from left to right: Pancho Tekila (La Pulqueria / Guitar), Roman Rojas (Singer/Songwriter/Producer), Jordi (La Pulqueria / Guitarrist)
While they were promoting their new record “17″ in New York City, I had the chance to sit down and interview Warner Latina’s Grammy nominated Mexican rock band Motel. They were the most Grammy nominated alternative rock band for the Latin Grammys in 2007
I met up with Warner Music Latina’s recoding artist Motel for their first interview with Life In Music V-Cast. They passed through NYC to promote their new album “17″ due to be released on January 29th. Motel were the most nominated alternative act for the Latin Grammy in 2007.
From Left to right: Rubén Puente, Emil Guillermo “Billy” Méndez, RR Media Music Producer Roman Rojas, Rodrigo Dávila, José “Pepe” Damián
Please note that this is the spanish version of the interview.
Luisito Quintero was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was surrounded by Afro-Venezuelan and Afro-Cuban rhythm and music. His father, a respected percussionist in his native country, tutored and encouraged Luisito on timbales through his adolescent years. Luisito comes from a long line of outstanding musicians which includes his Uncle, Carlos Nene Quintero and cousin Robert Quintero. Luisito studied at the respected Orquesta Simfonica de Venezuela (The Symphonic Orchestra of Venezuela), and his percussion technique soon garnered attention from his colleagues. He joined the popular music ensembles Grupo Guaco and Oscar D’Leon, where he enjoyed widespread worldwide exposure. Besides being known for his skillful timbale work, Luisito also plays congas, bongos, drum set, djembe, dundun and a wide variety of assorted percussion instruments. His technique on all of these instruments is masterful and unparalleled. Luisito has worked with , Jack De Johnette, David Sanborn, George Benson ,Joe Sampler, Bill Cosby, the late Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Richard Bona, Ravi Coltrane, Claudia Acuna, Giovanni Hidalgo, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Willie Colon and countless other high-profile music acts. Quintero is comfortable working in any genre of music from Symphonic to Jazz and from Latin to House. One of his most recent projects finds him as musical director for Louie Vega and the Elements of Life Band as well as extensive work with Jack DeJohnette’s Latin Project. He is also co-musical director and percussionist for Kevin Jones and Tenth World. He is one of the most sought after percussionist in the country at this time and will continue to build his legend as time goes on. Luisito is also a skilled clinician who shares his limitless knowledge of music to younger percussionists around the world. Today, he is an established and respected musician, teacher, band director, and master.
Click here to listen to the podcast interview of Luisito Quintero.
Is really mind blowing how artists are promoting upcoming music these days.On this video, Bono himself sings one of the songs from The Joshua Tree sessions that never made it onto the album. He sings it to his own track Wave of Sorrow at somebody’s home, very intimate and informal. What better way to announce your next song? He even tells us what the song is about, explains every lyric of the song while he sings it.This has got to be one of the most exciting periods in the history of music, I have to say that I am very happy to be alive.
Spidart allows music fans to invest in their favorite bands that upload music to the site. When the music starts selling the profits are split between Spidart, the artist, and the fans. Therefore the fans become the executive producers of the music.
I sat down and received an incredible music sermon from music veteran Ann Ruckert. She shared with me what it means to be a musician, and how we are able to change people’s lives and our own through music.
Ann Ruckert has produced, played and / or sung on over 3,000 commercially released recordings. Ann has worked with Michel LeGrand, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Merry Clayton, Sarah Dash, Quincy Jones. T Rex, and Strawbs. Musical coordinator / contractor for major motion pictures and TV soundtracks including Housesitter with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn; Boys on the Side with Whoopie Goldberg; and Lovesickwith Dudley Moore.
Internationally known as a musician’s musician, Ann studied orchestration and composition at Juilliard and London’s Royal Academy of Music, as well as privately with Parisian teacher Nadia Boulanger, Helen Jordan and David Sorin Collyer. She continued her studies in ethnomusicology at New York University graduate school.
She is continuing her work as an award winning studio musician, projects coordinator, and freelance A&R person.
She is also the Co-founder of theJazz Foundation of America, with pianists Dr. Billy Taylor and Herb Storfer, and Board of Directors.
Ann was also a Governor, Trustee, Vice President of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the New York chapter; Chair of Education Committee; 4-year member of TV committee for the Grammy Awards Show, from 1982-2003.
I had a chance to talk to the CEO of As Is Entertainment Jamie Propp. Jamie produced SUBPLAY, the very first record of New York City subway musicians. He was also responsible for starting the internet department at Jive records in NYC, there he worked with acts such as Britney Spears, Brackstreet Boys, and N’Sync. Jamie’s latest project is Hatian singer Manze Dayila.
Signs of the end of the old music business. This rapper was able to do it all by himself with a little help from his friends at YouTube and Myspace.You go boy!
Danilo Alvarez is a veteran of the advertising industry. As a creative director he has worked for Agencies such as: Accent Marketing in Miami, Bates World Wide in Miami, Disney, The Bravo Group in NYC among others. Danilo is usually the person in charge of choosing the music that’s going to be used on a TV Commercial, and throughout his career he has worked with some of the top music houses and composers of the commercial music world. On this episode he shares with us some of his experiences producing commercials and the importance of music in the advertising industry.
To listen to this episode 3 click on this link. You can also find the podcasts on i-Tunes by typing my name: Roman Rojas.
I have finally posted the first episode of Life In Music Podcast. On this episode I had a chance to sit down and talk to pianist Jose Gallegos. Jose is one of the most influential musicians of the New York City scene. In the late 70’s he was part of the Tito Puente Quintet and in the 80’s owned Variety, the top Latin recording studio in New York City. At Variety studios Jose worked with artists such as: Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Oscar D’ Leon, Mecano, Ruben Blades, to name a few. Jose also has been producing music for advertising for many years. Here is the link to the interview with Jose Gallegos, enjoy!
