Nerio DeGracia

Nerio grew up in San Francisco, CA. He attended Cleveland Elementary School and went to Luther Burbank Junior High School in the Excelsior district. He moved to the Mission District and attended Horace Mann Junior High and on to Mission High School where he first encountered his first sense of musical awareness. In High School luncn time, going to the creamery, hearing Mongo Santa Maria and Tito Puente on the juke box. The song entitled "Ti Mon Bo" captured his attention of the rhythm of the bass, timbal and congas, and how they intertwined with each other.Ever since then he knew his musical direction would follow. He would practice for hours and hours wherever he can play. He would lock himself in the bathroom pratice for hours, because his family would complain of the noise he was making, little did they know that was his turning point of his musical career that would develop in later years. He would go to Dolores Park and pratice all day. There, everybody would come and play the rumbas, comparsas, bembe, abacua, guaguanco, colombia rumba and mozambique. It was a learning place. where every body teaches each other. The likes of unknown rumbero/musician then would be Babatunde Lea, Teddy strong, John Santos, Jose Flores, Kike, Rafael Ramirez, Raul Recow, to name a few and many other prominent percussionist. Other luminaries, such as Armando Peraza, Coke and Pete Escovedo and many other musicicians would come by and just listen or sit in. It was a place to be, during hot summer Sundays. It's where you can perfect your chops and interact with others besides playing at home by yourself.Nerio's education in music continued at City college of San Francisco both in classical and jazz theory, which led to performing with the City College Big Band under the direction of David Hardiman. He went on to study jazz improvisation studies under John Handy at SFSU Further extensive studies in harmony and theory resulted in the written compositions on his album. Citing such greats as Tito Puente, Milt Jackson, Cal Tjader and Mongo Santa Maria as influences, Nerio quickly developed respect among musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area resulting in his joining of the popular Latin Rock band, Malo in which toured including a concert at Shea Stadium in New York. with Fania All Stars. Having simultaneously expanded his musical skills to include the vibraphone and marimba. Nerio joined master percussionist Francisco Aguabella that featured yet another legend in latin percussion, Armando Peraza. The liason resulted in the album "Hittin Hard" numerous performances around the Bay Area, including Winterland and The Fillmore.Through out the remainder of the years, Nerio played with a virtual "Who's Who" of San Francisco Bay Area Latin and Jazz talent including Carlos Federico, percussionist Babatunde Lea and Pete and Sheila Escovedo's band. In the latter years, Nerio has developed close ties with some of the Bay Area's finest musicians, and many of which are found on his critically acclaimed album , "An Evening in Luzon" Now has his own interpretation of the Mambo Jazz improvisation that will mesmerized you in listening or dancing. Now has established his group called "The Nerio DeGracia Mambo Jazztet" You will be hearing about him for years to come.