Juan Francisco Ordóñez

Juan Francisco Ordóñez
Background information
Born 4 October 1961
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Genres Bachata, jazz, son
Occupation(s) Musician, composer
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1980–2009

Juan Francisco Ordóñez (born 4 October 1961) is a guitarist from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is considered an innovator of Dominican guitar language, through a fusion of blues, rock and jazz with his particular style.[1]

Career

Ordóñez graduated high school from Colegio Dominicano De la Salle and later earned a degree in Economics from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo.

He began his guitar studies with teacher Blas Carrasco and later continued on his own. He learned formal music composition from Sonia de Piña, at the Dominican National Conservatory.

From 1976–1977, he took part in the folk group Convite, a very important force in the rescue and transformation of Dominican folklore in the seventies.

In the early eighties, he and Luis Días formed the rock group Transporte Urbano.[2] Ordóñez was Transporte Urbano's lead guitarist for almost 25 years. In 1985, Ordóñez traveled to Moscow, in the old U.S.S.R., performing several concerts with Patricia Pereira and Luís Días.

By this time, Ordóñez began some fusion projects such as the influential guitar/bass/drums trio OFS, alongside Transporte Urbano drummer Guy Frómeta and former Transporte Urbano bassist Héctor Santana. This lineup went to Peru, in 1986, with Dominican singer Sonia Silvestre to perform at the Festival de la Nueva Canción Latinoamericana.[3]

In the nineties, he started a Caribbean fusion trio (Trilogia) with Héctor Santana, and percussionist Chichí Peralta[4]

He is currently musical director for La Vellonera, a live outfit which accompanies Dominican singer/songwriter Víctor Víctor live.[5]

Professional work

Ordóñez has also led a solo career[6] and has worked as an arranger and director of commercial jingles, music for films (as in the short Frente al Mar about a story of the Dominican writer Hilma Contreras, and Leon Ichaso's Bitter Sugar.)[7]

Ordoñez has long been a much sought after studio and live guitarist for artists and groups of the Dominican Republic, Latin America and Spain.[8] He also has participated in jam sessions with such renown jazz musicians as Paquito de Rivera, Don Cherry and Charlie Haden.[9] He also has been guitar teacher to several generations of Dominican guitarists.

Recordings

In 2005 Ordóñez was co-producer, arranger and guitarist on Bachata Entre Amigos, a Víctor Víctor album that also featured songwriters Joaquín Sabina, Joan Manuel Serrat, Pedro Guerra, Silvio Rodríguez, Pablo Milanés, Fito Páez and Víctor Manuel, among others.[13]

Sources

This article is a translation of the homonime article in the Spanish Wikipedia es:Juan Francisco Ordóñez

  1. Elías, Carlos Francisco (1 August 1990). "Juan Francisco Ordoñez: un invento dominicano en el emotivo sonido de la guitarra". República Dominicana: Listín Diario. p. 16C.
  2. Stepan, Jaime. "Biografía de Luis Terror Días". Retrieved 30 August 2008.
  3. Puello, Zoila (9 April 1986). "Arte y Artistas". Listín Diario (República Dominicana): 14B.
  4. Mena, Miguel (10 April 1994). "Juan Francisco Ordóñez o una buena apuesta de jazz". Ventana-Listín Diario (República Dominicana): 6.
  5. "Víctor Victor Explota su lado revolucionario" (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2008.
  6. "Juan Fco. Ordóñez:Suculencias del Jazz Dominicano" (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  7. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115600/fullcredits
  8. "Vivirá, homenaje a Juan Bosch" (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  9. Frías Guerrero, José Isidro (25 March 1990). "A propósito de la visita de Charlie Haden". República Dominicana: Listín Diario. p. 7–C.
  10. http://patinbigote.com/patin_concursos.php
  11. http://www.tagtuner.com/music/albums/Patricia-Pereyra-y-Juan-Francisco-Ord%C3%B3%C3%B1ez/ http://www.music-db.org/folk/6f08d20b.html
  12. http://www.cielonaranja.com/radiorecuerdos.htm
  13. "Bachata entre Amigos" (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 June 2008.

External links