GABRIEL ALEGRIA AFRO-PERUVIAN SEXTET
"Afro-Peruvian Jazz Secrets" live in New York City.

GABRIEL ALEGRIA – Afro-Peruvian jazz artist
www.gabrielalegria.com

“Trumpeter Gabriel Alegria stands poised to introduce Afro-Peruvian Jazz to the world with a collection of
strong performances on Nuevo Mundo that demonstrate the natural connection between jazz and Peruvian
music” –All About Jazz

"On his sharp new album, Nuevo Mundo, trumpeter Gabriel Alegría teases out affinities between modern
jazz and the African-influenced coastal music of his native Peru." --The New York Times

“Alegria’s debut CD, Nuevo Mundo, highlights the trumpeter’s original compositions-- pieces full of color and
drive, reflecting an immersion in the black music of Peru’s coastal regions.” --Time Out New York
“The Afro-Peruvian Sextet is writing a new chapter in the history of Latin Jazz” --Rifftides

“a fascinating glimpse into how jazz is fusing with regional music around the world” --LA Weekly


One of the most influential figures on the current jazz scene in Perú, Gabriel Alegria was born into an artistic family in Lima in 1970.  Alegria’s grandfather Ciro was Peru’s most famous novelist and his father Alonso is Perú’s most acclaimed playwright.


Alegria combines his experience playing jazz as it developed in the U.S. with a passionate interest and careful study of the black music of coastal Perú. By incorporating and exploring the common African roots found in both styles, he has developed a uniquely Afro-Peruvian jazz music concept. The rich legacy of the black music of coastal Perú can be heard in a contemporary jazz context. In all of Alegria’s work, a cross-cultural exchange between the Americas is always present, carefully defining Afro-Peruvian jazz music as the newest voice to come from Latin America.

Currently Associate Director of Jazz Studies at New York University, Alegria earned a doctorate in jazz studies from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree from the City University of New York and a bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College. His knowledge of Afro-Peruvian music is the result of fieldwork and time spent in Perú learning from the art form’s greatest exponents.