| Born 6th of august 1964 in São Paulo, Brazil, Mario started his musical education at 13 with Wilson Aggio playing Bossa Nova guitar. He switched to electric bass one year later and took lessons at Zimbo Trio's School - C.L.A.M., quickly moving on to playing gigs in the local Jazz scene.
He took lessons with Nico Assumpção and in 1983 was accepted at Universidade Estadual de Campinas where he completed a B.Mus. in Composition and had double bass lessons with Paulo Pugliese , lead bassist with the 'Orquestra Sinfonica Municipal de Campinas'.
Whilst at university he became involved in the creation of the Youth Symphonic Orchestra of Campinas where he played as lead bass for 3 years. During this period Mario was also part of the ‘Bandida’ Quartet, the leading jazz quartet in Campinas.
Back in São Paulo he was invited to play with the 'Heartbreakers', a 9 piece jazz band. With them he played and researched the music of Duke Ellington exclusively for 4 years.The Afro-Caribbean forms for 3 consecutive years, and moving on to pre-Bossa Nova music on the last 2 years.He recorded 7 CDs with the HB's acting as arranger and MD as well, performing with many of the greatest singers in Brazilian Music such as Gal Costa , Emilio Santiago , Milton Nascimento, Nana Caymmi, Zizi Possi, Cauby Peixoto , Elba Ramalho, Rita Lee and many other Brazilian stars.
He lead the sextet 'Hard Bop & Cafe', winner of the young jazz groups competition 'Free Som' in 1990 and took part in the 'Free Jazz Festival 1991' , the biggest Jazz Festival in Brazil , performing along side the Winton Marsalis Septet , Ahmad Jahmal Quartet and Kenny Burrell & Jimmy Smith. He also co-led the Latin Jazz group ‘Tumbao’ alongside cuban pianist Pepe Cisneros, cuban saxophonist Felipe Lamoglia and brazilian drummer and producer Tuto Ferraz.
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Meanwhile he was also playing along many of the best Brazilian instrumentalists . People like Paulo Moura , Nelson Ayres , Hector Costita , Mane' Silveira , Benjamin Taubkin , Guelo , Azael Rodrigues and Jarbas Barbosa amongst others.
He was invited by Chucho Valdez leader of Irakere with the HB's to perform at the Beny More International Festival in Cuba 1993 along side some of the best Afro Cuban Bands in the world.
He performed at the Barbados International Jazz Festival in 1995 with the HB's along names like Courtney Pine and Lou Rawls.
In 1996 Mario moved to Scotland for studies and stayed, along with his wife and two boys. Since then he was invited to join the Tommy Smith Sextet Beasts of Scotland , and later , the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. His third son was born in 2001 in Scotland.
He has played with many of the leading jazz musicians in the U.K. such as : Kenny Wheeler , Carol Kid , Norma Winston, Bobby Wellins , Louise Gibson, Suzanne Bonnar, Jamie Cullum, Carlos Pena , Phil Bancroft ,Tim Garland , Tommy Smith , Julian Arguelles ,Andy Panaiy, Martin Kershaw Tom Bancroft, Jamie Anderson, Brian Kellock , Steve Hamilton ,John Rae, Clark Tracey , Paul Mills, Tom Gordon, Tom Bancroft, Sebastiaan De Krom, Stuart Richie, Jason Rebello , Chic Lyall , Gene Calderazzo, Jonathan Gee , Kevin McKenzie, Alex Yellowlees, Nigel Clark, Malcom McFarlane, Haftor Medboe , Paul Harrison, Paddy Flaherty, Dave Milligan, Guy Barker, Eddie Severn, Gerard Presencer, Tom McNiven , Damon Brown , Colin Steele, Andor Jensen , Claude Deppa, Dominic Aldis and Adam Glasser amongst many others. |
| Mario has performed with leading European and North American artists such as Bobby Watson, Joe Lovano, Jesse Davis, Warren Vaché, Alvin Queen, David Sanches, Loren Stillman, Ken Peplowsky, Rick Margitza, Nguyen Lê, Greg Hutchinson, Scott Hamilton, Joe Locke, Valery Ponomarev, Sheyla Jordan, Madeline Eastman, Ari Hoenig , Laurent Robin , Edsel Gomez , George Colligan, David Berckman, Guus Jansen, Maria Schneider and Petter Wettre to name a few . |
