Luis Bonilla
| Luis Bonilla | |
|---|---|
Bonilla Brass Ecstasy at Chicago Jazz Festival 2008
Photo: Mark Mahar |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Luis Diego Bonilla |
| Born |
October 12, 1965 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz, Latin jazz, R&B, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, record producer, educator |
| Instruments | Trombone |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Labels | Candid, Planet Arts |
| Associated acts | Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Lester Bowie, Dave Douglas |
| Website | www |
Luis Bonilla (born Luis Diego Bonilla, October 12, 1965, Los Angeles, California) is an American jazz trombonist of Costa Rican descent. He is a Grammy Award-winning performer, composer, and teacher.
Bonilla was introduced to jazz in school. He was enrolled in a brass class, believing it to be a metal shop class, only to find himself with a trombone in his hands. He attended Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, where he studied under John Rinaldo. After he graduated from high school, he studied at California State University, Los Angeles, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in Jazz Performance and Composition from the Manhattan School of Music. He studied in Los Angeles with Don Raffell and Roy Main.
Bonilla has supported himself as a session musician and a sideman performing with McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Astrud Gilberto, Willie Colón, and Toshiko Akiyoshi. He has demonstrated his versatility as a musician working with artists as varied as Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Marc Anthony, La India, Phil Collins, and Mary J. Blige. He has drawn inspiration from Lester Bowie, his mentor, with whom he toured. Bonilla calls Bowie his "father away from home", with whom he has learned a great deal.
He has taught at the Manhattan School of Music, Temple University, and the New England Conservatory. He is a member of the Mingus Big Band, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. In February 2009, he received two Grammy Awards with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.
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