Home » Jazz Musicians » Paoli Mejias
Paoli Mejias
Paoli Mejias - percussion, composer, recording artist, bandleader
Performing for more than 20 years, Grammy nominee Paoli Mejias has already distinguished himself as a young master percussionist and is ranked among the best in both salsa and Latin jazz. Paoli is now at the vanguard of Latin jazz as leader of his own Quintet with three successful CDs as band leader: “JAZZAMBIA”(2008), “Transcend” (2006) and “Mi Tambor” (2004) which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album.
Born March 7, 1970 in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, percussionist Paoli Mejias' rise to Latin jazz fame is a story of sweat and dedication. Completely self taught, Paoli purchased his first set of congas at age twelve, inspired by records of conga great Carlos “Patato” Valdes and Latin jazz innovators Batacumbele and Irakere. Learning by imitating the sounds he heard on the records, Paoli taught himself the language of the congas without the benefit of an instructor. By his mid-to-late teens, he could be found at jam sessions in the streets and on the beaches of San Juan. He earned invitations from bandleaders like Rafú Warner, José Nogueras, Glen Monroig and Charlie Sepúlveda. As he worked his way up the live music food chain in Puerto Rico, Paoli found himself performing alongside the Latin jazz legends who had inspired him in his early years.
Paoli's résumé includes top jazz and salsa artists like Tito Puente, Dave Samuels, Dave Valent�-n, Paquito d'Rivera, Chick Corea, David Sánchez and Danilo Pérez, who all have called on Paoli for his unique blend of melodic sensitivity and blinding technique. As Puerto Rico's first-call conguero, Paoli has performed and recorded with artists like Luis Enrique, Marc Anthony, La India, Tito Puente, Seis del Solar, & Eddie Palmieri with whom he toured the largest jazz festivals for more than a decade. Paoli's discography as side-man includes more than 20 commercial recordings, among them Grammy nominated “Acuarela de Tambores” by Alex Acuña, and Grammy Award winner “Masterpiece” by Eddie Palmieri and Tito Puente.
Paoli made his successful debut as a bandleader in 2004 with his self-produced record “Mi Tambor” which received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2005. Showered with positive press and accolades from the worldwide jazz community, Paoli's transition from sideman to focal point was explosive. His 2006 follow-up release “Transcend” features some of the New York Latin jazz scene's finest: Luis Perdomo, Miguel Zenón, Jaleel Shaw, Hans Glawischnig, Antonio Sánchez, all of whom are also recording on his 3rd CD “JAZZAMBIA” released November 30, 2008.
Read moreTags
Joan Torres's All Is Fused: Revolution
![Read "Revolution" reviewed by Paul Naser](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/74dc9bff23d60c3fff54a981fe8b5dfb.jpg)
by Paul Naser
Amidst the chaos that is the year 2020, Joan Torres's All Is Fused has found the time to release an alt take of the closer from their 2019 album, Revolution (Self Produced). The new version of Finale" is a collaboration with bass virtuoso Bubby Lewis. Of the collaboration, Torres says: I wanted someone who was a bit of a kindred spirit in this musical journey but with a considerably different style. The stars then lined up somehow because Bubby Lewis....was ...
read moreJoan Torres's All Is Fused: Revolution
![Read "Revolution" reviewed by Paul Naser](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/74dc9bff23d60c3fff54a981fe8b5dfb.jpg)
by Paul Naser
Since the band's last record, Of The Musical (Self Produced, 2016), Joan Torres' All Is Fused has taken time to dig deeper into its influences and expand its sound. This year All Is Fused returns with an evolved vibe that finds it delving deep into fusion and Latin with a slight nod to the avant-garde and Thundercat among other styles. The result is Revolution.The album begins with the on-topic, high intensity Rebellion." Torres, who serves as the project's ...
read moreGabriel Vicéns: Coming Back
![Read "Coming Back" reviewed by Mark Sullivan](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/7d42073472f22dabe876de5e3f60daef.jpg)
by Mark Sullivan
The rules for releasing music have been in flux for some time, and the digital single has made its way from pop music to jazz. Puerto Rican jazz guitarist/composer Gabriel Vicéns (now a New York City resident) presents an unreleased track from the recording sessions for his second album Days (Inner Circle Music, 2015). The guitarist found the rough mix of this song by accident and since he still related to the track he arranged for it to be mixed ...
read moreGabriel Vicéns: Days
![Read "Days" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/gabrielvicens_days_eb.jpg)
by Vincenzo Roggero
Non ancora trentenne il chitarrista portoricano Gabriel Vicéns dimostra di sapersi muovere disinvoltamente nel mare magnum del modern mainstrem, con piglio autorevole nella conduzione musicale, con studiata scaltrezza nel variare mood e atmosfere, con intelligenza nell'assicurarsi i servigi di due vecchie volpi come il sassofonista David Sanchez e il trombettista Alex Sipiagin anche co-produttore del disco, pubblicato dalla etichetta discografica di Greg Osby. Il clima generale della registrazione non può non risentire della provenienza geografica del nostro, che ha tuttavia ...
read moreGabriel Vicéns: Days
![Read "Days" reviewed by Chris Mosey](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/gabrielvicens_days.jpg)
by Chris Mosey
A varied mix of influences has gone into the songs on this, Gabriel Vicéns' second album. There are the the loves of the guitarist's young life, the vampires and werewolves of the horror films he enjoys and the everyday trials and tribulations of the working people of his native Puerto Rico. He says: I wrote 'Days' as a tribute to ordinary people who need to wake up early and work hard every single day... doing the same ...
read moreGabriel Vicéns: Days
![Read "Days" reviewed by Roger Farbey](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/gabrielvicens_days.jpg)
by Roger Farbey
Gabriel Vicéns recorded his first album Point in Time in 2012, when the guitarist was only 23 and which featured jazz bass legend Eddie Gomez. Days, his second album was recorded in his home town of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He currently teaches guitar at a collegiate level in the Music Department of the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. Thanks to its tight ensemble,"El Teatro" sounds like a big band arrangement with initial solos from Alex Sipiagin on ...
read moreGabriel Vicéns: Days
![Read "Days" reviewed by Edward Blanco](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/gabrielvicens_days.jpg)
by Edward Blanco
Young Puerto Rican-born guitarist Gabriel Vicens unveils his second album as leader with the audacious Days documenting a nine-piece program of infectious modern jazz with a touch of the Latin flavor to make it interesting and quite appealing. A graduate from the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico, the twenty-seven-year old musician is currently professor at the Universidad Interamericana in San Juan and is widely recognized as one of the Island's up and coming rising jazz stars. Featured here are ...
read moreThere are standard structural elements of Afro-Cuban music here �" tumbaos and montuno sections �" but there are also rhythm strategies that come from various kinds of new jazz that many would say are not Latin at all. (One track, "Diaspora," culminates brilliantly with Mr.Zenón soloing with more free-jazz gusto than he ever seems to use, over the interlocking patterns of two hand drummers.) The point is that jazz was part Latin from the start, and has become only more so." NEW YORK TIMES, Ben Ratliff