Bio

Alejandro Santos 

Alejandro Santos has exerted a strong influence on Argentine contemporary music for the last 20 years. His style of fusing modern jazz with traditional Argentine rhythms in his compositions has won him the acclaim of the public and of the critics in Argentina with his first CD: “Candombe del Parque Chacabuco”  as well as in Europe and the United States, where he recorded his last two CDs, “5 Carnavales 4” and “Night Reflections”.

       Alejandro is a reknown flutist who plays a number of other wind instruments such as saxophones, piccolo, bass flute, quenas, chromatic pan-flutes and other native wooden flutes, besides being an excellent pianist and keyboard player.

       Born in Buenos Aires in 1956, Alejandro began his musical career at the age of 8, playing the acoustic guitar and singing traditional folk music, before turning to keyboards and woodwinds and exploring other musical styles. He also started composing and performing his own music.

       Alejandro studied flute under the tutelage of Alfredo Ianelli in Buenos Aires. During this period he was a member of the Orquesta Juvenil Municipal while at the same time beginning his composition studies with Guillermo Graetzer.

       Alejandro became increasingly interested in Contemporary Jazz, Bossa Nova and modern Tango, influenced by the works of artists such as Piazzola, Jobim, Corea, Hermeto, Gismonti, Jarret & Metheny. He strove to create his own jazz sound based on the Latin American rhythms he had grown up with. After several years of receiving ever-increasing recognition and critical acclaim for his performances in Argentina, as well as working and recording with the most important Argentine Jazz, Rock and Folk artists, Alejandro began recording his debut album, “Candombe del Parque Chacabuco”, which was released in South America on RCA Records in 1982. It received heavy airplay and critical praise.

       In 1987, Alejandro  travelled to Europe and performed in Spain, France and Germany, where his music awakened a great interest in European audiences and musicians.

       In 1988, Alejandro received a scholarship from The Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA, to study woodwinds and jazz composition. He dedicated the next three years to perfecting his knowledge and technique, studying and performing with some of the greatest international jazz figures such as Gary Burton, Lyle Mays, Bob Moses, Herb Pomeroy, Bill Pierce, A. Ulanovsky, Hal Crook and many others.

       In 1990, Alejandro released his second Cd, “5 Carnavales 4”, in the United States, on Invasion Records. It received excellent reviews and was situated among the top 30 jazz albums of the Gavin Report for several months.

       In 1992 Alejandro recorded his third Cd, “Night Reflections” in Manhattan, with the participation of Claudio Roditi and Diego Urcola.

       Alejandro has been performing with numerous musicians such as Agustin Pereyra Lucena, Dino Saluzzi, Eduardo Lagos, Mario Parmisano, Toquinho, Fito Paez, Chango Farias Gomez, and the reknown group “Anacrusa”, lead by Jose Luis Castiñeira de Dios and Susana Lago, performing at the Colon Theater in December 1999 as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra and the National Choir.