Hugo Fernandez (guitarist)

Hugo Fernandez is a Mexican jazz guitarist[1] based in Berlin, Germany.

Hugo Fernandez
Born (1971-09-25) September 25, 1971
Mexico City, Mexico
GenresJazz, jazz fusion
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
InstrumentsGuitar
Years active1990–present
LabelsOrigin
Websitehugofernandez.net

Education

At the age of 18 he began to work professionally as a guitarist for Mexican pop artists. At the age of 23, he travelled to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music, where he graduated with honors in 1998. During his time in Boston, he had lessons with renowned jazz educators such as: Jerry Bergonzi, Hal Crook, Ed Tomassi and Jamey Haddad. In that period he coincided there with the musicians Antonio Sanchez, Anat Cohen, Avishai Cohen, Miguel Zenon, Lage Lund, among others. In 1999 he returned to Mexico City and began teaching at the Academia de Musica Fermatta affiliated with the Berklee College of Music network. In 2003 he moved to New Orleans to study a master's degree in jazz studies under the tutelage of Steve Masakowski and Ed Petersen.

Career

In 2001 the Hugo Fernández Quartet was formed, having its first important concert in 2001 in the cycle "Cinco de Jazz" of the "Sala Ollin Yolitzli" with Pablo Prieto (drums), Luri Molina (double bass) and Sergio Galván (alto sax).

In the early years, this group was looking for the sound of bebop and played a jazz standard repertoire with arrangements by Fernandez. They were then invited to the International Guitar Festival of the CNA (2002) and opened the concert for Antonio Sanchez at the Teatro de la Ciudad (2003). Fernandez also collaborated with jazz musicians in Mexico City such as Magos Herrera, Omar Aran, Alex Kautz, Iraida Noriega, Joe D'Etienne, Israel Cupich, Miguel Villicaña, and Gabriel Puentes.

In 2006 he traveled to Madrid where he lived for 12 years. In Spain he collaborated with Cordelia,[2] a Sevillian group led by singer and actress Lola Botello, where jazz, Latin American music, and literature converged. In their seven years together, they performed several concerts and recorded their album Solitude.

With Celia Mur, a singer from Granada, he recorded Amerikanda[3] mixing Latin American folk music with jazz and flamenco.

In 2013 he recorded Origenes, his first album as a leader,[4] with Ariel Bringuez (saxophones), Ander Garcia (double bass), and Mariano Steinberg (drums). Fernandez was invited to close the jazz cycle "Por lo tanto Jazz" at the Palacio de Bellas Artes[5] in Mexico City. In this period the quartet made several tours in Mexico and Spain.

Their next album, Cosmogram[6][7] included Antonio Sanchez, Antonio Miguel on double bass, and Ariel Bringuez on saxophone. DownBeat magazine named it one of the best albums of 2016.[8]

In September 2018 he recorded Naualli with Julian Sanchez (trumpet), Ariel Bringuez (saxophone), Tomas Merlo (bass guitar), and Marc Miralta (drums). The band combines classical music, pop rock, and world music and includes arrangements by Mexican composers to interpret this music in a jazz context.

Navegantes[9] reunites five authors with different stylistic perspectives. They share authorship to propitiate a unity in their sound.

He has performed at Festival Internacional Cervantino, Mexico City Historic Centre Festival, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Jazz-MX Festival, Circulo de Bellas Artes (Madrid), Madrid Jazz Festival, Granada Jazz Festival, University of Seville Jazz Festival, Jazz en el Centro (Gijón), JazzFermin (Pamplona), Guatemala International Guitar Festival, among others.

Personnel
  • Pedro Cortejosa (Cadiz, Spain – saxophone)
  • Joaquin Sanchez (Granada, Spain – clarinet, flute)
  • Javier Delgado (Seville, Spain – double bass)
  • Jimmy Weinstein (New York City – drums)

Discography
  • Solitude (2011) with Cordelia
  • Amerikanda (2012) with Celia Mur
  • Origenes (self produced, 2012)
  • Cosmogram (Origin 2015)
  • Naualli (self produced, 2018)
gollark: Where I live in the UK train service... exists... but it seems to actually be about as fast as going by car on the same trip, if not slower.
gollark: I mean, trains would be better for... some-distance transport... but it seems like nobody cares enough to implement good train infrastructure most places.
gollark: * planes are cool
gollark: * cool
gollark: Unicode ends up leading to weird security issues in some stuff because it is so extremely complicated to deal with.

References
  1. "Music, Press, Conciertos, Noticias". Hugo Fernandez Jazz Guitarist/ Guitarrista de Jazz (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  2. "Prensa". WEB CORDELIA (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  3. "Celia Mur & Hugo Fernández: 'Amerikanda' | DistritoJazz". www.distritojazz.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  4. "Hugo Fernandez: Origenes". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  5. Ópera, Coordinación de Música y. "Por lo tanto ... Jazz". www.musicayopera.bellasartes.gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-05.
  6. "Hugo Fernandez | Berklee College of Music". www.berklee.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  7. "Hugo Fernandez: Cosmogram". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  8. Diariocrítico.com. "El guitarrista Hugo Fernández nos regala 'su' jazz más original y cosmopolita". Diariocrítico.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-03.
  9. "Hugo Fernandez Quintet "Navegantes" – CiudaDistrito". ciudadistrito.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-05.
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