Andrey Gonçalves is an Illinois transplant Brazilian bassist. He is a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies and Music Education. His dissertation analyzes whole-body engagement and preventative care in jazz double bass pedagogy, blending music education with kinesiology, and healthy habits in music performance. His main research interests are in Preventative Care in Music Performance, Improvisation, and Aesthetics of Modern Jazz.

As a music educator, he currently holds two teaching appointments. In August 2020, Andrey Gonçalves started his appointment as a Double Bass Instructor at Olivet Nazarene, where he currently teaches Double Bass, electric bass, jazz improvisation, jazz composition and arranging, jazz history, jazz band practice, and ethnomusicology. Simultaneously, he joined the Jazz Faculty at Eastern Illinois University in 2021, where he teaches double bass, electric bass, and jazz band practice.

Andrey’s strong background in Brazilian music, B.A.M., Afro-Caribbean music, and Pop allows him to navigate different styles while composing, performing, and connecting with the audience. As a bassist, Dr. Gonçalves has performed with jazz names such as Fred Hersch, Randy Brecker, Frank Gambale, Bob Sheppard, Chuchito Valdés, and Ron Bridgewater; the Champaign-Urbana Symphonic Orchestra, the Champaign-Urbana Civic Orchestra, and Sacred Winds Ensemble; the cellist Ben Sollee, and the trombone quartet Maniacal 4. Also, he has toured Europe, the USA, and Argentina. As a studio musician, he has recorded bass tracks for more than thirty albums, produced five records, and composed three computer game soundtracks.

Celebrating his eighth year of a music career in the US, Andrey released his first record in November 2020. Entitled Nocturnal Geometries, the album encompasses the music created over one year of composition lessons under the tutelage of professor Jim Pugh (Chick Corea, Steely Dan). The composition techniques suggested by the teacher resulted in a modern approach to jazz, celebrating Andrey’s vocabulary diversity by code-switching and combining music styles. The arranges, signed by Ethan Evans, blend jazz with Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian music.

Nocturnal Geometries

Recorded on January 18 and 19, 2019, at Unit One Studios. Urbana, Illinois.

Recording Engineer: Derick Cordoba.

Mixing: Joe Corley, at Pint Size Studios.

Mastering: John Tubbs, at Jetman Music Services.

Personnel:

Robert Brooks: Tenor Sax

Andrey Gonçalves: Double Bass and Electric Bass

Ethan Evans: Trombone

Kurt Reeder: Piano

Robert Sears: Trumpet

Andy Wheelock: Drums