About

info@joesantamarialovesmusic.com — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:11:38 -0500

Welcome to joesantamarialovesmusic.com

MFA - Calarts 2010
BFA - Berklee 2007

High School: HSPVA Houston Texas '03

Though I was born in Austin Texas I spent my early years in Grand Rapids MI. I spent a lot of time skateboarding and listening to WYCE. I also was into drawing, building things, digging holes and playing video games. (Hobbies which i haven't completely abandoned).

After nurturing a mellow interest in music for a year or so in Michigan my family picked up and moved back to our home town, Houston Texas. In Houston I found myself with the option to attend HSPVA, a fantastic public arts school. I practiced really hard and barely squeaked by the auditions. I can credit my acceptance into HSPVA with my current successes. If it hadn't been for the extensive training in both classical and jazz styles I had there I wouldn't have been as prepared for college or have had the early musical experiences that fueled my inspiration to continue.

Houston has a wealth of great teachers and over my years there I studied with almost everyone: Kelly Dean, David Caceres, Woody Witt, Karen Wylie, Warren Sneed, Dennis Dotson, Nathan Carter, and others.

When it came time to leave for college I chose Berklee College of Music in Boston. They were very generous with a scholarship and that, among other perks, was my main reason for attending. Other thoughts I had were of New School, Manhattan, or NEC (the typical east coast Jazz schools), but it was lucky that I wound up at Berklee. The students I met there were incredible musicians from all different parts of the globe. The very diverse, intense, and talented student body kept me working hard. I spent time with some incredible teachers there too: Hal Crook, Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Dave Santoro, Ed Tomassi, and Jerry Bergonzi. They all helped expand my talents greatly and provided me with very specific and innovative advice about improvisational music and self teaching.

After Berklee I took a year off and played music in Houston. I started a trio with good friend Andrew Gordon and played shows and private parties. It was a great year for getting a taste of music life. We had a steady gig at the Kelvin Arms along with a good spread of private functions. I also brought some Berklee comrades down to play at the local Jazz venue Cezanne's.

After a year working, I felt it was time to get back to school and get my Masters. After looking around at all the obvious school choices I remembered a good friend of mine from California, Hamir Atwal, had mentioned to me that Los Angeles based CalArts was one of the best music schools in the country. After a little research I realized that it was one of the most amazing programs in the world. I had always been interested in music from Africa, Indonesia, and India. Amazingly at CalArts there were professional musicians from all of those regions on the full time faculty. Not only that but there was a fantastic Jazz faculty and a Macedonian program as well. The musical influence available at CalArts was right up my alley and I spent a very happy two years there immersing myself in everything I could. I was even lucky enough to visit Bali as a guest of Nyoman Wenten and study Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar. The teachers that I spent the most time with at the school were: David Roitstein, Larry Koonse, Joe Labarbara, Alfred Ledzekpo, Randy Gloss, Miroslav Tadik, Vinny Golia, Paul Novoros, Nyoman Wenten, Charlie Hayden, and Darek Oles.

Among the greater perks of CalArts was my ability to record at world famous Capitol Records. The CalArts student composition CD was a great success in both years that I was attending. I was able to record on a large number of tracks for the 2009 and 2010 CDs. Please look in the links section and visit the CD archive, where you can find the streaming audio.

That brings us up to my current situation. Right now I'm living in New York catching up with old friends and playing music everyday. I'm trying to get a teaching position at a local Queens company, working some part time jobs, and moving forward. I'm looking forward to a great year and hoping to release some recordings. Please keep tuned!

Joe Santa Maria

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