LUKAS PINO
TENOR SAX
New York City based Tenor Saxophonist Lucas Pino has traveled to perform around the world in Japan, Australia, Poland, Spain, Britain, The Netherlands, Brazil, Costa Rica, as well as throughout the United States and Canada. He has appeared at venues such as the Blue Note (Tokyo and New York), Dizzy's, The Jazz Standard, Yoshi's, Bimhaus, The Jazz Kitchen, The Rex, and Chicago Symphony Hall, as well as the North Sea Jazz Festival. Lucas was a featured guest artist at the 2016 Northern Arizona University Jazz Festival, as well as a featured artist at the 2015 Ballard Jazz Festival. Pino is the leader of The No Net Nonet, a nine piece ensemble that has maintained a monthly residency at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC since March 2013.
Lucas works frequently as a sideman for artists including Lea DeLaria, Gideon van Gelder, Takuya Kuroda, Richard Boukas, David Lopato, Bryan Carter, Lauren Desberg, Rafal Sarnecki, Nick Finzer, Jeremy Siskind, Dave Baron, Alex Wintz, Jorn Swart, Marike van Dijk, and Florian Hoefner. He also plays frequently with the Birdland Big Band and the Eyal Vilner Big Band. His past experience also includes performances with Dave Brubeck, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Christian McBride, Carl Allen, Benny Green and David Sanborn.
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Lucas grew up singing hymns in church and in the choir at school. The first music he ever listened to was Jazz, and he started playing Saxophone at age 10. As a high school Junior, Lucas won the Downbeataward for Best Instrumental Soloist in 2004. He went on to attend the Brubeck Institute from 2005-2007, where he studied closely with Dave Brubeck, and finished his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Jazz Performance at The New School in 2009.
He received a Master of Music from Juilliard in 2011.
Lucas' major influences on the saxophone include Stan Getz, Lucky Thompson, John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, and Chris Cheek. Compositionally, he is heavily influenced by the sound of big band, and composers including Wayne Shorter, Maria Schneider, Walt Weiskopf, and Thad Jones.