Biography
Javi Santiago is a powerful young artist and visionary. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, MN, he grew up surrounded by strong artistic support. Not only was he influenced by his parents, who were jazz musicians, but also he was influenced by his own generation. His original music is an eclectic blend of genres including jazz, hip hop, rock, R&B and everything in between. Javi started playing piano at the age of 5, and was classically trained until he discovered his love of jazz music. In high school, he was a prominent player in the Minneapolis/St. Paul music scene where he also started his career in music production. He won the Schubert Club Jazz Piano Scholarship Competition two years in a row (2006 and 2007).
In 2007, Javier was selected by the great Dave Brubeck and a panel of judges to be a part of the Brubeck Institute Fellowship program at the University of the Pacific in California. It was there that Javi was able to learn from some of the greatest musicians in the world; Christian McBride, Robert Glasper, Eric Harland, Nicholas Payton, Joshua Redman, Geoffrey Keezer and Jeff Ballard to name a few. Javi was fortunate enough to play at venues all across the nation such as the Detroit Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center and Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., IAJE, and Yoshi’s in Oakland. The Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet (’08-’09) was awarded Best College Group Of the Year in DownBeat Magazine two years in a row (2009 and 2010).
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In 2011, Javi was selected to participate in 14th Annual Betty Carter Jazz Ahead (2011) intensive residency program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. where he studied with Curtis Fuller, George Cables, Winard Harper, Dr. Nathan Davis, and other jazz heavyweights.
Javi received his Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano Performance in late 2011 at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC. Since then, he has been playing gigs regularly in NYC at venues such as Smalls Jazz Club, 55 Bar, The Iridium, and several others. Javi is not limited to just playing the piano. He also teaches, arranges, composes and produces at a very high caliber as well.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.