Jose Luis Madueño, Peruvian Musician, Composer, Arranger and Producer, introduces a unique sound coming from Perú. The musical Tradition from different peruvian cultures - Inkas, Afro Peruvian and Creole - lead us to a new dimension through Jose Luis Madueño’s vision due to its convergence with different languages from Classical, Jazz and Pop resulting on what we may call: Peruvian Jazz.

Perú is a multicultural country with a wide variety of traditions, heritage and mixtures: Incas, Spanish, Afroperuvian, Arabian, Creole, Chinese, Japanese, all in one complex country. Jazz is also a complex word that involves different styles and mixtures from its beginnings to the present day. Peruvian Jazz is a rising and evolving path in Perú so it’s easy to understand why it isn’t well known by many peruvians and the international jazz audience yet. The Afroperuvian music is the most used by musicians to get a fresh flavor since the first Peruvian Jazz recordings - more than 30 years ago.

Jose Luis has produced albums that carry a genuine and exciting sound formed by different traditions: Wayruro, Chilcano, Flight of the Condor and Navidad Afroandina (Afroandina Christmas). Most of his work is published on live performance videos and audio files in his website and video channels. A considerable amount of compositions are still unpublished but we'll be uploading files constantly.

We are glad that you take the musical tour to meet this culture.

Peruvian culture is divided into three main regions: Coast, Sierra (Andes) and Jungle (Amazonía). Music from the Andes usually expresses through genres as wayno, huaylas, carnaval and sikuri. Styles from the Coast (Afroperuvian and Creole) include festejo, lando, zamacueca, panalivio, marinera norteña and waltz. Pandilla is one of the traditional styles of the Amazonía.

Traditional sounds from instruments like Peruvian cajón (box drum), cajita (box drum), quijada de burro (donkey’s jaw), quena (flute), zampoña (panflute), ocarina, wankara drum, charango (little guitar) and other timbres blend naturally with contemporary instruments and musical concepts on Madueño´s projects.

Although Peruvian culture is under Madueño’s main focus other styles of the world are covered by this project too: bossa, bolero, samba, latin, swing, blues and south american.

International awards have contributed with benefits and recognition not only for José Luis but for Peruvian Culture as well. He obtained two consecutive times the second prize with his compositions “Reencuentros” and “En el rincón” on the II and III Latin Jazz Contests organized by SGAE and Fundación Autor and realized in Cuba as part of the La Habana Jazz Festivals on December 2000 and December 2002 respectively.

On both occasions José Luis employed the Afroperuvian “Festejo” leading not only this tradition but the cajón - Afroperuvian drum instrument – into the Latin Jazz scope where Caribbean and Brazilian music represent the mainstream on this jazz division.

Listen to "Reencuentros"

Through his career - since the 80’s - José Luis Madueño has been developing a personal and Peruvian jazz language through own and collaborative projects leading mainly the traditions of the Coast (Afroperuvian and Creole) and the Andes to new dimensions that have been published on Recordings and Live videos.

Collaborations with such jazz musicians like Alex Acuña, John Patitucci, Arturo Sandoval, Spyro Gyra, Don Pullen, Santi De Briano, Chucho Valdez, Luis Salinas, Jerry Gonzales, Alain Pérez, Caramelo and Eric Marienthal among others have been important to keep building an heterogeneous and wide scope for developing jazz music on different levels: performance, composition and arrangement.

With a band formed by the most talented and versatile Peruvian musicians and a special guest, the female songwriter Andrea De Martis, this project performs a wide variety of vocal and instrumental music ready to meet and delight the world audience.

Cajón is one of the most versatile instruments that the Afroperuvian community has created. It has been applied on most of the Afroperuvian and Creole genres and many great percussionists and musicians contributed to shape the actual traditions. It has also been taken to Spain by Paco de Lucia on the late 70's and modified to become the "cajón flamenco". Although the Peruvian cajón has been used mainly as part of the rhythmic section on popular music there are great performers that developed a language where this instrument became a soloist. Two of the most representative musicians who achieved this goal were: Eusebio Sirio “Pititi” and Julio “Chocolate” Algendones. Jose Luis Madueño performed with these gifted musicians on personal and collaborative projects.

On his own projects José Luis introduced Contrapunto de Piano y Cajón (Piano and Cajón Counterpoint), a promenade between different Afroperuvian and Creole styles through improvisations performed alive. Starting on Landó, following to Marinera limeña and ending in Festejo. These Counterpoints performed freely with Pititi and Chocolate promote the Afroperuvian and Creole expression towards new dimensions (you can listen theses performances through the links at the right side).