Conrado Garcia, a native of Cuba, graduated from the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory, majoring in percussion, and has a Master’s Degree in Percussion, specializing in Latin American and Symphony music, from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana, Cuba. Mr. Garcia’s career spans over 25 years performing across the Americas, Europe, and Asia with some of the greatest contemporary jazz and Latin American artists. He has performed and taught at many jazz festivals, including the Jazz-Plaza Festival, the Jerusalem Jazz Festival, where he performed with the great drummer Ignacio Berroa, the Acapulco Jazz Festival, where he performed with Osmany Paredes and the Menduvia Jazz Quartet and with Amaury Gutierrez, and in the Montreaux Jazz Festival, where he performed with Strunz & Farah.
In 1982, he played for Bobby Carcases alongside Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano), Oriente Lopez (flute and keyboard), Orlando Sanchez (tenor sax), Roberto Vizcaino (percussion), Frank Rubio (bass) and Reinaldo Milian (trumpet). Between 2000 and 2003, Mr. Garcia performed alongside Amaury Gutierrez, Charanga Cubana, Jane Brunet, Willy Chirino, Jimmy Haslip, Abraham Laboriel, Luis Conte, Bill Wolfer, Jimmy Branly, Gary Meek, Sandro Albert, Steve Wingart, Raul Malo’s Band, Jubel Band, Francisco Aguabella, Susie Hansen, Eliseo Latin Band, Henry Mora’s Band, Luis Villegas, Melena’s Latin Project at the African Festival, Herman Clark’s Quartet, Jazz on the Latin Side Band, Bobby Rodriguez’s Band, Alex Acuna’s Band Tolu, Donald Vega’s Quartet, Poncho Sanchez’s band and Strunz & Farah. In 2004 he toured with Mexican singer, Juan Gabriel. In 2008, he formed Timbalive, a band producing a mix of Cuban timba and funk music, with which he toured Europe, Asia, South America, and the USA, also accompanying famous Latin Singers such Mayito Rivera, Issac Delgado, and Pedro Calvo among others. He is a successful recording artist, with five recorded CD’s. Mr. Garcia has been part of the Conchita Espinosa Conservatory of the Arts music faculty since 2017.
