Juan Pastor Chinchano - Chinchano (2014)

CHINCHANO is Juan Pastor's modern instrumental jazz group that fuses the traditional North American jazz harmonic palette with exciting rhythmic concepts drawn from Peru.

Chinchano, the story:

When I was growing up in Lima, Peru, my home was always alive with music. I learned to play traditional Peruvian folk music percussion from my family and the many Lima musicians I was able to play with. When I heard Jazz for the first time, I was amazed, and knew I wanted to learn to play it. Since I had very few Jazz resources in Peru, I decided in 2006 that if I really wanted to learn I should relocate to Chicago, so I made the move.

It was here in Chicago, playing and touring with many great Jazz musicians, that I was inspired to record my original music, and start my own band, Chinchano. I quickly realized that my original music reflected my diverse life experience, and the many different people and places I had learned from. I was writing for a Jazz quintet, and employing Jazz forms, structures, and harmonies, but I found myself using many Peruvian folk rhythmic styles. Peruvian folk music is very diverse: there are Afro-Peruvian styles, like Landó, Festejo, and Marinera, Andean styles like Huayno that date back to Inca Empire times, and Spanish-influenced styles like Vals Peruano, and my original music reflects all of these styles.

So here you have Chinchano: a folk-music upbringing in Lima meets the fast-paced Chicago jazz scene. My experience as a curious Peruvian musician being joined by some of Chicago's finest Jazz musicians to perform the music from my life experience.