The OverGround Collective is an 18-piece band put together by the Portuguese composer Paulo Dias Duarte. The project is a result of Paulo’s obsessive research on improvisation and its relation with pre-composed material.

After shadowing many improvisers in the London scene, Paulo has put together a group of players, with very distinctive improvisational languages and techniques, in a project where he uses their different approaches to improvisa-

tion as compositional tools, creating a very eclectic musical landscape where the improviser itself is a part of the score.

“Duarte’s ability to write music that is at once melodic and accessible but highly challenging and unexpected where the improvised elements hold primacy, is the key to the inevitable success of this music” - In London Jazz News