Tag Archives: Jazz Music

Dr. E Digs Deep, blues roots bring sweet fruits

The Jam is back in November, featuring JPI’s own Managing and Artistic Director, Eli “Dr. E” Yamin with his jazz and blues band. “Dr. E Digs Deep, blues roots bring sweet fruits” will be held November 15 at Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center and November 18 at National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Dr. E’s jazz and blues band features Eli “Dr. E” Yamin, piano and vocals, with alto saxophonist Zaid Nasser, bassist Elias Bailey and drummer David F. Gibson, with special guests invited to “join in the jam.” Join us!!

The Intergenerational Jazz Power Jam is made possible by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; Howard Gilman Foundation; Hispanic Federation and the #MirandaFamilyFund; Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corp. with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and individual donors. Thank you!

Fernando Garcia & Behique at The Washington Heights Jazz Festival

Fernando Garcia: drums and vocals; Jan Kus: tenor Sax; Cesar Orozco: piano; Carlos Mena: bass; Juan Diego Villalobos: percussion; Gabriel Vicens: guitar; Raul Rios: trumpet and vocals

Puerto Rican drummer Fernando Garcia is part of a young vanguard of musicians who are celebrating the island’s folk traditions by studying it faithfully, reproducing it, then combining it with jazz in a sound that sounds familiar yet so-very-new.
Born in San Juan and raised in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, García studied guitar at the extension program of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and drumset at Micheo Music Academy (Santurce), while later receiving a bachelor’s degree in música popular from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, graduating in May 2011. Furthermore, he was awarded the Juan Luis Guerra Scholarship to complete a master’s degree in contemporary performance at Berklee College of Music, Valencia, Spain, graduating in July 2013). In May 2018, García completed a second master’s degree in music education at the Teachers College of Columbia University.

In New York City, he has established himself as a drummer, percussionist, composer and educator. Throughout his career, he has worked equally as a band leader as well as a sideman. Some of the musicians García has toured and/or recorded with include Abraham Laboriel, Perico Sambeat, Ricardo Pons, Héctor Matos, Pepe Rivero, Alain Pérez, Guillermo Klein, Julio Montalvo, Victor Mendoza, John Benitez, Ximo Tébar, Nathaniel Townsley, Jim Ridl, Boris Koslov, and Miguel Zenón, among others.