John Santos

Five-time Grammy nominee and USA Fontanals Fellow, John Santos, is one of the foremost bandleaders, composers, producers, percussionists, and educators in Afro-Latin music. He has performed and/or recorded with a stellar array of acknowledged masters such as Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Cachao, Eddie Palmieri, Omar Sosa, Joe Henderson, Billy Cobham, John Handy, Bebo Valdés, Charlie Hunter, Lalo Schifrin, Carlos Santana, McCoy Tyner, Arturo Sandoval, and Larry Vukovich. He currently teaches at the Jazz School in Berkeley and the College of San Mateo, and has lectured and conducted countless clinics and workshops in the United States, Europe, and Latin America since 1973, including at such prestigious institutions as Yale, Stanford, UCLA, the Manhattan School of Music, the Museum of the African Diaspora, and the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He currently directs the John Santos Sextet, and is featured prominently in the PBS American Masters documentary Cachao: Uno Mas. www.johnsantos.com