I play the

TENOR

SAX

I started in 10th grade, after hearing my high school big band play live. I fell in love with the intensity that band could transmit. I had been producing EDM music in FL Studio for years up until that point, and I figured a sax would be a cool addition. I got hooked.

Soon after, the EDM I was always bumping was replaced by Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. By the time I graduated, I had auditioned into the top big band and competed at Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington in NYC twice.

I inevitably decided to study classical saxophone performance at Lawrence University, which came with its own set of challenges. Mainly the fact that I couldn’t study jazz until I passed what they called “the certified technique exam.” At the end of my freshman year of college, I switched over to math; I couldn’t not study jazz, are you kidding?

Freshman year I discovered Coltrane, and I became obsessed. I still am obsessed. He became my mentor, shaman, savior, and his music continues to inform my daily life. Coltrane is everything.

musician life

A peruvian jazz quartet formed by Ruben Alonso Ocampo, Alexis Kagüe, Arturo Valdez, el “maestro” Gary Silva, and myself. We fuse jazz improvisation and harmony with traditional valses, festejos, landós and polkas. In addition to performing, we’ve focused on outreach by bringing jazz to underdeveloped communities in the Lima area.
Formed by Emy Castro, we perform traditional peruvian repertoire including styles such as valses, festejos, landós, tonderos and panalivios. We also occasionally perform boleros. In this group, I play saxophone as well as minor percussion.
This group is dedicated to performing classic jazz albums from the 50’s and 60’s. We feature Clay Lyons on alto sax, Matt Blair on piano, Aden Stier on bass, Frank McKearn IV on EVI, and Jordan Kowalski on drums.