Rodrigo Villalón

..Rodrigo was born on May 23, 1984 in Tübingen, Germany. Shortly after his birth his parents (both musicians) decided to move to the mother’s homeland (Colombia). Music has always been a part of Rodrigo’s life; he started playing traditional Latin-American percussion instruments at a young age, moving on to take lessons in violin, piano, musical theory and drums (with Einer Escaff). At the same time he founded the jazz-band “Latin Sampling” at the German School of his home city Barranquilla. The quintet played at several international jazz festivals such as Fesujazz, Sierra Mar y Jazz and Barranquijazz, climbing a first peak in 2002 by winning the award for best young jazz-band at the “Jugend jazzt”-Festival in Bonn. The prize consisted of the production of a CD, accompanied by a course of studies at the Conservatory for Young Musicians in Hamburg. At age 19 Rodrigo started his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim, majoring in drums with Prof Michael Küttner. Here he founded the jazz-trio “Tripode” with Volker Engelbert at the piano and Dirk Kunz at the bass . This trio moved on to become a steady name in the jazz-scene of the Rhine- Neckar-Triangle. Since fall 2006 Rodrigo is a student at the University of Music in Cologne. His expertise and creativity have allowed him to take part in several productions such as Roy Louis, Kimbiza, Nene Vasquez, Martin Gjakonovski, the German National Jazz Orchestra with Peter Herbolzheimer, Tony Greer, Mark Medlock, Dieter Bohlen, Wolfgang Niedecken, Yasmin K, Nico Suave, Jörg Reiter, Dave King, Mannheim Jazz Orchestra, University of Music Cologne - Big Band, NDR Big Band (Winner of “Jugend jazzt”), HR Big Band, Heavytones (TV Total), Miami Nights Musical, Lion King Musical, Tania Maria, Joe Gallardo, Klaus Graf, Kicks & Sticks Big Band, Wolfgang Niedecken, and many more…Rodrigo Villalon Endorses Pearl Drums and Zyldjian Cymbals
a