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Guillermo Nojechowicz

Guillermo Nojechowicz is a composer, drummer, and educator. He is the leader of EL ECO. The band has performed at the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival, Telluride Jazz Festival, among others.

About Me

Guillermo Nojechowicz

Argentinean drummer, composer, and educator Guillermo Nojechowicz grew up in Buenos Aires, surrounded by the tango of Astor Piazzolla, the rock songs of Luis Alberto Spinetta, and the jazz of Oscar Peterson. After moving to the US, he completed a degree in Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Herb Pomeroy, Billy Pierce, and Andy McGhee.

Guillermo’s Brazilian-Argentinean jazz ensemble EL ECO has been called “the seedbed of Latin jazz in Boston.” The band’s new CD, Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933 – released by Zoho Music – was inspired by the journey of Guillermo’s grandmother who left Warsaw for Argentina in 1933 with her small son. That trip spared them from the Holocaust, when so many others in their community later perished.

Internationally renowned jazz vocalist Luciana Souza has called the album “a beautiful and important record.” EL ECO’s earlier CD, Two Worlds, was described as “true world music at its best” by Kansai Time Out (Japan).

Guillermo’s band members include Helio Alves (piano), Fernando Huergo (bass), Kim Nazarian (vocals), and Marco Pignataro (saxophone), with Grammy© Award winning trumpeter Brian Lynch joining them on the new CD. Over the years, Guillermo has also played with Claudio Roditi, Romero Lubambo, Donny McCaslin, Osmany Paredes, and Airto Moreira, the master Brazilian drummer who played with jazz legend Miles Davis.

In addition to being featured on NPR's Jazz Set, EL ECO has performed at the Regattabar and at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, the Blue Note in New York City, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Festival performances have included Telluride Jazz Celebration, where the line-up featured Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard; Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in Saratoga Springs, the Buenos Aires Jazz Festival, and the Curação North Sea Jazz Festival, where the line-up featured Jon Faddis and Richard Bona.

From 1987 to 1993, Guillermo was an Artist-in-Residence at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, where he worked with film composer Elliot Goldenthal (Frida) and director Andrei Serban.

An international clinician and educator, Guillermo teaches privately, at the Berklee Five Week Summer Program, and as a faculty member with the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS). The World Jazz Ensemble, his student jazz ensemble at CRLS, has performed at Ryle’s Jazz Club, at the Panama Jazz Festival, with Joshua Redman through a program with Harvard University, and with former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky at Google Headquarters in Cambridge.

Guillermo studied piano and composition with Charlie Banacos and drums with Alan Dawson, Duduka DaFonseca, Portinho, and Gary Chaffee in the US, and with Beatriz Tabares and Chiche Heger in Argentina.

“This is true world music at its best.” — Ron Mason, KANSAI TIMEOUT/JAPAN

“I listened to the CD today - uninterrupted! It is really beautiful. The compositions, the arrangements, the performances, and Kim’s singing. I am so happy to listen and to honestly say that this is a beautiful and important record.”

— Renowned Jazz Vocalist Luciana Souza

“Excellent material! And great musicians! And I love that the music is rooted in personal identity - something that I always try to include in what I do.”

— Oscar-Winning Film Composer Gustavo Santaolalla

“There is something very powerful in these compositions. The music is very expressive and dense – in the good sense of the word – and it grows on you.” — Award-Winning Composer Osvaldo Golijov

ABOUT EL ECO with Guillermo Nojechowicz

Featuring: Helio Alves (BRAZIL): piano (Joe Henderson) Kim Nazarian (ARMENIA/US): vocals, percussion (New York Voices) Fernando Huergo (ARGENTINA): bass (Jeff Ballard, Tom Harrell) Marco PIgnataro (Italy): sax (Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Eddie Gomez) Brian Lynch (US): trumpet (Grammy Award winner, Phil Woods, Eddie Palmieri)

Special Guests: Claudio Roditi (BRAZIL): trumpet (Dizzy Gillespie) Romero Lubambo (BRAZIL): guitar (Dianne Reeves) Airto Moreira (BRAZIL): percussion (Miles Davis) Donny McCaslin (US): sax (Maria Schneider)

EL ECO, one of the pioneers of Latin jazz in Boston, is led by Argentinean drummer- composer Guillermo Nojechowicz. Their appearance at the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival marks the debut of Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933, their long-awaited new CD just released by Zoho Music, a record that jazz vocalist Luciana Souza has called “beautiful and important.”

A drummer who plays with the ear of a composer, Guillermo wrote most of the material on this new release. It was inspired by his grandmother’s journey out of Warsaw in 1933, a trip that spared her and her small son from the Holocaust, when so many in their community later perished.

EL ECO’s elegant fusion of Brazilian-Argentinean jazz digs deep into straight-ahead jazz, punctuated by a deep respect for the complexity of Latin and Afro-Cuban rhythms darkened, occasionally, by echoes of Piazzola.

In addition to Guillermo (Claudio Roditi, Donny McCaslin), the band’s members include Brazilian pianist Helio Alves (Joe Henderson, Yo-Yo Ma), Argentinean bassist Fernando Huergo (Antonio Sanchez, Dave Liebman), Italian saxophonist Marco Pignataro (Eddie Gomez, George Garzone), and vocalist Kim Nazarian (New York Voices). On Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933, they are joined by Grammy award winning guest trumpeter Brian Lynch (Eddie Palmieri), as well as Italian accordionist Roberto Cassan, who sadly passed away shortly after this recording.

Guillermo wrote the material for the band’s earlier CD, Two Worlds, immersed in the chacarera of Argentina, the candombe of Uruguay, and the samba of Brazil. One piece – Chacarera de Paloma – was dedicated to a friend who became one of the “desaparecidos” lost in Argentina’s dirty war. Another tune – Uruguay – was written as a tribute to the place where he spent many summers.

Of that record, Fernando Gonzalez wrote, “If the results sound organic, lived-in, it is because they reflect a life experience that is not just bilingual but bicultural. This is music from a place with blurred boundaries: a place of memories, echoes, and startling newness.”

In addition to being featured on NPR’s Jazz Set, EL ECO has performed at the Regattabar and at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, the Blue Note in New York City, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Festival performances have included Telluride Jazz Celebration, where the line-up featured Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard; Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in Saratoga Springs, produced by the legendary George Wein; the Montreal Jazz Festival; the Buenos Aires Jazz Festival; and the Curação North Sea Jazz Festival, where the line-up featured Jon Faddis and Richard Bona.

EL ECO guest artists have included Claudio Roditi (trumpet), Luciana Souza (vocals), Romero Lubambo (guitar), Donny McCaslin (sax), Hendrik Meurkens (harmonica), Airto Moreira (percussion), Osmany Paredes (piano), Nando Michelin (piano), Jay Ashby (trombone, percussion), Diego Urcola (trumpet), Avishai Cohen (trumpet), John Lockwood (acoustic bass), Doug Johnson (piano), and Bruno Raberg (acoustic bass).

Past EL ECO band members have included Olga Roman (vocals), Dario Eskenazi (piano), Rachel Z. Hakim (piano), Alain Mallet (piano), Yorai Oron (bass), Philip Hamilton (vocals), Naoki Matsuura (bass) and Lionel Girardeau (bass).

​Programs Offered: El Eco offers live concerts, clinics, master classes and workshops.

Website: www.elecomuisc.com

Discography EL ECO's “Two Worlds” is out in the US (Dreambox Media). Available at selected record stores, Amazon, and soon in ITunes

EL ECO's “Two Worlds” is getting air play on jazz radio stations like KPFA (Berkley, CA); KPFK (Beverly Hills, CA); WBGO (Newark, NJ); WDNA (Miami, FL); WGBH (Boston, MA); Jazz After Hours, Jim Wilke; FM 89.9 LA ISLA, Nano Herrera (Buenos Aires, Argentina); “RadioMontaje” FM 88.7, Jorge Freytag (BA, Argentina); Radio Ardzagank FM 103.5, Yerevan Armenia; CHUO-FM, Randy McElligott (Ottawa,Canada); CIUT-FM, Toronto, Canada, among others. Several publications in the US, Canada and Japan, have written articles on EL ECO such as The Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Herald, Yamano Music (Japan), Jazziz, Kansai Time Out (Japan), AllAboutjazz.com, Jazz Times, Cadence Magazine, LatinoJazznet.com, etc.

EL ECO's new CD, Puerto de Buenos Aires 1933 is out on the Grammy award winning label Zoho Music. This very personal project was inspired by some family history - the journey that my father as a young child took with his mother, leaving Eastern Europe for Argentina in 1933. They fled to a new life, but those they left behind perished in the Holocaust. The CD features vocalist Kim Nazarian (New York Voices), pianist Helio Alves (Joe Henderson, Yo-Yo Ma), Grammy winner trumpeter Brian Lynch (Eddie Palmieri), saxman Marco Pignataro (Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Eddie Gomez), bassist Fernando Huergo (Antonio Sanchez, Tom Harrell) and Guillermo Nojechowicz on drums (Claudio Roditi, Danilo Perez). The CD is available on ITunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and on all major platforms and stores.

EL ECO performed last month at the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival.(please see more information below) We have also performed at: • Buenos Aires Jazz Festival (Argentina) • Curacao Jazz Festival (Netherlands Antilles) • Blue Note (NYC) • Scullers (Boston) • Philadelphia Museum of Art

The band performed at NPR’s Jazz Set with host Dee Dee Bridgewater (broadcast by more than 100 radio stations across the US) and at the Telluride Jazz Celebration in Colorado with guest Airto Moreira. We shared the stage at Telluride with Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard and Nneenna Freelon.