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Carlos Jimenez

Carlos Jimenez is an extraordinary flute player and vocalist, as well as composer and band leader of Jazz, Latin Jazz and Salsa. Born in Yonkers, New York, his family moved to Villaba, Puerto Rico when he was six years old. It was there that his musical training began.

From a young age, Carlos had an aptitude for percussion and played timbales, bongos and congas. His first lyrical instrument was trumpet, which he studied under Professor Pablo Leon at Francisco Zayas Santana High School. Carlos soon changed his instrument to flute, feeling inspired listening to the music of Mongo Santamaria and how he utilized the flute in his arrangements. He performed with his school’s big band throughout the Island. Thus began his early days as a flutist and his passion for the instrument. Carlos returned to New York as a young adult to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz flutist.

He began studying classical flute at the Music Conservatory of Westchester under Dave Fenucane before expanding his repertoire to include jazz studying privately with master musicians Mario Rivera; Dave Valentin; Bobby Porcelli; Mitch Frohman; Vinnie Rickitelli; Rolando Briseno and Enrique Fernandez. A few years later, he studied harmony and voicings with master pianist, Mike Longo as well as Alfredo Valdes Jr. and Hilton Ruiz.

To date, Carlos has recorded eight albums of his own compositions and arrangements. As in a fantastic dream come true, some of the very musicians who inspired him as a kid have participated in these recordings: Hilton Ruiz; Oscar Hernandez; Stephane Ronget; David Schnitter; Edy Martinez; Dave Valentin; Sonny Bravo ; Eddie Montalvo; Nicky Marrero; Lewis Kahn; Bobby Porcelli; Alfredo Valdes Jr. ; Hector Martignon; Ruben Rodriguez; and Vince Cherico.

Awards

Business Outreach Center Network

Manhattan MBDA Business Center Hispanic Heritage Awards,

Carlos Jimenez, ARTS FIRM of THE YEAR AWARD, October, 2021

Gear

Yamaha Flutes, Selmer Piccolo & Germeinhardt Flutes

Carlos Jimenez: Woods

Read "Woods" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
November 23, 2022

Carlos Jimenez is a kind of metaphor for Latin jazz, from Yonkers, New York, to Puerto Rico ("the island") and back, with instrumental and stylistic stops along the way. Jazz flute has had some storied practitioners, and Jiménez is obviously well along getting a foothold there too in this, his sixth album since 2005. Interestingly, Jiménez says Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaría spurred his transition from brass to woodwind, which speaks volumes about the importance of polyrhythms to Latin jazz. If ...

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Album Review

Carlos Jimenez / Mambo Dulcet: Red Tailed Hawk

Read "Red Tailed Hawk" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 5, 2012

Latin jazz flute players aren't exactly commonplace, but artists like Dave Valentin, Nestor Torres, Bobby Porcelli and, more recently, Mark Weinstein have helped to widen this avenue of instrumental exploration. They've paved the way and opened up a world of possibilities for fine and feisty flautists of the present and future to flourish in danceable domains. Carlos Jimenez is one of the beneficiaries of their trailblazing. Jimenez, who was brought up in New York, moved to Puerto ...

Album Review

Carlos Jimenez & Mambo Dulcet: Red Tailed Hawk

Read "Red Tailed Hawk" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 20, 2012

Lively danceable Latin music comes alive on flautist Carlos Jimenez and his Mambo Dulcet band's Red Tailed Hawk, presenting six originals and four covers on a landscape of hot Afro-Cuban rhythms. Jimenez and his group navigate through the high flying winds of the genre, incorporating elements of salsa and jazz in a decidedly shoulder-moving session of Latin beats. Like fellow jazz man Mark Weinstein, Jimenez has become a flautist of note and a new exponent of the genre. With this ...

146

Album Review

Carlos Jimenez: Arriving

Read "Arriving" reviewed by Stephen Latessa

by Stephen Latessa
October 7, 2005

There is no doubt that for a large part of the movie-watching population, jazz flute will instantly call to mind Will Ferrell's heroically unhinged performance on said instrument in a scene from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. That Ferrell is now synonymous with jazz flute in some quarters says something, although I'm not exactly sure what. Regardless, Carlos Jimenez approaches the flute on Arriving in a traditional manner, without a sense of irony.

The great danger of ...

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Interview

From the basement to the Montréal Jazz Festival: Guitarist Carlos Jiménez' self-taught road to success

Source: Lauren Rogers
May 5, 2011

On his latest album Undercurrents, guitarist Carlos Jiménez exhibits the cool self-confidence and keen precision of an artist at the top of his game, about as far as it gets from the kid who used to practice in his parents' basement. But every musician has to begin somewhere, and for Jiménez those tireless moments underground provided the key to his command of the instrument. “I'm initially self-taught," he revealed. “I would spend about seven hours a day in my parents' ...
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“Jazz flautist Carlos Jimenez from Yonkers New York produces his latest musical project with his new “Thoughts” CD comprised of eleven new and original compositions firmly grounded in the smooth jazz tradition and containing strong elements of Latin Jazz, a genre with which Jimenez is closely associated. Sounding a bit like flautist Dave Valentin, Jimenez displays his ample chops on the flute leading a quartet which includes bassist Ruben Rodriguez, drummer Vince Cherico and Fidel Cuellar on the piano. The album opens up with a couple of smooth jazz tunes in “Carlitos My Son” and “Bluedo” featuring Cuellar on the keyboards as Jimenez makes the flute sing to high pitched notes