Many things can be said about all musicians’ general personality traits, but something stands heads and shoulders above the rest - musicians are social beings at heart and they deeply understand the importance of community. Musicians spend countless hours in solitude practicing their instrument and developing their technique and individual approach to performance. While musicians master some qualities of performance through their alone time, the true artistry arises when they pool their skills with one or more additional people. Individuals make sound on their own, but they need other people to truly create music - especially when they focus on improvised music. As a result, individuals spend their time with other musicians, eventually building a wide circle of musically minded people that form bands and perform in local venues. Once an artist becomes firmly established as a performer, they also become familiar with audience members, promoters, club owners, publicists, journalists, and more. For better or worse, every person involved in the creation, promotion, and execution of music becomes part of a musician’s community as they become an important piece of their local music scene. Most musicians understand that their community extends beyond the small group of musicians that they perform with on a regular basis so they seek to extend their network. As a musician’s career grows, they travel, and as a result, they meet, admire, and collaborate with additional artists, building a bond of community. They connect with musicians from different areas, they share ideas with musicians from different backgrounds, and they again expand their community. It’s a never-ending process that defines a musician’s career and become a centerpiece of their overall life.

Trumpet player Charlie Sepulveda lives through the greater Latin Jazz community and his experiences have brought him in contact with a wide variety of incredible artists. He dived into trumpet studies in Puerto Rico at a young age, taking classes at La Escuela Libre de Musica. By the time he hit his teen years, Sepulveda expanded his community by playing with some of the island’s best groups, including Batacumbele, Willie Rosario, and Sonora Ponceña. A move to New York dropped Sepulveda deep inside the Latin Jazz world, and he found work with Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Palmieri, and more. He gathered a group of like-minded musicians and recorded The New Arrival, the first in a chain of outstanding Latin Jazz recordings as a leader. After years of traveling, Sepulveda has become a major player in the larger Latin Jazz community, in Puerto Rico, New York, and abroad. I’ve collected several pictures of Sepulveda performing in a variety of contexts - at the 2009 Heineken Jazz Festival, the 2009 Greek Theater Latin Jazz Festival, and at a local venue in Puerto Rico, La Repuesta. Enjoy!

Charlie Sepulveda At The 2009 Heineken Jazz Festival

Charlie Sepulveda At The 2009 Greek Theater Latin Jazz Festival

Charlie Sepulveda, Paquito D’Rivera, Ed Zayaz, and Giovanni Hidalgo Backstage At The 2009 Greek Theater Latin Jazz Festival

Charlie Sepulveda Performing With Giovanni Hidalgo At The 2009 Greek Theater Latin Jazz Festival

Charlie Sepulveda At La Repuesta During Imagenes del Sonido

Charlie Sepulveda At La Repuesta During Imagenes del Sonido

Looking for more from Charlie Sepulveda? Check out his most recent albums with his group The Turnaround:

Sepulveda Boulevard

Charlie Sepulveda & The Turnaround

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Do you have pictures to contribute to the Latin Jazz photo album? I’d love to have everyone in the Latin Jazz community contribute! I’ll be posting five to ten pictures a week - I’m looking for live performance shots, not promo pics. I’d like to keep them centered around one artist per week, but if you’ve got another idea, let’s talk. So come on Latin Jazz photographers, musicians, and fans - let’s put some more memorable pictures in the Latin Jazz Photo Album! Get my contact info HERE

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Latin Jazz Photo Album: Bobby Sanabria & The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra
7 Great Latin Jazz Albums From Ralph Mercado And RMM Records
Revisiting Latin Jazz Classics: Manhattan Mambo, Hilton Ruiz
Remembering Ralph Mercado (1941 - 2009): Tropijazz All-Stars On Video

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