Spain

“Jazz Local 627 offers me an ideal balance between warmth and brightness, what I look for in a reed. Gonzalez Reeds is an ideal means of expression, there are no obstacles, it’s all up to you”.

Pedro Cortejosa (Cádiz, Spain, 1968) has develop his career as a musician, mainly, in jazz and improvised music. His perspective, curiosity and a not strictly musical search, make each work of his have a unique and different look.  His work goes from the immediate song (improvisation in form a song), or experimentation with electronic resources, to writing for bigger groups, or his last work, 12 DAYS, where he challenged himself to write one song each day for 12 days straight. He is a Saxophone Professor at Manuel de Falla de Cádiz Conservatory where, besides teaching said instrument, develops subjects related to improvisation and creativity.

For his Big Band he composed original music, premiered at the 2019 JazZahara International Festival, call “Tu Espalda” and “La Certeza del Crisantemo”; thanks to this one he won Third Prize at the 2020 Canarias International Big Band Competition. His latest work, “Dr. Frankenstein”, can also be distinguished: an 11 movement suite, for Jazz Big Band, with audiovisual support, recently recorded and that will be launched on 2021, for Andalucia’s Big Band 10th annyversary.

He owns more than 50 recordings, 11 of them under his name, with original material, besides multiple interdisciplinary experiments with poetry, dance and graphic arts. Thanks to all of this he has collaborated with international musicians like Perico Sambeat, Kenny Werner, Michael Gibbs, Baldo Martínez, Ramón Cardo, Jimmy Weinstein, Markku Ounaskari, Elíe Massías and Harris Eisenstadt, among others.

In 2014 he established his own record label, “Corleone Música Creativa”, where he saves all the self-made production he creates.