Chihuahua Jazz Festival 2014
Hello everyone,
I’m happy to announce that I’ll be doing a teaching residency at the Chihuahua Jazz Festival 2014, along with 2 of the faculty members of LaFaro Jazz Institute: Agustin Bernal on bass, and Gabriel Puentes on drums. We’ll be teaching private lessons, workshops and master classes from October 20-24. We will also offer a faculty concert on October 23, where we will very likely be sharing the stage with the great jazz pianist and composer Aaron Goldberg, who will also be at the festival as the piano faculty member, and who will also be teaching private lessons and master classes. Mr. Goldberg will also play with his own trio on October 23 as well, following our faculty concert. The festival will also include great international artists such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Seamus Blake, Gilad Hekselman, Nir Felder, and many others, alongside national artists such as Roberto Verástegui Trio, Gerry López, Armando Nuñez Pulsar 3, among others. All the concerts, workshops and master classes are free, so, hope to see you there!
New Quartet Project
Hello everyone,
Hope the summer is treating you all well. Just wanted to take this opportunity to announce that I’m starting my project of original music for the first time officially. I’ve had a few attempts to play my music in the past, while I was studying in the US, which were very brief due to the nature of their purpose (which were mainly for my senior/graduate recitals at Berklee and NEC, respectively). This time, I’m lifting off this project officially, which I’ll be presenting several times throughout the year. I’m also hoping to record and album with this project, sometime in the first half of 2015. In the meantime, I’ll be doing several shows with this project, to get the music going and allow it to evolve. As I mentioned earlier, this project is comprised of all original compositions of mine, and the group includes 3 of the best jazz musicians in Mexico City, whom I admire and respect a lot. The group includes Agustin Bernal on bass, Roberto Verástegui on piano, and Gabriel Puentes on drums. I’ll be posting our upcoming gigs in the “Upcoming Shows” section, in case you’re interested in joining us. Thanks for reading this, and hope to see you at one of our shows!
Duo concerts with Sylvie Bourban in Switzerland
Hello all,
Just wanted to share some exciting news: I’ll be performing a couple of concerts in Switzerland with Swiss Jazz Singer and songwriter Sylvie Bourban. I’ve known Sylvie for quite some time now, all the way back since we were studying together at Berklee College of Music, between 2006-2008. I had the pleasure to collaborate on her first two albums: “[ki:r]” (2008) and “Look Busy” (2009). It’s been a while since we played together, and this time I was fortunate enough to get invited by her to do these two concerts. One of them will take place in Lausanne, Vaud, at a venue called “Zinema”, on June 2nd, 2013. The other one will take place at Bourg-St-Pierre, close to Valais, on June 8, 2013. For more information, please visit the “Upcoming Concerts” section. We will be playing a combination of jazz standards and some contemporary popular songs by Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, along with a few original songs by Sylvie. I’m really looking forward to collaborate again with Sylvie and sharing some music with her again after such a long time. That without mentioning how exciting it will be for me to visit Switzerland for the first time! I’m hoping to get some recordings (audio, possibly video as well) of these concerts soon, which I’m hoping to post on this website in the following weeks.
To learn more about Sylvie and her music, please visit the following website:
www.sylviebourban.com
LaFaro Quartet live – Jazz Institute opening event 9/1/11
I’ll be performing with the LaFaro Quartet this Friday, 9/2. This quartet is comprised by the faculty members of the LaFaro Jazz Institute, which will start its semester this Monday, 9/5. We’ll be performing this Friday at a venue called “El Convite” and we’ll be starting around 9pm. For more information, please visit the following website:
LaFaro Jazz Institute starts on September 5th!
Under the leadership of the renowned mexican jazz bassist and composer Agustin Bernal, the LaFaro Jazz Institute starts as a new alternative for jazz education in Mexico City. This educational project is inspired by the legendary jazz bassist Scott LaFaro, and includes some of the finest musicians in the mexican jazz scene, such as Agustin himself, tenor saxophonist Ottis Ganceda, drummer Yaury Hernandez, and yours truly. This is a really great project that I’m very proud and honored to be involved in as a guitar instructor, and one that will hopefully help to give a stronger impulse to jazz education in Mexico. For more information, please visit the institute’s website:
New Quintet & Sextet Videos
Please visit the “video” section for some recently uploaded videos that include excerpts from my Graduate Recital at New England Conservatory on April 2011. These videos feature a great group I put together with great musicians and friends of mine. The group includes Jihye Kim on voice, Andrew Mulherkar on tenor saxophone, Matthew Sheens on piano, Zwelakhe-Duma F. Bell le Pere on bass, and Patrick Kunka on drums. These videos also feature three of my most recent compositions, written during my time at New England Conservatory. Please take a look and hope you enjoy the videos!
New Trio Recordings
Please stay tuned for some new trio recordings that we’ll be uploading shortly. This is a trio I started working with in May 2009, which includes two great musicians that I really admire: the great Agustin Bernal on bass, and the young talent of Juan Alejandro Saenz on drums. This music is part of a recording session we did in Mexico City a few days prior to my moving to Boston to start my Master’s at New England Conservatory.
New Jazz Institute opening in Mexico City
Stay tuned for more information regarding a Jazz Institute that I was honored to get invited to participate in as a guitar instructor. This institute is the first of its kind in Mexico City, and will include some of the most well renowned musicians from the Mexican jazz scene among the faculty. We’ll be posting more information soon!
New Website!
Welcome and thanks for visiting! We’ll be uploading some videos, mp3s and additional materials regularly to show some of the projects and music I’ve been working on lately. Please take a look and hope you enjoy the website!