BIO ENGLISH
Drummer, percussionist, improviser, composer. Cultural management. Mum.
Jazz drum teacher at the Seville Conservatory of Music.
An explorer of the freest jazz and a prodigal composer, drummer Lucía Martínez (Vigo, 1982) is essentially a cosmopolitan artist who does not impose her own horizons. Although her affection for her port roots and the vindication of popular heritage always find a place in her proposals, she does not hesitate to incorporate all kinds of apparently disparate flavours, linked naturally and without prejudice.
Owner of a very personal language, her great international projection has led her to visit numerous festivals all over the world presenting projects with different formations and receiving extraordinary reviews.
Her curiosity in learning led her to follow a long path in her training, which she still continues, always in her eagerness to discover, through study, little-visited paths. She completed her studies in classical percussion in Spain, jazz studies at the Polytechnic University of Porto-Portugal, a Master’s degree in Jazz Drumming and Composition at the Berlin University of the Arts, a Master’s degree in Film Music at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf and a Master’s degree in musical research at the International University of Valencia. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Fine Arts of the University of Vigo.
Her brilliant academic training, her entrepreneurial and leadership qualities, position her successfully at the forefront of her own projects, not only nationally but also internationally. Lucía is the owner of an unequalled technique and subtlety in her playing, and belongs to an extraordinary generation of innovative European jazz musicians. Her style is influenced by the musical roots of her native Galicia, with the air of contemporaneity given by her interest in improvisation and European avant-garde music. Her uninhibited, restless and creative attitude gives her compositions and performances a strong personality, forged thanks to her classical training, as well as to different stylistic fields and, above all, to her open and progressive character.
Lucía was born in Vigo in 1982. At the age of 9, she began studying traditional percussion and hurdy-gurdy, soon becoming interested in classical percussion, jazz and choral music.
She is the leader of the Lucía Martínez Cuarteto, the quintet Lucía Martínez & Azulcielo and the sextet Lucía Martínez & The Fearless.
Her record production, both as a leader and as a side woman, consists of dozens of albums on various prestigious national and international record labels.
All the 4 albums that Lucía has released as a leader have been nominated for the Independent Music Awards as Best Jazz Album in Spain, the last 3 being finalists. The first, “Soños e Delirios”, in 2009. The second, “Azulcielo”, -also as Best Artist- in 2012. The third, “De viento y de Sal”, in 2014. The fourth, “Lucía Martínez & The Fearless”, in 2020. All published on the Karonte/NubaRecords record label. In 2024 a new album will be released with her German project Lucía Martínez & The Fearless: Hope, also with Karonte/ NubaRecords.
In 2015, together with Mario Burbano and Hebert Cruz, she launched the Pasoancho project, with which she released “Desalambrado”, a duo album by Lucía Martínez & Agustí Fernández, which also received excellent international reviews. With Pasoancho, they also make interventions in the workshops of artists such as Francisco Leiro, and participate in the design of visual-sound installations.
In Spain, Lucía is linked to different projects as a vibraphonist, percussionist or drummer, among them the Projecto Miño led by the double bass player Baldo Martínez, the Trio MBM (Baldo Martínez, Antonio Bravo, Lucía Martínez), Josetxo Goia-Aribe: Hispania Fantastic, Pedro Cortejosa Proyecto Homo, the Juana Gaitán Quintet and his duo with the renowned pianist Agustí Fernández, with whom he establishes a deep artistic relationship that leads them to collaborate regularly in different groups such as the Gran Ensemble or in trio with the double bass player Barry Guy, with whom they release “Bosque de niebla” 2021 for Fundacja Sluchaj, a prestigious Polish free improvisation label. He has also recorded with the Clasijazz Valparaiso Big band, 2021 and is actively involved in the Andalusian jazz scene.
Internationally, especially in Germany, Lucía composes film music, writes for big bands and plays with renowned musicians such as Alexander von Schlippenbach, Conny Bauer, Daniel Erdmann and Christopher Dell. He is a member of the quartet “Allemano, Hilbig, Martinez, Wandermayer”: Dead Leaf Butterfly with whom they release Ontmoeting (2023, Jazzwerksatt), the trio “Graupe, Erdmann, Martinez”, the quintet of saxophonist Alexander Beierbach “Sweet Marie”, the International Improvisation Trio with Uwe Oberg and Joe Fonda (Relight , 2019, Not Two Records). In Berlin, he has also participated in the free-jazz groups Lighting jungle Junkies and The Levitation Trio, Sebastian Liedke Trio, Composers’ Orquestra Berlin, Shotgun Chanber Trio, recording and collaborating with countless jazz and improvised music ensembles. He has also shared the stage with Dave Samuels, Ed Saindon, Bil McHenry, Perico Sambeat, Jason Lidner, Alexis Cuadrado, Sasha Berliner, Alex Sipiagin and many others.
He has participated in the Vitoria-Gasteiz Festival, Sapobla Jazz Festival, Südtirol Alto Adige Jazz Festival, Madrid Jazz Festival, Imaxinasons in Vigo, Madrid Jazz Festival, Lugo Jazz Festival, La mar de Músicas, Vic Festival, as well as Tamborimba Festival and Ajazzgo Festival in Colombia and a long list of other national and international festivals.
In the world of theatre, he has collaborated in projects for the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin, with modern musical theatre directors such as the well-known Matthias Rebstock. She has worked on creative productions in dance and music: Geometría de la experiencia, premiered in November 2023 at the Teatro Principal in Seville. He is currently working on a theatre production that will premiere in April 2025 at the Teatro Central in Seville: “La fiesta desde fuera” by Lola Botello.
He has recorded dozens of albums in the field of jazz and world music. In addition to composing music for projects such as o Canto das Illas, for children’s choir and percussion.
Lucía has an extensive list of musical compositions for radio theatre, documentary and fiction films, including the soundtrack for an unpublished 8mm version of the film Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, edited by the Murnau Stiftung, and for the films SEA RAIDER (1931) and KREUZER EMDEN (D 1932), edited by the Filmmuseum Potsdam in 2014. He also composed the music for the documentary Sísifo Confuso -Traballos e días de Francisco Leiro by the Galician director Aser Álvarez in 2016.
Away from the stage, Martínez is also dedicated to teaching and mentoring, sharing his passion and knowledge with future jazz talents. Her dedication to music and her impact on the community have made her an influential figure in the world of contemporary jazz.