Luis Bonilla
Encyclopedia
Luis Bonilla is an American
Afro-Cuban jazz
and Latin jazz
trombonist born in Los Angeles
, California
of Costa Rica
n descent. He is a Grammy Award
- winning perform
er, composer
, and Music Professor
, about whom the New York Times has described as the artist who "explodes the usual musical structures of both Afro-Cuban
and Latin Jazz
".
of how he was enrolled in a brass class, believing it to be a metal shop class, only to find himself with a trombone in his hands. While learning to play the instrument, he found within himself a talent for music, and an enjoyment of jazz. After he graduated high school Bonilla studied at Cal State Los Angeles
, earning a B.A.
degree, and a M.A. degree
in Jazz Performance and Composition from the Manhattan School of Music
.
, and a sideman
with some of the top performers of his time. They include famous jazz musicians such as McCoy Tyner
, Dizzy Gillespie
, Lester Bowie
, Tom Harrell
, Freddie Hubbard
, Astrud Gilberto
, Willie Colón
and Toshiko Akiyoshi
. However, Bonilla has demonstrated his versatility as a sideman and studio musician with artists as varied as Tony Bennett
, Diana Ross
, Marc Anthony
, La India
and Mary J. Blige
. He has drawn inspiration from Lester Bowie
, his mentor
, with whom he toured. Bonilla calls Bowie his "father away from home", with whom he has learned a great deal.
In 1985 he joined the Gerald Wilson
orchestra, with whom he recorded.
Pasos Gigantes (1998) reached JAZZIZs Latin Jazz Recording top ten, and both this effort and Escucha! (2000), were critically praised.
Bonilla moved on to become a bandleader
and has recorded albums of his own.
, and is on the faculty at Temple University
. He is a member of the Mingus Big Band
, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. In February 2009, he received two Grammy Awards with Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (Arturo O'Farrill Dir.)
In 2010 he was featured as a classical soloist on The Chamber Wind Music Of Jack Cooper
(Centaur Records) and as a jazz soloist on the large ensemble recording Coming Through Slaughter - The Bolden Legend (GCR) further showing his diversity as a major trombone artist.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz is an early form of Latin jazz that mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with harmonies and musical timbre typical of Bebop. It was developed in the early 1940s by both Cuban musicians and Jazz musicians, with Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Machito and Stan Kenton among some of the most notable...
and Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
trombonist born in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
of Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
n descent. He is a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
- winning perform
PerForm
PerForm and PerForm PRO were electronic form programs, initially designed to work under GEM in DOS. Later versions were designed to work in Windows 3.1, at which point it was succeeded by FormFlow....
er, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and Music Professor
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
, about whom the New York Times has described as the artist who "explodes the usual musical structures of both Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
and Latin Jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
".
Education
As a youth, Bonilla was introduced to music in general, and exposed to jazz in particular, while still a young student in school. He tells the anecdoteAnecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
of how he was enrolled in a brass class, believing it to be a metal shop class, only to find himself with a trombone in his hands. While learning to play the instrument, he found within himself a talent for music, and an enjoyment of jazz. After he graduated high school Bonilla studied at Cal State Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
, earning a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree, and a M.A. degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Jazz Performance and Composition from the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
.
Sideman
Bonilla supported himself as a session musicianSession musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, and a sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
with some of the top performers of his time. They include famous jazz musicians such as McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...
, Tom Harrell
Tom Harrell
Tom Harrell is a renowned American post-bop jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer and arranger.-Biography:Tom Harrell was born in Urbana, Illinois but moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of five. He started playing trumpet at eight and within five years, started playing gigs with...
, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, Astrud Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto is a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer. She is well known for the Grammy Award-winning song "The Girl from Ipanema".-Biography:...
, Willie Colón
Willie Colón
William Anthony Colón is a Nuyorican salsa musician. Primarily a trombonist, Colón also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in municipal politics in New York City.-Early years:...
and Toshiko Akiyoshi
Toshiko Akiyoshi
is a Japanese American jazz pianist, composer/arranger and bandleader. Among a very few successful female instrumentalists of her generation in jazz, she is also recognized as a major figure in jazz composition. She has received 14 Grammy nominations, and she was the first woman to win the Best...
. However, Bonilla has demonstrated his versatility as a sideman and studio musician with artists as varied as Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
, Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
, Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
, La India
La India
La India , known also as "La Princesa de la Salsa" , is a singer of salsa. She has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.-Early years:...
and Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...
. He has drawn inspiration from Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...
, his mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
, with whom he toured. Bonilla calls Bowie his "father away from home", with whom he has learned a great deal.
In 1985 he joined the Gerald Wilson
Gerald Wilson
Gerald Stanley Wilson is an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer/arranger, 8 time Grammy nominee, and educator. He has been based in Los Angeles since the early 1940s....
orchestra, with whom he recorded.
Pasos Gigantes (1998) reached JAZZIZs Latin Jazz Recording top ten, and both this effort and Escucha! (2000), were critically praised.
Bonilla moved on to become a bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
and has recorded albums of his own.
Recent work
Bonilla has evolved into a Professor of Music, having secured employment from the Manhattan School of MusicManhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
, and is on the faculty at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
. He is a member of the Mingus Big Band
Mingus Big Band
The Mingus Big Band is an ensemble, based in New York City, that specializes in the compositions of the late Charles Mingus. It is managed by his widow, Sue Mingus and represented by Tree Lawn Artists, Inc.. In addition to its weekly Monday night appearance at the Jazz Standard in New York City,...
, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. In February 2009, he received two Grammy Awards with Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (Arturo O'Farrill Dir.)
In 2010 he was featured as a classical soloist on The Chamber Wind Music Of Jack Cooper
The Chamber Wind Music of Jack Cooper
The Chamber Wind Music of Jack Cooper is the first classical/new music studio recording featuring numerous performing artists recording chamber wind music of the composer on the Centaur Records label.- Music :- Background :...
(Centaur Records) and as a jazz soloist on the large ensemble recording Coming Through Slaughter - The Bolden Legend (GCR) further showing his diversity as a major trombone artist.
Music
Select Discography
- Pasos Gigantes & His Latin Jazz All-Stars (1991) Candid RecordsCandid RecordsCandid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day...
- Esucha! (2000) Candid RecordsCandid RecordsCandid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day...
- Terminal Clarity (2007)
- I Talking Now (2009)