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Jesus Fuentes

Jesús Fuentes was born in Cd. Juarez, Mexico. He is an active pianist, arranger and educator. Jesús is currently a DMA candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. holds a MM in Jazz Piano Performance from Texas Tech University and a BM in Commercial Music from the University of Texas at El Paso.

While Jesús is mainly a Jazz pianist, he has studied and regularly performs a variety of genres including Classical, Latin, and most commercial music styles. As a Jazz pianist he has played with world renowned artists such as Tom Harrell, Allen Vizzutti, Jaleel Shaw, Jiggs Wigham, and The Glenn Miller Orchestra. In other genres, Jesus has accompanied artists such as Joe Ely, Mac Davis, Ian Moore, and Il Divo, as well as being a member of the metal band Orcus O Dis.

Jesús has received multiple academic awards throughout his music studies including a Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 2020, where he currently teaches group piano class and Jazz keyboard. Jesús was sponsored by the Promising Artists of the 21st Century Jazz Program to travel to Colombia as a member of the UTEP Jazz Quartet to perform and give masterclasses in 2016, and receiving the 2012 Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award at the University of Texas at El Paso.

As an educator, his musical versatility enables Jesús to relate to students with any musical background to develop their own unique musical voice.

Tags

20
Album Review

Simply This Quintet: Stepping Up

Read "Stepping Up" reviewed by Jack Bowers


On its first full-length album, the modestly named Simply This Quintet boasts a sturdy two-tenor front line (Reginald Lewis, Matthew Storie) and an able rhythm section (Jesus Fuentes, piano; Emma Taylor, bass; Frank Kurtz, drums) performing eight original compositions by members of the group. The quintet was formed in 2018 by friends at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Its goal, according to the album's liner notes, is “reinterpreting the classic two- tenor saxophone jazz ensembles of the 1950s and ...

6
Album Review

Jesus Fuentes: Liminality: Live At Smith 25

Read "Liminality: Live At Smith 25" reviewed by Jack Bowers


As everything we see and hear is no more or less than a snapshot in time, it is easy to forget that many of our brightest jazz stars once shined their light on campuses and in classrooms from coast to coast while honing their budding skills. Pianist Jesus Fuentes is one such scholar, the album Liminality: Live at Smith 25 his doctoral degree recital, and Smith 25 the room in Smith Memorial Hall where it was recorded in November 2020 ...

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Primary Instrument

Piano

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

DMA in Jazz Performance candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign MM in Jazz Performance - Texas Tech University BM in Commercial Music - University of Texas at El Paso

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Hwy 538

Self-Released
2022

buy

Liminality: Live At...

Self Produced
2021

buy

Stepping Up

Self-Released
2021

buy

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