Results for "Latin Jazz"

Jstop Latin Soul

Active since: 2018

Jstop Latin Soul formed in 2018 when trombonist Joel Stopka and bassist/guitarist Brian Mesko united to pursue their passion for Afro-Cuban music and jazz. The duo assembled a collective of the area's finest seasoned musicians, all of whom have performed with a "who's who" of jazz, blues, Latin, and R&B legends and recording artists.

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Vladimir Espinosa and David Sandoval, two dynamic Latin percussion technicians, lead the driving rhythm section alongside drummer DeWayne Peters and pianist 'Montuno Tom' Floyd. The late Ken Hitchcock, a renowned New York recording artist and saxophone virtuoso (1956–2022), contributed masterful tenor sax and flute performances, which are featured on the group’s first CD. Multi-instrumentalist Willis Greenstreet adds depth to the ensemble with his gritty guitar and sax solos. Recording artist and engineer, Bobby Read, from Bruce Hornsby and The Noisemakers fame, joined the band in 2022 and brought an exceptional new level of artistry to the group.

Paul De Castro

Paul De Castro, pianist, suona player, composer, arranger, and producer. Dr. De Castro started his musical studies at age 5. His initial interest in music led him to start piano studies and vocal performance in Lima, Peru. These activities led to his acceptance into the Conservatorio Nacional de Música, pre-college studies. Immigrating to the USA at age 20, to continue his musical studies, earning a B.A. and M.A. for Cal State Los Angeles and a D.M.A. in Music Composition from the University of Texas in Austin.

His areas of expertise include Latin Jazz, Cuban music, Suona performance in both Cuban and Chinese styles, Jazz, and World Music. In his capacity of lecturer/performer, he has worked in many countries such as Australia, Canada, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Spain, Romania, Hungary, and Cuba.

Brian Ward

Born: September 30, 1969

Brian Ward is a keyboardist, recording artist, composer, arranger, and educator. Ward has performed with Talya Groves, Bobby Watson, Will Matthews, Leroy Vinnegar, Bobby Torres, Shirley Nanette, Dee Daniels, Curtis Salgado, Obo Addy, The Oregon Symphony, The Spokane Jazz Orchestra, and others. Brian helped create the "City of Roses" arrangement by Esperanza Spalding, which won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for Vocal Performance in 2013. Ward received the 2022 Andrew B. Cius Jr. Award for outstanding student composer at the University of Kansas School of Music. Brian currently lives in Kansas City, where he is active on the jazz scene, performing jazz and blues

Brian D Ward

Born: September 30, 1969

Brian Ward, D.M.A., is a keyboardist, recording artist, composer, arranger, and educator from   the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Ward has performed with Bobby Watson, Will Matthews, Leroy Vinnegar, Bobby Torres, Shirley Nanette, Dee Daniels, Curtis Salgado, Obo Addy, The Oregon Symphony, The Spokane Jazz Orchestra, and many others. Brian helped create the arrangement for "City of Roses" by Esperanza Spalding, which won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for Vocal Performance. Brian currently lives in Kansas City, Kansas, where he enjoys performing jazz and blues weekly.

Santiago Bertel Puyo

Born: September 3, 1993

Colombian pianist, composer and educator, Santiago Bertel, plays and creates music that merges together the jazz language and the western classical tradition, with Latin American rhythms. From studying in the Conservatory of music at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, to graduating from Berklee College of Music, thanks to a grant from the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation, he has performed at major venues around the world such as Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofía, Berklee Performance Center, Field Concert Hall, Luis Ángel Arango Concert Hall, León de Grief Auditorium, among many others

Ramon Climent

Born: March 17, 1948

Ramón Climent plays a wide repertoire of own compositions aand own arrangements of well known versions of Jazz and Latin tunes : Swing, Blues, Balade, Latin Jazz, Jazz-Rock & Traditional BeBop Ramón Climent Composer & arrangeur Phone +34 659 900 024 E-mail : [email protected]

Poncho Sanchez

Born: October 30, 1951

GRAMMY-winning bandleader, conguero, and percussionist Poncho Sanchez is among the most influential percussionists in jazz.  For more than four decades, he’s stirred up a fiery stew of straightahead jazz, gritty soul music, and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources. Throughout his career, Sanchez has held aloft the torch lit by such innovators as Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente and Cal Tjader, embraced by each of those icons and entrusted to carry forward the traditions of Latin Jazz.

Sanchez was born in Laredo, Texas, in 1951 to a large Mexican-American family, but grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, where he was raised on an unusual cross section of sounds that included straightahead jazz, Latin jazz and American soul. By his teen years, his musical consciousness had been solidified by the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, Wilson Pickett, and James Brown. Along the way, he taught himself to play guitar, flute, drums and timbales, but eventually settled on the congas. Sanchez landed a permanent spot in Cal Tjader's band in 1975, and remained with him until the bandleader's death in 1982.  Sanchez then shifted his focus to his own group, which he had formed in 1980, and signed with powerhouse label Concord for the release of ‘Sonando’, beginning a musical partnership that has spanned nearly four decades and yielded more than two dozen recordings. 

Susie Hansen

Angelo Velasquez

Angelo Velasquez is a proud Los Angeles based Jazz drummer, composer, and band leader. He is a graduate of California State University Northridge Jazz Department, the 2021 Downbeat winner for best composition, and the Disney scholarship winner at Cal arts where he received his MFA in jazz performance. The leader of “YOCOYA”, Angelo blends, musical styles from all over the world with jazz, in both his playing and compositions to create a powerful, unifying, and emotional musical experience. Angelo has performed with the likes of Dontae Winslow, Logan Richardson, Luis Conte, Sasha Berliner, Nick Mancini, Steve Lehman, Larry Koonse, Alphonso Johnson, Eric Marienthal, Wayne Bergeron , Brian Scanlon, Ira Nepus, Gary Pratt, Bob Sheppard, Bobby Shew, and John Daversa

Ingrid Leon & Bob James

Active since: 2023

Over the past 40 years, multi-instrumentalist Bob James has been writing, arranging and performing with members from Talking Heads, Miles Davis Group, Herbie Hancock, James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic and many more. A classically trained pianist in the United States, Bob has always enjoyed exploring a variety of jazz, pop and world music.

While preparing to release his first solo recordings, He met and heard Ingrid León in 2023, performing in Baja California Sur.  This sultry jazz singer immediately captivated him...reminding him of a Latin Sarah Vaughn, yet with her own unique timber and style.  Bob recalls “You only stumble across special talent like this maybe once in a lifetime." so he immediately shelved his own solo project so Ingrid and he could begin their musical project called "Dúo"; an ongoing process where Ingrid & Bob continue to write and record music weekly in assorted studios in Mexico. Ranging from American/Latin/Brazilian pop and jazz styles, The duo continues to explore new ideas and sonic combinations.  They both collaborate writing all original songs together.  Bob plays all music on the project except for noted “guest artists” and Ingrid is the primary vocalist. The album Dúo will be released in 2024 after they write and record 60-70 songs, however they will be releasing singles throughout the year via streaming companies for the public to enjoy. Dúo will be a collection of the Artist’s favorite compositions.