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Gustavo Cortiñas
Embracing a multicultural language, while investing in a variety of disciplines within the music itself, Mexican born, and Chicago based composer, bandleader, drummer and lyricist Gustavo Cortiñas continues to surpass himself in the breadth of his work. “Cortiñas' music is uplifting, robust, melodic, and gets your body moving; it's an exciting blend of the artist's musical influences from jazz and Latin America, including his native Mexico" (DOWNBEAT). This can be heard on his four records as a leader, "Snapshot" (2013), "ESSE" (2017) “Desafío Candente” (2021), “Kind Regards / Saludos Afectuosos” (2022) and “Live in Chicago” (2024), “the culmination of a decades worth of music” (The Arts Fuse). “Cortiñas and band revel in a live setting. They not only demonstrate their intimate knowledge of the compositions, but express their evident joy at melding their musical skills with Cortiñas’s continuing commitment to encouraging social change through music.” Cortiñas gives life to music that attempts to build bridges and understanding in times of borders and ignorance; words that focus on our feet and the dust on which they walk, instead of the stars under which they dream. Through his participation in more than 30 discographic productions, “Cortiñas’s deft touch reaffirms his status as one of the great drummers in the City’s new guard.” (ChicagoReader).
A graduate of Loyola University New Orleans (BM Jazz, Minor in Philosophy), and Northwestern University (MM Jazz), Gustavo Cortiñas has developed a successful career in the US for over a decade, leading and accompanying ensembles in renowned stages and festivals in North America, South America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. During his time in Chicago, Gustavo has become one of the most sought out drummers, performing and recording with Javier Red’s Imagery Converter, Matt Peterson, Kitt Lyles, Erik Skov, Emily Kuhn, Michael Hudson-Casanova, Chuchito Valdés Trio, Roy McGrath, Kyle Madsen, and the Carla Campopiano Trio, among other ensembles. Cortiñas is a member of the Chicago Jazz Composer's Collective, performing regularly for their monthly residency at Chicago's very own Green Mill. Gustavo Cortiñas is a proud endorser of Canopus Drums & Bosphorus Cymbals, and has been recipient of grants from the Mexican National Endowment of the Arts (FONCA), the Illinois Arts Council (IACA), the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and Pathways To Jazz. His album Desafío Candente, a sprawling meditation on Latin American life and struggles, earned a well-deserved spot in Jazziz Magazine’s list of the 2021’s Best Releases, and was listed among the Jazz Journalist’s Association Top Latin Jazz Albums of 2021, among other critical praise.
Born and raised in Mexico, son to a Uruguayan university professor and a Mexican elementary school teacher, Cortiñas grew up surrounded by books of all kinds, ranging from religion and philosophy, to history, economics and art. Music was just as diverse: be it through voice of Chavela Vargas, Wagner’s operas, the revolutionary cry of Rock en Español, or the soothing songs of Edith Piaf, music of all kinds was always there. At age 10, he fell in love with the drums, and was soon seduced by the syncopated and improvised beat of Jazz. This love inspired a journey far from home. First traveling to New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and later Chicago, the place he now calls home. This journey set the foundation for his work: Latin American folklore, classical music, and jazz; philosophy, religion and the Latin American cry for justice. These experiences and streams of inspiration forge the unique voice of an expansive artist who will continue to defy categorization in many years to come.
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Gustavo Cortinas: Live in Chicago
by Hrayr Attarian
Chicago composer and drummer Gustavo Cortinas is a musician with a message, one of social justice. He delivers it in a style that fuses the melodic sensibilities of his ancestral Mexico with the complex syncopations of jazz. The exciting Live in Chicago documents an unedited, two-set concert that was recorded at Constellation Chicago on December 15, 2022. The quintet interprets ten Cortinas originals, some of which appeared on his magnum opus, the multifaceted and provocative Desafío Candente (Woolgathering, 2021).
Continue ReadingEmily Kuhn: Ghosts of Us
by Jerome Wilson
Emily Kuhn is a trumpet player from Chicago with a calm, lyrical tone whose music is influenced by the folk and classical worlds as well as jazz. That shows up strongly on the track In Lieu of Certainty, Movement" here, where pianist Meghan Stagl keeps a rippling neo-classical melody going while Kuhn and guitarist Erik Skov solo in front of her with ever-increasing force and purpose. When The World Is Young" begins with lovely drifting Spanish guitar from Skov before ...
Continue ReadingMatt Peterson: Better Worlds
by Hrayr Attarian
Chicago pianist Matt Peterson is a versatile artist who defies genres. He is both an accomplished, bop-based improviser as well as a sensitive interpreter of the Western classical tradition. Both elements of his style come together on the exuberant and captivating Better Worlds, a collection of 10 of his originals as well as a unique arrangement of The Beatles' Blackbird." One of the highlights of the uniformly superb album is Petrichor," which opens with Peterson's smoldering chords that ...
Continue ReadingJavier Red: Life & Umbrella
by Mike Jurkovic
The secret behind Life & Umbrella is that Chicago-based, Mexican-born pianist/composer Javier Red is a studied composer who puts a great deal of thought into the music he presents, both to his peers and to the world. But that music never feels calculated like an equation with an obvious answer. Just the exact opposite. So it is with wiry, creative glee that Red and his Imagery Converter--drummer Gustavo Cortiñas, bassist Ben Dillinger and saxophonist Jake Wark--double down on their bold ...
Continue ReadingJavier Red's Imagery Converter: Life & Umbrella
by Hrayr Attarian
Chicago pianist Javier Red and his quartet, Imagery Converter, follow their stimulating debut Ephemeral Certainties (Delmark, 2019) with the equally superb Life & Umbrella. Red dedicates the current release to spreading love and understanding for individuals with autism. The dozen originals which comprise it do not have traditional starting and ending heads, as concepts flow from one to the other. This gives the album its uniqueness and contributes to its thematic unity. The angular Brain Check" starts off ...
Continue ReadingMichael Hudson-Casanova: Animus
by Hrayr Attarian
On his second release as a leader, the captivating Animus, saxophonist Michael Hudson-Casanova leads his trio on a cohesive set of eight of his originals. The contemplative, moving music is complex and nuanced, inventive and accessible. Hudson-Casanova, who has already demonstrated his superb compositional skills on his debut, goes further on the current album, creating a unique blend of a haunting ambience and provocative substance. Guitarist Erik Skov begins the title track with reverberating vamps which bounce off ...
Continue ReadingGustavo Cortinas: Kind Regards
by Hrayr Attarian
Drummer Gustavo Cortinas' previous album was cinematic in scale, and he has followed it with the more intimate yet equally enchanting Kind Regards (Saludos Afectuosos). Leading a quintet of young, intrepid, Chicago musicians, Cortinas interpretes ten of his own songs that explore themes of social justice, love, and life in general. When I Leave You" has an effervescent cadence. Vocalist and pianist Meghan Stagl endows the lyrics with nostalgia while her keys chime with melancholy. Trumpeter Emily Kuhn ...
Continue Reading"Cortiñas is a highly musical and grooving drummer, as well as a laudable composer... his music is surprisingly danceable...groove-shifter, high-energy precision soloing, framed by vivid ideas. A joyful meeting of mind and spirit".
MODERN DRUMMER
“Cortiñas' music is uplifting, robust, melodic, and gets your body moving; it's an exciting blend of the artist's musical influences from jazz and Latin America, including his native Mexico.”
Primary Instrument
Drums
Location
Chicago
Willing to teach
Advanced only
Credentials/Background
Master of Music in Jazz Studies - Northwestern University - 2013 Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies, Minor in Philosophy - Loyola University New Orleans, Magna Cum Laude, 2013 Combo instructor and guest artist at Northwestern University (Evanston, iL) Percussion/Drum set instructor at Flatts & Sharpe Music Academy (Chicago, IL) Part time Teaching at UCAN Academy (Chicago, IL) Supply teacher at the EDRON Academy, El Colegio británico during the school years of 2006-07 and 2007-08 teaching various subjects including music, mathematics, English, Spanish and history, and invigilating IGCSE and IB examinations. Drum instructor at EDRON Academy, El Colegio Británico through the academic years 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 as head and founder of the Drum and Percussion Club. Private Drum Instructor since 2004 to present.
Clinic/Workshop Information
Wayne Shorter
saxophoneBrian Blade
drumsBill Evans
pianoElvin Jones
drumsJo Jones
drumsThelonious Monk
pianoPaul Motian
drumsMax Roach
drumsTony Williams
drumsPhotos
Music
Kind Folk
From: Altus: Animus LiveBy Gustavo Cortiñas
What If Everything Is Not Enough
From: AnimusBy Gustavo Cortiñas
Global Skepticism
From: ESSEBy Gustavo Cortiñas
Chimeras
From: SnapshotBy Gustavo Cortiñas
Timing Is Everything
From: SnapshotBy Gustavo Cortiñas