Album Notes

Gabriel Rondón grew up in a home filled with music. Raised in the Caribbean port of Barranquilla, Colombia, Gabriel was exposed to just about every style of music by his mother and uncle, an avid music fans and musicians. Alongside Bossa Nova, Salsa, Bolero, Latin, and all Colombian music and rhythms, Gabriel heard jazz greats like Miles Davis, John Coltraine and Wes Montgomery among others.

In 1965 he traveled to the U.S where he became a professional musician. He started by playing folk, Salsa and Jazz-fusion, touring the American southwest.

Rondón came back to Colombia in the early 70´s, where he participated in many television programs while at the same time studying arrangements and composition

Gabriel Rondón has worked as studio musician or arranger for most of the top Colombian musicians of all genres. With them, he was able to travel around most of Latin America, but at the same time he has worked with his Jazz Groups, playing in all the local festivals. He has been the private teacher of some of the brightest young musicians in Colombian Jazz

In his long and interesting career that covers more than 3 decades, Gabriel Rondón has played or recorded with great musicians like Elizabeth Waldo, Martín Fierro, Lalo Schifrin, Joe Madrid, Francisco Zumaque, Armando Manzanero, Wally Keiderling, Carlos Averhoff, Eugene Euman, and Glen Yarbrough.

Due to his tremendous musical background and musicality he is considered one of the first Colombian Jazz musicians of all times. His extraordinary musical career is full of success as artist, guitar player, arranger, composer, conductor and musical director for the best star singers, TV shows and advertising companies

Orekagua brings to the forefront Gabriel's prodigious talents as an innovative composer/arranger and a creative and original improviser. In this extraordinary CD he counts with the talent of the excellent musician and arranger Kike Fernandez who played all the keyboards and made some of the arrangements.

Orekagua is a stunning, dynamic and surprising blend of Jazz, Latin, Bossa, Bolero and Colombian Bambuco and Pasillo, which shows why Gabriel Rondón is one of the Colombian greatest and most influential musicians