5 Questions with Gabriel Espinosa
Gabriel Espinosa is a busy man. A working musician for more than half a century, Gabriel’s prowess as a jazz bassist has taken him around the world and earned him a spot in the Iowa Jazz Hall of Fame. When he’s not globetrotting, serving as a lecturer and director of the Latin American Ensemble in Grinnell’s music department, or fulfilling his duties as an associate professor of music at Central College in Pella, Gabriel can be found playing around Central Iowa as a solo artist, with his band Ashanti, or with a rotating cast of guest musicians. In December 2022, he put the finishing touches on his sixth solo album and is planning a series of concerts and events to celebrate its release this Spring. Somehow, he found time to answer a few questions about his life for us.
Q: You joined your first band, Los Deltons, in Merida, Mexico at the age of 14. What can you tell us about the group?
A. Los Deltons was a five-piece band made up of myself, my two brothers, a friend at the piano and occasionally one or two singers. Because we did not have sheet music, everything we played we played by ear. This is a skill I worked on at a young age that I still practice today. We recorded two songs in 1975 and an album in 2006 which included one of my first compositions. We played from 1966 to 1976 which is when I received a Language Assistant Scholarship to Central College, and I decided I wanted to study music.
Q: You’ve been a lecturer at Grinnell College for 18 years now, what have you learned from the experience?
A: Teaching at Grinnell helped me develop a deep love for Latin Music. My students’ interest in a variety of Latin music has enabled me to learn and perform different styles like boleros, cha-chas, bossa novas, sambas, merengues, and bachata. The students bring an awareness of current Latin music trends which in turn helps me as an educator.
Q: Is your group Ashanti still active?
A: Ashanti has been around for many years and has been made up of different musicians as I’ve moved around. I originally formed Ashanti during my last year at Berklee College of Music in Boston where I majored in arranging. When I moved to Cancun, I performed in the area with a new group of musicians under the name from 1984 to 1991. I moved to Iowa in 1996 and reformed the band with four Iowa musicians. We have recorded three albums and still play once or twice a year in Iowa, most recently at Noce in Des Moines.
Q: Which of your shows over the years really stand out for you?
A: The highlights of my career include performing at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Iridium Jazz Club, both in New York City because they are iconic jazz clubs. The various concerts in Merida, Mexico when I’ve been able to share my music where it all started have great meaning to me, and performing in Kauai, Hawaii was also a once-in-a-lifetime experience. A concert at Grinnell College in 2016 with my band and legendary musicians Antonio Sanchez and Anat Cohen. Is also a fond memory.
Q: Who do you enjoy playing with here at home and who would you like to work with?
A. There are many great jazz musicians in central Iowa. Some of the musicians in the area that I enjoy performing with include Dave Kobberdahl on trumpet, Bryan Schumaker on saxophone, Tim Crumley on drums, and Eric Sickler who plays piano. Recently I have also greatly enjoyed playing with Aviana Gedler who is a great new artist in the area.
Bonus Question: If you could play one show with any single musician from all of history, who would it be?
I have been blessed to have the opportunity to play with many of my idols like Antonio Sanchez, Anat Cohen, The New York Voices, Fred Hersch, Tierney Sutton, Eugenio Toussaint, George Robert, Claudio Roditi, Misha Tsiganov, Mauricio Zottarelli, Armando Manzanero, just to name a few. From history I would have liked playing with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Burt Bacharach, Miles Davis, Ivan Lins and, why not, The Beatles. Those are my main musical influences, bolero, rock, bossa nova, jazz, Bacharach.