Transit

More info about the members of Transit Latin Jazz Ensemble:

Rodolfo Gonzalez (flute/EWI/guitar) was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. He came to the U.S. in 1978 and lived in both New York City and Miami before moving to New Mexico in 1991. As a flute player, he has performed with various salsa orchestras and Latin Jazz groups on the East and West coasts. He has also done studio work throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico and Central America. In New Mexico, he has been the arranger and musical director for several popular salsa bands and has been a featured performer with the Albuquerque Latin Jazz Orchestra. His work as a composer/producer/arranger has won the New Mexico "MIC" Award for Best Producer, Best Musical Production/Hispanic, Best Arrangement Previous Work , Best Arrangement Original Work, as well as the New Mexico Hispanic Music Association’s award for Song of the Year. One of his original compositions, done as a work for hire, was nominated for Best Song of the Year, Best Song/Gospel, and Best Musical Production in the 2005 New Mexico "MIC" Awards. Another of his original compositions was featured in a documentary by the New Mexico Game and Fish Department, on the native and contemporary cultures in the Rio Grande Basin.

Ed Ulman (trombone) is a musician (trombone/arranger/band leader), concert presenter, jazz advocate, educator/clinician, and music contractor. He served as Executive Director of the New Mexico Jazz Workshop 2001-06. Before moving to Albuquerque, Ulman was the Executive Director and Education Coordinator for the Tucson Jazz Society, one of the largest jazz societies in the country boasting 2,500 members. As a performer, he is a featured soloist with numerous groups in New Mexico including the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra. He has performed with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Santa Fe Pro Musica. He lived in Tucson, Arizona for nine years where he performed regularly with the Tucson Jazz Orchestra, the Tucson Pops Orchestra and subbed occasionally with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Before moving to Tucson, he spent a year as featured trombone soloist with the Spokane Jazz Orchestra. While working on his masters at Portland State University, he performed with a number of Portland area professional big bands, including the Woody Hite Big Band. He also held the second trombone chair with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and played in Portland Opera backstage banda ensembles. Ed now makes his home in Tacoma, Washington.

Amilcar Guevara (keyboards) was born in Central America (El Salvador) into a family with a musical background based in traditional Latin music. After many years of learning, playing and experimenting with all different kinds of music, he has developed a versatile approach to his playing and his composition. In recent years he has been living in Tucson, Arizona and he has worked as musical director of salsa and charanga bands. He also continues to pursue his interest in Latin Jazz with his own quartet. The arranging, performing and producing talents he developed while working for recording studios in Guatemala have been applied to recording projects he has recently completed. These include a CD for the Tucson Latin Jazz Orchestra, the music for an instructional Video of Latin Dance Aerobics, and CDs for individual performing artists in Tucson and Albuquerque.

Maud Beenhouwer (bass) has performed with numerous groups in New Mexico including several salsa bands, the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra, and the Albuquerque Latin Jazz Orchestra. An in-demand side man, she keeps busy playing as well as teaching. She has led numerous groups throughout the years of all different styles: salsa, Latin jazz, blues, R&B, etc. She serves as the Executive Director of the New Mexico Jazz Workshop and teaches jazz improvisation to children for after school programs.

Barrett Martin (drums) is a drummer and composer who played with several prominent rock and jazz groups during the alternative music explosion of the late 1980s and 90s, including Skin Yard, The Screaming Trees, Mad Season, Tuatara and REM. He was also a session musician in Los Angeles and has played on, or produced, over 50 albums to date, including four solo albums and numerous soundtrack appearances. He holds bachelors and masters degrees in anthropology/ethnomusicology and has traveled the world extensively, studying music with indigenous people from the Amazon Rainforest to Alaska. These cultures include: The Garifuna drummers of Belize, Wolof Griots of Senegal, Ewe drummers of Ghana, Santeria drum priests of Cuba, Candomble drum priests of Brazil, the singing Shipibo Shamans of the Peruvian Amazon, and other recording projects in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Jerusalem. He founded the world music label, Fast Horse Recordings, in 2002 to find and release new forms of world music from around the world. He lives in Seattle, Washington.