Juan Garcia-Herreros

Juan Garcia-Herreros, also known as "The Snow Owl", is a native born Colombian Bassist & Composer, notable for his virtuoso musicianship and for his use of a customised 6-stringed Electric Contrabass Guitar.

History
Juan Garcia-Herreros was born in Bogotá, Colombia. His first musical studies began with Flute at the age 9 after moving to New York City with his family. Once he completed middle school his family relocated once again to Dunedin, Florida where he discovered the electric bass. Due to the fact that his family was unable to afford private lessons his passion for learning fueled him to become a self-taught musician. Juan was just 16 when he began to teach Music Theory and Jazz Performance at Dunedin High School in Florida. His highschool band teacher recognized his young talent and encouraged him to also study acoustic bass so that he could be a part of the symphonic band in school. After spending many dedicated hours playing both acoustic and electric bass, he auditioned and became proficient enough to perform with the Tampa Bay Symphony at just 17 years of age.

At the same time Juan competed in New Orleans for a slot in Berklee College of Music's Scholarship tour and received a coveted scholarship to attend the school in Boston.

He studied at Berklee with bass instructors Bruce Gertz, Joe Santerre, Rich Appleman and Oscar Stagnaro.

At age 21, he returned to New York City to pursue a professional music career. While in New York, Juan developed the ability to meet the demands of multiple styles. Whether the musical genre is Jazz, Pop, Funk, Salsa, straight-ahead, Rock, Modern, Classical, Heavy metal, or Avant-garde he is capable of performing without artistic compromise.

At age 26, he moved to Vienna, Austria where he currently resides.

At age 30, he was selected by a jury to become part of the faculty for the Jazz Institute of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz. He is the first Colombian to be honored with such an academic position in Austria.

Performances and collaborations
During his career, Juan has performed/collaborated with:


 * Grammy Award recipients Al Jarreau, Christina Aguilera, Lalo Schifrin, Producer Georg Luksch, Elton John The Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Oscar nominee David Newman,
 * Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
 * Drummers Jojo Mayer, Terri Lyne Carrington, Thomas Lang and Antonio Sanchez
 * Alto saxophonists James Spaulding, Miguel Zenon, Yosveny Terry, Anton Denner, Klaus Dickbauer, Wolfgang Puschnig and Greg Osby
 * Trumpetists Lew Soloff and Michael Philip Mossman
 * Singers Sandra Pires, Turkish Pop Stars Sertab Erener, Demir Demirkan and Brazilian singer Ana Paula da Silva
 * ECM recording artist José Maria Saluzzi; Latin Jazz Piano legends Hector Martignon and Oscar Hernandez
 * Latin Jazz Percussionists Horacio Hernandez, Jorge Bezerra, Master Timbalero "Chino" Nuñes, Roberto Quintero and Bobby Sanabria
 * Jazz / Funk guitarists Mark Whitfield, Alegre Correa
 * Mandolin Virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda
 * Modern Jazz Pianists Bill Carrothers, Paul Urbanek and Edward Simon.
 * He has also performed and toured with RMM recording artists Michael Stuart and Johnny Rivera.

As a composer his original compositions have been featured in the off-Broadway production of "Anatomy of a Knucklehead."

Since 2005 Juan has performed at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California as well as two solo bass concerts at the 2006 Frankfurt Musikmesse.

He has taught Bass workshops and Masterclasses internationally.

Snow Owl's performances have included major festivals and venues stretching from the continents of Asia, Europe and the Americas

Awards and recognitions

 * In 2006 Snow Owl received the Best Jazz Artist award by Jazz First, a cooperation between Jazzeit Magazine, Quinton Records and Erste Bank.
 * His Debut album as a leader was selected as Critic's Choice in Germany by Bayerischer Rundfunk in 2006.
 * November 2008 Hans Koller Preis CD of the Year for Martin Reiter's "ALMA". The CD features Juan Garcia-Herreros on "Pra Frederic".
 * February 2009 He was selected as a Projekt xchange ambassador to represent Colombia and his integration as an artist in Austrian society. Projekt xchange focuses in bringing foreign and established public figures into Austrian classrooms to talk about their positive and negative experiences of integrating in a foreign country. The Austrian president Dr.Heinz Fischer personally thanked and congratulated him in the opening ceremonies which took place in Vienna's Hofburg palace.
 * 2010 Art of Contrabass Guitar is selected winner of Best Traditional Latin Jazz album in America by O's Jazz Newsletter
 * 2011 Austrian World Music Prize recipient with Mamadou Diabate's Percussion Mania

Current projects

 * Snow Owl
 * Dr.Opin
 * Percussion Mania
 * Sabri Tulug Tirpan
 * Wladigeroff Brothers

Discography

 * Snow Owl
 * Art of Contrabass Guitar
 * Tres Caminos
 * Painted on Water
 * My Green Color
 * Mein Mörderischer Salon
 * Rumba Para Viena
 * Alma
 * Shades of Light Trio
 * Yolun Yarisi
 * Laçador
 * For the Greatest and Little Things