Juan Garcia-Herreros

Juan Garcia-Herreros
Background information
Birth name	Juan Sebastian Garcia-Herreros
Also known as	Snow Owl
Born	July 1, 1977
Origin	Bogotá, Colombia
Genres	Electroacoustical jazz
Occupation(s)	Bassist, composer
Instruments	Electric contrabass guitar
Labels	Inner Circle Music
Associated acts	Snow Owl
Website	www.the-snow-owl.com

Juan Garcia-Herreros, also known as "The Snow Owl", is a native born Colombian Bassist & Composer, notable for his virtuoso musicianship and for his use of a customised 6-stringed Electric Contrabass Guitar.^[1]

History

Juan Garcia-Herreros was born in Bogotá, Colombia. His first musical studies began with Flute at the age 9 after moving to New York City with his family. Once he completed middle school his family relocated once again to Dunedin, Florida where he discovered the electric bass. Due to the fact that his family was unable to afford private lessons his passion for learning fueled him to become a self-taught musician. Juan was just 16 when he began to teach Music Theory and Jazz Performance at Dunedin High School in Florida. His highschool band teacher recognized his young talent and encouraged him to also study acoustic bass so that he could be a part of the symphonic band in school. After spending many dedicated hours playing both acoustic and electric bass, he auditioned and became proficient enough to perform with the Tampa Bay Symphony at just 17 years of age.^[2]

At the same time Juan competed in New Orleans for a slot in Berklee College of Music's Scholarship tour and received a coveted scholarship to attend the school in Boston.

He studied at Berklee with bass instructors Bruce Gertz, Joe Santerre, Rich Appleman and Oscar Stagnaro.

At age 21, he returned to New York City to pursue a professional music career. While in New York, Juan developed the ability to meet the demands of multiple styles. Whether the musical genre is Jazz, Pop, Funk, Salsa, straight-ahead, Rock, Modern, Classical, Heavy metal, or Avant-garde he is capable of performing without artistic compromise.

At age 26, he moved to Vienna, Austria where he currently resides.

At age 30, he was selected by a jury to become part of the faculty for the Jazz Institute of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz. He was the first Colombian to be honored with such an academic position in Austria.^[3]

At age 37, he was Nominated for a Latin Grammy Award in the category of Best Latin Jazz Album, for his third CD release entitled "Normas". He is the first Electric Bassist ever to be nominated for this category.

Performances and collaborations

CD Artwork from Snow Owl's second CD Release "Art of Contrabass Guitar"

During his career, Juan has performed and collaborated with:

• Grammy Award recipients Al Jarreau, Christina Aguilera, Lalo Schifrin, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Alex Sipiagin, Elton John, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra^[4]
• Oscar nominee David Newman, Boston Pops Orchestra director Keith Lockhart and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.^[5]
• Oscar and Grammy winning composers James Horner, James Newton Howard and Randy Newman^[6]
• Singers Brian Mcknight, Louise Dearman, Deborah Cox, Sandra Pires, Madita, Turkish Pop Stars Sertab Erener and Demir Demirkan
• Drummers Stoyan Yankoulov, Jojo Mayer, Terri Lyne Carrington, Thomas Lang and Antonio Sanchez.
• Alto saxophonists James Spaulding, Miguel Zenon, Yosveny Terry, Anton Denner, Klaus Dickbauer, Wolfgang Puschnig and Greg Osby.
• Trumpetists Lew Soloff, Alexander Wladigeroff and Michael Philip Mossman.
• Balafon master Mamadou Diabate & Percussion Mania
• Latin Jazz Piano legends Hector Martignon and Oscar Hernandez.
• Latin Jazz Percussionists Horacio Hernandez, Jorge Bezerra, Master Timbalero "Chino" Nuñes, Roberto Quintero and Bobby Sanabria.
• Jazz / Funk guitarists Mark Whitfield, Alegre Correa, Bilal Karaman and ECM recording artist José Maria Saluzzi.
• Modern Jazz Pianists Sabri Tulug Tirpan, Bill Carrothers, Paul Urbanek and Edward Simon.
• He has also performed and toured with RMM recording artists Michael Stuart and Johnny Rivera.

As a composer his original compositions have been featured in the off-Broadway production of "Anatomy of a Knucklehead."

Since 2005 Juan has performed at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California as well as two solo bass concerts at the 2006 Frankfurt Musikmesse.

He has taught Bass Masterclasses in Berklee College of Music and at multiple international universities.

Snow Owl's performances have included major festivals and venues stretching from the continents of Asia, Europe and the Americas

Awards and recognitions

• In 2006 Snow Owl received the Best Jazz Artist award by Jazz First, a cooperation between Jazzeit Magazine, Quinton Records and Erste Bank.^[7]
• His debut album, Snow Owl, Quartet as a leader was selected as Critic's Choice in Germany by Bayerischer Rundfunk in 2006.^[8]
• November 2008 Hans Koller Preis CD of the Year for Martin Reiter's "ALMA". The CD features Juan Garcia-Herreros on "Pra Frederic".^[9]
• February 2009 He was selected as a Projekt X-Change Ambassador to represent Colombia and his integration as an artist in Austrian society. Projekt x-change focuses in bringing foreign and established public figures into Austrian classrooms to talk about their positive and negative experiences of integrating in a foreign country. The Austrian president Dr.Heinz Fischer personally thanked and congratulated him in the opening ceremonies which took place in Vienna's Hofburg palace.^[10]
• 2010 Art of Contrabass Guitar is selected winner of Best Traditional Latin Jazz album in America by O's Jazz Newsletter.^[11]
• 2011 Austrian World Music Prize recipient with Mamadou Diabate's Percussion Mania.^[12]
• 2013 Art of Contrabass Guitar is selected by Bass Musician Magazine as one of the most 21 influential Latin Jazz CDs of the decade.^[13]
• 2014 Latin Grammy Nomination in the category of Best Latin Jazz Album - Normas ^[14]

Current projects

• Snow Owl
• 3 Feathers
• 4-Nax
• Banda Del Padre
• Mamadou Diabate's Percussion Mania
• Hollywood in Vienna

Filmography

Discography

References

External links

• Official website
• Juan Garcia-Herreros on Facebook
• Snow Owl on Bandcamp