Colombian Jazz Musicians

As most Jazz musicians in Colombia, Oscar has had to work in many different things to make a living, but his passion for Jazz has been both evident and continuous. He has recorded 3 CD�s as a leader playing both accustic and electric keyboards.

Apart from his interest in Jazz, Oscar Acevedo has had a succesful career in other genres such as classical music and Rock. He's also created jingles for colombian television ads and the incidental music for News programs and soap operas.

Besides working as player, arrenger and composer, Acevedo hs also been producer and artistic director for other colombian bands and soloists such as Caf� Express, Poligamia and Marbelle. A long and highly creative career with a sound base : Jazz.

Currently, Oscar Acevedo is living in Spain.

He has been living for many years in Toronto, Canada. His most recent recording is titled "Building Bridges".

In 1975 Armando was invited to join a group with New York piano virtuoso Richard Sasnow, guitarist Peter Leitch, and two players from the MSO. In 1977, he shared the stage of Montreal's Olympic Stadium with Emerson, Lake and Palmer. In 1984, Jo� played a series of concerts with bassist Miroslav Vitous of the legendary group Weather Report.

Since his last visit in 1993, Armando has filmed a concert with his Latin Jazz Ensemble at the National Gallery of Canada and has appeared at the Montreal Jazz Festival to rave reviews. More recently he has played regularly at Oy�! Monthly Latino Nights at the Metropolis nightclub in Montreal. On April 5, 1996 Jo� shared the stage of Metropolis with his greatest musical influence, long-time musical idol and friend Tito Puente.

Armando and his group juggle the rhythms of salsa, rumba and cumbia to create an infectiously joyous music experience.

About his first CD as a leader, "Travesia", recorded in 1996 he told writer Hugo Chaparro "To me, in this record there's no fusion but mixture. And this mixture obtains a conjunction, a reunion of elements, conceived by the right musicians. There's a guitar player who plays Jazz but can also relate to other elements and become a "cumbianbero", someone who can play a "Pasillo", who knows all the impulses behind other rhythms and can swing to them".

Arnedo recorded a few months ago his 4th CD in 4 years, closing with it a stage in his career on which he went back to his musical beginnings, to those tunes and rhythms that characterize Colombian Folk music and that have become an inherent part of his style. With his music, Arnedo achieves something unique, making us, colombians, feel proud of a country mostly known by intolerence and violence.

This quiet, gentle and talented man lets us connect with a different idea of nation, the dream of a Colombia in Peace, enjoying its natural diversity and its human richness.

Biswell went to the U.S, taking courses in Miami, New York and New Orleans. Then he moved to the caribbean island of Aruba where he stayed for 4 years before coming back to Colombia where he worked for 2 record labels. He also produced jingles for TV and played with the Bogot� Philharmonic Orchestra.

Kent Biswell had the original idea of creating the International Jazz Festival of Bogota's Teatro Libre, the most important festival of its kind in Colombia. He had started a famous night club called "Caf� del Jazz" in the late 80's and while talking one night with theater director Ricardo Camacho, he advanced the idea of the festival. Kent Biswell was the artistic director of the first editions of this important festival but in 1990 he decided it was time to travel again. He went to France where he studied orchestration and Computer asisted composition at the University of Paris. Then he studied Movie soundtrack composition at the Normal School of Music of Paris.

With all this training, Kent Biswell was able to work and tour with legendary artists like Danilo Perez, Yuri Buenaventura, Joe Cocker, Natalie Cole and Stevie Wonder, participating in concerts in Europe, Asia and Africa .

Manuel Borda and his trio recorded their first CD, "Im�genes", at the begining of 2001 with the production of pianist Michael Cain.

He also studied at academy Francisco Cristancho in Bogota and then participated in clinics with dominican composer Robert Jeandor and pianists Michel Camilo and Kenny Barron.

Bossio has worked with bands in caribbean cruise ships and in different hotels in the antilles. He's also tour the U.S and Canada, with important musicians and singers like Natalie Cole, Spyro Gira, Astrud Gilberto, Dizzy Gillespie and Michel Camilo.

In Colombia, he founded the Bogota Jazz Trio and the Bitches Brew quintet. He has also been a music teacher in different local universities and has recorded with the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra.

She sings Jazz, brasilian music and boleros with groups based in Medellin like Caxanga, Alcatraz, Bambu, Tamarindo, Tambo and CAB.

As a young boy he frequented a series of classical piano concerts held at the Municipal Theater where unexpectedly he discovered Jazz for the first time. It was the Big Band of Lionel Hampton that impacted young Simon with the spontaneity of the music and its melodic improvisations, the hints of Blues and the use of dissonant harmonies, unknown to him at the time. He managed to discover the Modern Jazz Quartet among others, against the difficulties of obtaining such musical genres back in Barranquilla.

Simon engaged his musical talents for two years as a drummer for a Latin Rock band, for which he later performed as a pianist. During these three years he composed and had his first recording experience with Sony Music label. Simultaneously he formed a Salsa band called Cuba Libre, which offered Simon a re-direction towards his roots.

It was at this stage that Simon developed improvisation with inclinations towards Jazz. His classical professor Anita Matarazzo, recognized his ability and encouraged further development, influencing him to continue his studies overseas. Simon traveled to the U.S arriving in Boston in 1990, where he attended Berklee College of Music and graduated with majors in Piano and Commercial Arranging. While in Boston he formed Palenke a Latin Jazz band, for which he played the piano, arranged and composed.

Simon has been a frequent guest at the Barranquilla Jazz festival playing with the likes of Chucho Valdez and Michel Camilo. He's been interested in a new style of cuban Salsa called Timba.

Currently, Simon resides in Boston where he performs with different bands in various formats, ranging from piano solo and trios to large ensembles. He arranges and composes for "Latin Jazz" and various genres of Commercial Latin Music.

Fond of cadence and emotion more than of rationality, Chavarriaga uses his sticks as a fresh way of participating in adventures.

He created the group Cinco de Oro, winners of the Phillips Silver Orchid award, worked in hotels throughout the U.S and in Cruise lines like Comodore and Floating Fleet.

He played Jazz with different bands in the emerging club circuit of Bogota while at the same time being part of the orchestras of Pepe Reyes and Ramon Ropain.

He learned to play music in Colombia in "an age when it was very difficult and very little appreciated". He took private lessons with composers Blas Emilio Atehortua and Gentil Monta�a. He began his career as a professional musician in the band of Pop singer Leo Dan and continued to learn about colombian popular music with other artists.

In the field of Jazz, Cuesta has worked as bassist with Armando Vel�squez, Gabriel Rond�n, Edy Mart�nez, Hernando Becerra and the group Magenta. He has also conducted clinics in other countries and was the director of the Jazz program at Universidad INCCA de Colombia.

Currently, he works as a teacher in universities of Bogota and is the director of Auros Producciones, an independent label dedicated to Jazz and Colombian folk music.

He also works as guest director for Symphonic Orchestras and plans to release a CD with his music in early 2001.

He was co-founder of the Junior Symphonic Orchestra and in the early 80's created a Jazz band called Tol�. In 1982 he became a permanent member of the Bogot� Philharmonic and participated in a percussion group playing contemporary works in several international festivals.

When Gomez was 12, her mother began guitar lessons, and Claudia sat in, eventually getting her own teacher. With her mother she played Mexican rancheras, and other Latin American pop songs. In high school Gomez and some classmates formed Cuarteto Ellas, a group that sang acoustic Latin music backed by the quartet's four acoustic guitars.

In the early '70s, Claudia followed her brother Luciano to England where they busked in tube stations, singing tunes by Dylan, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and other 70s icons.

After returning to Colombia and moving to Bogota in '76, Gomez started her professional career, singing with bands and traveling around the countryside investigating typical music. "Brazilian music was very big at the time, and very rich harmonically, but I also loved the percussive drive of typical Colombian music. I began dreaming about making music that would combine these two lements."

In the early '80s Gomez and her brother came to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she worked, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists in the thriving Bay Area Latin music scene. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of San Jos�, California.

Claudia has appeared to rave reviews at the following Jazz Festivals : Monterrey, San Francisco, Russian River, San Jose , Festival at the Lake and the Filoli Jazz Series. She has recorded three albums worth of her own unique fusion of Brazilian and Colombian music and has shared the stage with Jazz legends like Flora Purim and Airto Moreira.

Ana Maria studied Theory and Music Grammar at Centro de Orientacion Musical "Francisco Cristancho" and took private lessons with Luis Carlos Garcia, Raymond Koster and Gabriel Rondon.

In 1990 she was invited to participate in one of the most important Jazz & Salsa festivals in Colombia and a year later traveled to Chile where she learned advanced vocal techniques from Ines Delano. In 1992 she participated in the Festival de Jazz del Teatro Libre de Bogota and later on some editions of the Festival de Jazz de Medellin, while recording with local and foreign bands and producing commercial jingles for television.

Between 1991 and 1998 he took piano lessos with classic master Karol Berm�dez. In 1992 he entered the Conservatory of Universidad Javeriana in Bogota where he worked with different Jazz ensembles directed by saxophonist Antonio Arnedo.