Prior to discovering timba, I spent 15 years playing violin and sometimes bass in salsa bands in Northern California, including a stint with Francisco Aguabella. My main gig was with Orquesta Gitano. I co-wrote and arranged songs for their first album, Como suena mi rumba in the early 1990s. By 1998 I had a series of elaborate arrangements based on the concept of using piano and bass grooves which were composed for each song instead of the usual cliché patterns. I produced and recorded Salsa gitana, a quasi "concept album" weaving my charts together with compositions from other band members. You can hear excerpts from all the tracks of Salsa gitana at LPM.  Various tracks have been placed in films and television shows and a portion of the title track was sampled by the British pop group "Simply Red" for their single "A Perfect Love".

(continued in the "Beyond Salsa Piano" section)