Results for "Gustavo Cortiñas"

Musician

Gustavo Cortiñas

Born: September 7, 1987

Embracing a multicultural language, while investing in a variety of disciplines within the music itself, Mexican born, and Chicago based drummer, composer, & producer Gustavo Cortiñas, has distinguished himself as a dynamic and melodic artist, committed to building empathy and understanding through music, in times of border walls and reductive narratives. Described as “One of Chicago’s most imaginative and exciting composers” (AllAboutJazz), “Cortiñas’ music is bluesy and deeply felt..sometimes it is raucus, sometimes solemn, but the music is always drenched in emotion.” (Modern Drummer). Through his seven productions as a leader, "Snapshot" (2013), "ESSE" (2017) “Desafío Candente” (2021), “Kind Regards” (2022), “Live in Chicago” (2024), "The Crisis Knows No Borders" (2025), and “The Drum Also Sings” (2026), Cortiñas proves time and again his ability for “great storytelling without saying a word” (Downbeat). “Gustavo Cortiñas is a musician with a message, one of social justice. He delivers it in a style that fuses the melodic sensibilities of his ancestral Mexico with the complex syncopation of jazz.” (ALLABOUTJAZZ). Along with fellow master drummers Dave King & Isaiah Spencer, Cortiñas’s latest album "The Drum Also Sings", explores the emotional and spiritual resonance of rhythm through music that speaks to joy, grief, resilience, and renewal. Emerging from moments of introspection and uncertainty, the project approaches the drum not only as an instrument, but as a voice — one capable of carrying memory, prayer, ancestry, and transformation. “Cortiñas doesn’t just write music—he builds bold, urgent conversations into his compositions.” (jazzviews.net) Through these critically acclaimed productions and his participation in more than 50 other discographic productions, “Cortiñas’s deft touch reaffirms his status as one of the great drummers in the City’s new guard.” (ChicagoReader).

Album

Joyful Foundation

By Roy McGrath

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2026
Track listing: Ride; Probability; Fleeting Magic; Fue Nuestro; Joyful Foundation; Several Clear Moments; Remembrance; Valley of 1000 Devils.

Album

Pyrography II

By Paul Hecht

Label: ears&eyes Records
Released: 2026
Track listing: Hero Complex; My Chromatic Romance; LDD; Seriously; Wayne; WWFH; Countdown; A Lullaby; Like Someone in Love; Femme R

Album

The Drum Also Sings

By Gustavo Cortiñas

Label: Desafio Candente
Released: 2026
Track listing: THE DRUM ALSO SINGS / EL TAMBOR TAMBIÉN CANTA 1. Etinel skotol t’ixt’unel / La Espontaneidad de los Latidos / The Spontaneity of Heartbeats (5:15) feat. Angelina Suyul 2. Mother Tongue - Lengua Madre (8:45) 3. Dialogue with the Ancestors (i) / Dialogando con los Ancestros (i) (7:05) 4. Tu Resiliencia es Resistencia / Your Resilience is Resistance (5:21) feat. La Paula Herrera 5. Duraznito / Little Peach (6:42) 6. Dialogue with the Ancestors (ii) / Dialogando con los Ancestros (ii) (6:39) 7. Añay Pachamama (6:54) feat. Maryta de Humahuaca 8. Fellowship / Comunidad (8:42) 9. Dialogue with the Ancestors (iii) / Dialogando con los Ancestros (iii) (4:48) 10. Psalm 23 / Salmo 23 (11:01) feat. Angel Bat Dawid

Article: Multiple Reviews

Entre Amigos Pays Homage To Two Contemporary Composers on Magpie and Joyful Foundation

by Hrayr Attarian
August 3, 2026

The Chicago-based Entre Amigos is a dynamic collaborative quartet that performs refreshingly original music of contemporary artists. After their eponymous debut, which showcased the members' works, the ensemble released two albums, each spotlighting an inventive trumpeter's compositions. The 2025 Magpie consists entirely of pieces penned by Chicagoan Joe Clark. In comparison, the 2026 Joyful Foundation is ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

New music from South Africa's Nduduzo Makhathini, Kalia Vandever, Emily Kuhn and the Helen Sung Big Band

by Hobart Taylor
June 24, 2026

New music from South Africa's Nduduzo Makhathini, Kalia Vandever, Emily Kuhn, and the Helen Sung Big Band.Playlist Host Speaks 00:00 D.J. Sparr “There Is Nothing in the Universe That You Are Not" from The Tao of Muhammad Ali (Neuma) 00:23 Desiree/Emmanuel Jal “Macho" from (single) (Mmino) 02:08 Allen Toussaint “Whirlaway" from Songbook (Concord) 08:15 ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Paulo Almeida, Michel Gentile Flow, Laura Camacho Tango Project

by Cheryl K.
June 6, 2026

During this week's two-hour program of jazz and improvised music--trumpeters Jacques Kuba Séguin, Malcolm Strachan, Klaus Wienerriother, and Arturo Sandoval; drummers Gustavo Cortiñas and Paulo Almeida; flautist Michel Gentile; saxophonists Loren Stillman and Alan Braufman; pianists Jon Batiste and David Janeway; and bassist Laura Camacho with her Tango Project.Playlist Bobby Hackett & His Orchestra ...

Video

Tu resiliencia es resistencia

Featuring the music of Gustavo Cortiñas
Duration: 5:42
May 22, 2026

Chicago-based drummer and composer Gustavo Cortiñas unveils the video for “Your Resilience Is Resistance,” a stirring piece from his upcoming album The Drum Also Sings / El Tambor También Canta, due June 5 via Desafío Candente Records. Featuring legendary drummers Dave King and Isaiah Spencer alongside Chilean vocalist Paula Herrera, the video transforms themes of memory, resistance, collective struggle, and rebirth into a powerful visual and musical statement. Rooted in South American rhythmic traditions, the piece honors resilience as both survival and defiance while reflecting the album’s broader meditation on healing, ancestry, and community. Across 'The Drum Also Sings', Cortiñas uses rhythm, voice, and collective improvisation to explore how music can carry grief, hope, and renewal simultaneously.

Article: Album Review

Entre Amigos: Joyful Foundation

by Jack Bowers
April 15, 2026

Joyful Foundation is a near-perfect name for the third album by Entre Amigos, wherein the Chicago-based quartet welcomes aboard one of the jazz world's rising stars, trumpeter Justin Copeland, to play--naturally--The Music of Justin Copeland on an album whose upbeat posture and sunny disposition help make it utterly charming and highly listenable. There is, ...

Article: Year in Review

I Dischi del 2025 secondo Ludovico Granvassu

by Ludovico Granvassu
January 5, 2026

Immortalare la bellezza e la varietà del jazz pubblicato nel 2025 attraverso una “top ten" appare tanto arduo, vano--e alla fine deludente--quanto cercare di fotografare un tramonto sulla costiera amalfitana usando una rudimentale fotocamera digitale e facendo un forellino sul copriobiettivo. Certo, una foto verrà scattata. Potrebbe persino dimostrare che eri lì, in quel momento, quando ...