Bad Luck from Seattle
May 25th 8:30PM Revolution Cafe San Francisco
w/ Jeremy Rourke, Vanessa VerLee and Dave Milhaly
- April Concerts
April 2nd 11am-2pm Chandler Jazz Festival Chandler, Arizona
w/ Shaun Lowecki and Doug Stuart
April 2nd Evening Highland Jazz Festival Gilbert, Arizona
w/ Shaun Lowecki and Doug Stuart
April 9th 9pm Blue Whale Los Angeles, CA
w/ Jon Armstrong, Dave Tranchina, and Jaz Sawyer
- March Concerts
March 1st 9PM. Hotel Utah San Francisco
w/ Jeremy Rourke and Dave Milhaly
March 26th 9PM. Revolution Cafe San Francisco
INNER STATE CD RELEASE CONCERT!!!
Alex Pinto Quartet w/ Jaz Sawyer, Jon Armstrong, Dave Tranchina
also w/ special guests Doug Stuart and Shaun Lowecki
March 31st 8PM. Lost Leaf Phoenix, Arizona
w/ Doug Stuart and Shaun Lowecki
- February Concerts
Feb 3rd 9PM. El Valenciano San Francisco
Alex Pinto trio w/ Doug Stuart and Shaun Lowecki
Feb 10th 8:30PM Revolution Cafe San Francisco
Alex Pinto Trio w/ Doug Stuart and Shaun Lowecki
Feb 15th 9pm Somar Oakland
w/ the Groove Collectors
Feb 24th 9pm El Valenciano San Francisco
Alex Pinto Trio + Mike Abraham Project
- January Concerts
Jan 3rd: 8:30pm The Make Out Room. San Francisco
Alex Pinto Trio w/ Jaz Sawyer and Doug Stuart. One set only as part of Darren Johnston’s monthly session
Jan 18th: 9pm Somar. Oakland
w/ the Groove Collectors
Jan 20th: 8pm Kaleidoscope. San Francisco
Alex Pinto Trio w/ Shaun Lowecki and Doug Stuart
- December Concerts
DEC 2nd, 5pm CITY CENTER, Oakland
playing w/ the Groove Collectors featuring Atemu Aton and Jaz Sawyer
DEC 2nd, 8:30pm REVOLUTION CAFE, San Francisco
Playing w/ Doug Stuart and Shaun Lowecki.
Rev Cafe is a great spot and I’m psyched to be playing with these guys
DEC 11th, 6pm LIEGE SPIRIT LOUNGE, Oakland
w/ the Groove Collectors
DEC 21st, 9pm SOMAR, Oakland
w/ the Groove Collectors
- November Concerts
NOV 11th, 9 PM. KALEIDOSCOPE, San Francisco
will be appearing w/ special guests SFCM Wind Octet.
Alex Pinto Trio, w/ Jaz Sawyer on drums and Doug Stuart on Bass
$5
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NOV 16TH, 9 PM. SOMAR, Oakland
w/ Atemu Aton and Jaz Sawyer
free
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Sets
- 7 tracks (44:49)My debut album, featuring Jaz Sawyer on drums, Jon Armstrong on tenor, and Dave Tranchina on bass.
All songs were written by Alex Pinto.
Recorded by Eric Moffat
Release Date March 22nd, 2011 on Pursuance Records
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Uploads
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ASU / Phoenix w/ AP Trio
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buy
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Posts
- PressAlex Pinto in Print
Downbeat Magazine - September 2011 Article
Written by Eric Fine
Guitar Player Magazine - June 2011 Article
Written by Anil Prasad
Elements of Jazz - Inner State Album Review
Written by Atane Ofiaja
All About Jazz - Inner State Album Review
Written by Dan Bilawsky
Groove Loves Melody - Interview & Music Feature
Written by JW Richard
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