Tony Escapa IV was born in Hato Rey, PR. His father a professional Pianist and musical director with a professional career that expands over 30 years and his mother a TV Host. It was clear at a young age that artistic passion,music and talent where a part of him. At age 9 Tony started to play the guitar, but lessons where short lived as he found himself naturally playing a Yamaha drum set at his second guitar lesson. Before the lesson started Tony just sat on the kit and played like he had done it all his life. His father was astounded but made sure that even at this early age Tony would take things seriously so he bought Tony a pair of sticks a practice pad and said... “ in order to get a drum set, you have to practice rudiments first â€. Tony had to learn rudiments and practice for at least two hours a day to prove himself worthy of a drum set. His father however, did not really know was he was getting into only since Tony would practice not for two but from four to eight hours a day quickly showing everyone how serious he was.Tony Escapa went to high school in Orlando FL. after not being accepted at PR's Escuela libre de musica, something both negative and positive since soon after this he moved to Orlando, Fl and was part of the High School Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Concert Bands and Marching Band and was awarded numerous awards by the school and state. Something he was never gonna experience in PR.Later Tony recieved a Scholarship to attend Berklee College Of Music in Boston and traveled to Japan, Washington and PR representing Berklee as one of the new promising young talents on the drumset as well as being on the Deans list having a great GPA.Tony Escapa is a proud and exclusive endorser of Yamaha Drums, Vater Sticks, Zildjian Cymbals , REMO drum heads, Factory Metal and Latin Percussion percussion.
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Tony now Resides in New York and is part of the local music scene playing with such artists as Claudia Acuña, Miguel Zenon, Dana Leong, Yosvany Terry, Simon Shaheen, NY Gypsy All Stars, Paquito D' Rivera, Christian Scott, Osmany Paredes, Christian McBride, Dave Murray, Yerba Buena, Jason Lindner, Arturo Ortiz, Lp All Stars, Caribbean Jazz Project, Manhattan Vibes, Alfredo De la Fe, John Benitez trio, Oz Noy and many more. Tony has also recorded three instructional DVD’s for LP music group and has performed toured and recorded with Puya, Ricky Martin, Al Dimeola, El Reencuentro 2004, Paoli Mejias and Leo Blanco. Tony was also a part of the Jazz Ambassador Program with the Kennedy Center of arts and traveled to Central and Western Africa to bring Latin Jazz music to the side of the world.
It's important to mention that as part of Ricky Martin's band Tony has had the oportunity to perform at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, the 06 and 07 Latin Grammy awards, and has appeared in countless TV shows that include David Letterman, The Early Show, Ellen Degeneres, Oprah, jimmy Kimmel and many more.
