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John-Carlos Perea

JOHN-CARLOS PEREA Electric Bass Guitar, Northern Plains Pow-Wow Vocals, Cedar Flute

Grammy-winning pow-wow singer and cedar flutist John-Carlos Perea (Mescalero Apache, Irish, German) was born in Dulce, New Mexico and raised in San Francisco, California. He received his BA in Music from San Francisco State University in 2000, studying electric bass with David Motto and ethnomusicology with Dr. Hafez Modirzadeh. During his time at San Francisco State, Perea also studied Northern style pow-wow music with Dr. Bernard Hoehner-Peji and sang with the Blue Horse Singers, Dr. Hoehner-Peji’s pow-wow drum group. Perea released his first CD, "First Dance" (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=18616), in 2001 and since then has performed alongside many eminent American Indian artists including Joy Harjo, Charlie Hill, and Sandra Osawa. In addition to leading his own quintet and performing with San Francisco-based ensembles such as Francis Wong’s Gathering Of Ancestors and Dr. Loco y sus Tiburones del Norte, Perea co-leads the Sweetwater Singers, a Northern Plains intertribal pow-wow drum.

John-Carlos Perea received his MA in Music from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005 and is currently a doctoral candidate in Music at UC Berkeley. His dissertation focuses on the life and music of Native jazz saxophonist Jim Pepper. Perea has lectured at San Francisco State, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Harvard on the subjects of American Indian Music and American Indian Modern and Creative Performing Arts. He recently completed a Visiting Artist Fellowship with the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University that led to the formation of the Stanford IDA Singers, an intertribal Northern Plains pow-wow drum.

In May 2007, Perea toured Japan with the Paul Winter Consort to premiere music from "Crestone", the new Consort CD on which he contributes pow-wow vocals and cedar flute. "Crestone" received its US premiere in December 2007 at Paul Winter’s 28th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration held at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. Crestone is a 2007 Grammy Winner (Best New Age Album, Vocal or Instrumental) and can be purchased from Living Music or downloaded from iTunes or Amazon.com.

Awards

2007 GRAMMY® Best New Age Album (Vocal or Instrumental) for Crestone (Paul Winter Consort, Living Music, 2007)


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Extended Analysis

John-Carlos Perea: First Dance

Read "John-Carlos Perea: First Dance" reviewed by Bill Siegel


John-Carlos Perea First Dance Aerep Music 2001

What do a Mescalero Apache electric bassist, a Michoacan-Mexican percussionist, a Chicano guitarist, a Nicaraguan-Jewish drummer, and French-Iranian, Argentine and Chinese-American saxophonists have in common with John Coltrane and Jim Pepper?

The answer comes in the form of John-Carlos Perea's First Dance. Perea--who plays fretted and unfretted electric bass--produced the CD and composed all but one of its cuts. First Dance is a ...

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"this album feels like the late Jim Pepper’s Comin’ and Goin'..." -Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

"First Dance is a forcefully political CD, and yet a highly personal statement for Perea." -Bill Siegel, AllAboutJazz.com

"On his debut album First Dance, electric bassist John-Carlos Perea stirs up a smooth, fat sound with a lyrical drive that transcends jazz fusion clichés… to forge a new kind of multiethnic groove." -Sam Prestianni, SF Weekly

“Unique and unlikely, Perea merges American Indian powwow and traditional Irish music with echoes of experimental jazz to explore his many-layered heritage.” -Amber Adrian, SF Weekly

Primary Instrument

Flute

Location

San Francisco

Credentials/Background

I’ve held teaching positions at San Francisco State University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. Hours and rates are available upon request.

Music

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