Juan Garcia-Herreros
Juan Garcia-Herreros, also known as "The Snow Owl", is a Colombian bassist who plays a custom six-string 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 high-school 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. His areas comprise jazz, pop, funk, salsa, straight-ahead, rock, modern, classical, heavy metal, or avant-garde.
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 was the first Colombian to be honored with such an academic position in Austria. He left the Jazz Institute in the fall of 2012 due to a very busy touring schedule.
At age 37, he was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award in the category of Best Latin Jazz Album, for his third CD release entitled "Normas". He is the first electric bassist ever to be nominated for this category.
At age 39, he was awarded Triple Gold Medal and One Bronze honors from the prestigious Global Music Awards in the categories of World Jazz, Best Album, Best New Release 2016 and Instrumental Music. He is the first Colombian born Artist and Electric Bassist to ever receive this honour. This award has placed him amongst a small group of elite musical legends such as previous Gold Medallists Anna Netrebko, Gustavo Dudamel, Ricky Kej and Esperanza Spalding
At age 40, he was selected by Oscar Winning Composer Hans Zimmer to perform electric bass in the World of Hans Zimmer symphonic celebration tour.
Performances and collaborations
He has worked with Al Jarreau, Christina Aguilera, Lebo M., Lalo Schifrin, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Paul Avgerinos, Kabir Sehgal, Alex Sipiagin, Elton John, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, David Newman, Keith Lockhart, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, James Horner, James Newton Howard, Alexandre Desplat, Randy Newman, Lisa Gerrard, Gavin Greenaway, Deepak Chopra, Brian Mcknight, Louise Dearman, Deborah Cox, Sandra Pires, Madita, Sertab Erener, Demir Demirkan, Stoyan Yankoulov, Jojo Mayer, Terri Lyne Carrington, Thomas Lang, Antonio Sanchez, James Spaulding, Miguel Zenon, Greg Osby, Pee Wee Ellis, Lew Soloff, Michael Philip Mossman, Mamadou Diabate & Percussion Mania, Oscar Hernandez, Horacio Hernandez, Chino Nunes, Roberto Quintero, Bobby Sanabria, Mark Whitfield, Alegre Correa, José Maria Saluzzi, Sabri Tulug Tirpan, Bill Carrothers, Paul Urbanek, Edward Simon, Michael Stuart, and Johnny Rivera.Since 2005 he 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 master classes in Berklee College of Music. His performances have included major festivals and venues stretching from the continents of Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Awards and honors
- 2006 Best Jazz Artist award, Jazz First, a cooperation between Jazzeit magazine, Quinton Records, and Erste Bank.
- Snow Owl, Quartet selected 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 Selected Projekt X-Change Ambassador to represent Colombia
- 2010 Art of Contrabass Guitar, Best Traditional Latin Jazz Album in America by O's Jazz newsletter.
- 2011 Austrian World Music Prize recipient with Mamadou Diabate's Percussion Mania.
- 2013 Art of Contrabass Guitar selected by Bass Musician magazine as one of the most 21 influential Latin Jazz CDs of the decade.
- 2014 Latin Grammy Nomination, Best Latin Jazz Album, Normas
- 2016 Global Music Awards Gold Medalist, World Jazz, The Blue Road
- 2016 Global Music Awards Gold Medalist, Best Album, The Blue Road
- 2016 Global Music Awards Gold Medalist, Best New Release 2016, The Blue Road
- 2016 Global Music Awards Bronze Medalist, Instrumental Music
- 2017 Quarterfinalist, Music Video Underground committee in Los Angeles, for his animated short film directorial debut of the song "She Became a Thousand Birds". The film is an homage to Omayra Sánchez and victims of the 1985 Armero tragedy in Colombia
- 2019: The best bass player in the world ].
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2012 | Hollywood in Vienna | Electric Bass | Music of Lalo Schifrin |
| 2013 | Hollywood in Vienna | Electric Bass | Music of James Horner |
| 2014 | Hollywood in Vienna | Electric Bass | Music of Randy Newman |
| 2015 | Hollywood in Vienna | Electric Bass | Music of James Newton Howard |
| 2016 | Hollywood in Vienna | Electric Bass | Music of Alexandre Desplat |
| 2017 | Hollywood in Vienna | Electric Bass | Music of Danny Elfman |
| 2017 | She Became a Thousand Birds | Director | Animated Short Music Film |