Carlos Henriquez-The Bronx Pyramid | October CD of the Month

The bassist, Carlos Henriquez has been a member of the prestigious Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis since 1998, he joined them shortly after graduating from the renowned Fiorello H.LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts whose list of distinguished alumni is as long as its name. Born in the South Bronx in 1979, Carlos began playing guitar as an adolescent, when he enrolled in the Julliard School’s Music Advancement program he switched to the bass. In 1996, señor Henriquez was a member of the LaGuardia Concert Jazz Ensemble that won first place in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s  Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival. That performance caught the eyes and ears of Wynton Marsalis who asked Carlos to join the J.L.C.O.

Since becoming a professional musician while still a teenager, Henriquez has appeared on over 25 recordings and has toured the world as a participant of a wide arrange of music, jazz, Latin jazz, salsa, pop, R ‘n B and much more. The names of note he has played for is quite impressive; Stevie Wonder, Tito Puente, Willie Nelson, the Marsalis family, Bob Dylan, Chucho Valdés and others. Since 2008, he has been on the faculty of the Northwestern University School of Music and in 2010 when the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra traveled to Cuba to play and record an album that was just released a few months ago, he became the ensemble’s music director writing several songs for the Cuban audience to hear for the first time. With all these accolades and honors combined with superior skills as a bassist, composer and arranger it is surprising that his debut as a leader has just occurred in the autumn of 2015. Carlos’ “The Bronx Pyramid” is a diverse collection of music covering the many muses of Henriquez including songs in dedication to his mom, the street in the Bronx he grew up on, his Puerto Rican heritage and naturally, some swingin’ straight-ahead bop jazz!

Not only is his first CD as a leader packed with marvelous music, his accompanists are all top notch players equal to the task. They may not be any pyramids in the Bronx, however, Carlos Henriquez is worthy to be one of the finest pharaohs of the bass kingdom.