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cristo fontecilla

check my previous cd: www.cdbaby.com/cd/fontecilla

About Me

22/04/07
ok,....Dubai again....!!
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xxxxxxxwww.cristofontecilla.com CRISTO FONTECILLA. New York - 1968.
Took his first music lesson in Paris at age nine, and started studying cello with Beatriz Chirinian at ten.
during his high school years, he played with the "Paul Valerie" music school symphonic orchestra, and - as a soloist-- with the chamber orchestra of the "conservatoire municipal de musique de Vitry sur seine", performing several times at the "pleyel" auditorium in Paris and in other theaters in the area.
at age fourteen, after completing his classical cello studies he switched to the electric guitar, instrument in wich he is completely self taught.
nevertheless, being interested in all aspects of music, he attended over the years master classes and workshops from guitar players, drummers, horn players etc, such as scott henderson, John Abercrombie, Sonny Emory, Avishai Cohen etc...
He moved to Barcelona (Spain) in 1986 where he made his first recording session as a professional at age nineteen, and appeared as a producer and/or guitarist in over 50 LPs and countless TV ads since then.
At age twenty, he released an album with the "sacred dolls", his own progressive rock band in wich he was singer, guitarist, producer and main composer. the band got to play in large venues, opening for Aerosmith, Joe Satriani, Alanis Morisette, The Coors, ALvin Lee, Concrete Blonde, U.F.O. ...
During the following years, he became an usual columnist in a spanish guitar magazine, writing on jazz guitar, and improvisation.
while taking every chance to play live, he´s interest in the studio kept pushing him to learn everything he could about the latest technologie, and it was during this period that he became one of the most in demand producers/guitarists in the Barcelona area.
In summer 1992, he played for a few months with the cover band "la salseta del poble sec", doing up to 28 gigs the first month!
In 1993, he got the call from Mikel Erentxun (formerly singer of spanish pop act "Duncan Dhu") who had just released his first solo album, and did his first Spanish tour. the team featured long time friends Pepe Bao on bass and Angi Bao on drums. his professional relationship with Erentxun was going to last several years.
- His live experience includes tours in Spain, Portugal, the united states and Mexico, with several pop, rock and flamenco artists, such as Mikel Erentxun, Parrita, Banis, Rebeca, Coyote Dax, Murfila, Pep Sala, Enric Hernaez, IA Clua, Alex Warner etc, as well as his own projects. he also played, more sporadicly, in Chile, France, Italy, Morocco, Germany and Dominican republic. --
In summer 1999, he formed a band of completely improvised music - free jazz ?-- with Decemer Bueno (cuban bassist/producer and formerly a menber of the cuban jazz band "columna B"), Lujmil (cuban drummer ), Asambai ( percussion player from Jamaica) and Xavi Turull (percusionist from Barcelona and member of the band "ojos de brujo"). the band enjoyed residency for several month at the club "la boite" in Barcelona.
During year 2000, he took a few lessons on classical guitar with the great Chilean concertist Eulogio Davalos, to improve his acoustic sound.
Always striving for new experiences, he created and recorded the heavy/techno project "Million Baboons", showing his skills in creating, programming and sequencing any kind of sounds. he also worked with DJs Xavi and Xavi (Xavi Mas and Xavi Pum) on a house/jazz/electro project named "Mongibello". that same year, he collaborated with the Spanish pop/electronic act O.B.K , in the early stages of the making of their album "antropop".
He appeared at the 17 th international jazz festival of Andorra, as a member of the jazz fusion band "full equip" with Migue Guerra on bass, Caspar St Charles on drums, Tony Sagi on organ and piano, Quino Bejar on percussion and Jean Paul Dupeyron on rhythm guitar.
In september and october 2001, he played with the band of the late night TV show "maldita la hora" in Madrid.
In year 2002, he moved to Lebanon, where he was for seven month a resident artist in some of the most important clubs in Beirut (the blue note, circus, boogie woogie...) performing with his band and, eventually , as a guest with great jazz trumpet player Ray Vega. A 45 minutes footage of one of his concerts was shown several times on future TV (Lebanon).
he also recorded and performed with several Lebanese artists such as the REG project, Sara, Soap kills...
Back in barcelona, he formed the "Cristo Fontecilla quartet" with 3 well known and respected musicians on the Spanish jazz scene (Jon Robles on sax, Enric Illa on drums and Richard Them on doublebass). soon after, the band released its first CD "do i still look like the Pumuckel" and made its first live appearance on november 4 2003 at the Jamboree jazz club (Barcelona). All the tunes in the CD are original compositions by Cristo Fontecilla, except one - evitando -- composed by former double bass player R. Them.
He went back to Lebanon in early 2005 to record with percussion player Ibrahim Jabber, and Pianist and composer Shahe Kupelian on their respective albums. he also did some sessions for the label forward music, and with singers Madeleine Matar ( Rotana Records) Sammy Kateb, Nawal,etc during the same trip.
Back in Barcelona, he recorded with Jazz singer Xavier Casellas for his upcoming album.
In january 2006 he recorded the second album of the "Cristo Fontecilla quartet"- Real on Real -- this time with Victor de Diego on saxophone. again, all the compositions are his own except one that belong to bass player Dick them.
During august 2006 he played in Morocco with a Spanish cover band, before going to Germany in september, to play at the international guitar festival "open strings" in Osnabruck, with singer/songwriter Alex Warner, and guitarist Joan Viñals.
In november, he finaly released his quartets new album "Real on real".
Cristo his currently living in Barcelona, doing studio work and giging with several bands.

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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/17/2006
Band Website: cristofontecilla.com
Band Members: when it comes to jazz playing, i like small bands to keep the interaction really hapening. the musicians in the first album ( do i still look like the Pumuckel? - mitik records) were Dick Them on double bass, Jon Robles on sax, Enric Illa on drums and me on guitar. same line up on the new upcoming album except that this time it´s Victor de Diego on saxophone.


Influences: everything!! from jazz to heavy-metal, house music to nose picking...

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Sounds Like: dificult... a mix of classic jazz, rock, funck, some flamenco and middle eastern influences...
Type of Label: None

My Blog

do i still look like the Pumuckel? (first album of my jazz quartet)

please take the time to hear some music of my quartet´s first release! check it out at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/fontecilla
Posted by cristo fontecilla on Wed, 18 Oct 2006 04:23:00 PST

new album!

I´m mixing the new album of my quartet (Real on real)!!! i´ve uploaded a couple of tunes for you to hear. i´ll be changing them every now and then. i´d love to hear some feedback! the recording was v...
Posted by cristo fontecilla on Wed, 18 Oct 2006 04:17:00 PST