With the Latin jazz trio I have several rhythm sections I really enjoy playing with. I love the trio with Eddie Resto and Tony Shogren because they're such fun guys and they have a deep knowledge of their instruments and their musical lineage. Eddie's played with so many artists who helped define Latin jazz--Mongo Santamaria, Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, and so on. Tony's a walking thesaurus on Brazilian music and culture-he teaches part-time at UCLA and plays on occasion with the great Sergio Mendes.
Another configuration I love is Oskar Cartaya on bass and Walter Rodriguez on drums. They play with such taste and subtlety and they both are amazingly eloquent soloists. I met Oskar when we were doing a TV commercial with the great Alex Acuna, who has mentored both of us in our careers.
Richie Gajate-Garcia is another of my favorite drummers. He is an expert in Latin percussion and even studied the guitar from me for a while! He embraces all aspects of music--composition and arranging as well as performing.
When possible, I like to expand the trio to a quartet by adding my brother Eric Gerakos. He has studied with many of the masters--Frankie Malabe,
Michael Spiro, Raul Rekow from the Santana band, and many others. He is very serious about what he does and brings real intensity and musicality to everything he does. plus he's been a tremendous source of encouragement to me.
Influences
I have a lot of musical influences--I like to listen to anything done well.
I try to emulate some of the great jazz piano players on the guitar--Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea--as well as Latin jazz players like Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Chucho Valdes. My favorite acoustic guitarists all have what I would call a dynamic elegance on their instrument--Laurindo Almeida, Oscar
Castro-Neves, Charlie Byrd, Paco De Lucia, John McLaughlin. These are all
artists I respect immensely and imitate from time to time in my own playing.
Sounds Like
I don't know that there are any other guitarists that sound like me, since much of my musical inspiration comes from players of other instruments. I
suppose if Bill Evans or Chick Corea ever took up the guitar, I'd like to think they'd sound a little like me! I've certainly spent a lot of time trying to sound like them.
I started playing the guitar when I was fourteen, learning songs from records. One of my big inspirations was Al Di Meola--the first piece I ever learned was his recording of "Sarabande from Violin Sonata in B Minor" by J.S. Bach. Then I tackled Al's "Medterranean Sundance" and "Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil" (both from the album "Elegant Gypsy"). Needless to say, I had a tougher time with those! I also learned songs from "More Brazilian Byrd" featuring the guitar of Charlie Byrd, one of my all-time favorites. Also, I began learning some of the classical repertoire around this time, like the Prelude for Lute, originally in C minor and later transposed to D minor for the guitar by Andres Segovia, the father of modern classical guitar.
I studied music at UCLA, graduating in 1990. This was a great experience for me. Studying classical guitar with Peter Yates and Ted Norman was invaluable in my musical development. I also played in UCLA's jazz ensemble and their Latin music ensemble, UCLAtino. This was my introduction to the essentials of Afro-Cuban music--the clave, the tumbao, the instrumentation, the arrangements--not to mention the fun you could have playing this music in front of a live audience!
Since then I've had the good fortune of collaborating with musicians whose work and lives I really admire--Alex Acuna, world-renowned percussionist and drummer, who's been a friend and mentor for the last seven years, and and with whom I've enjoyed working on everything from TV commercials, live concerts, and my own records. Another is Grammy award-winning Latin pop superstar Obie Bermudez, with whom I performed at a filled-beyond-capacity Key Club in Hollywood. A very humble and personable guy, a fellow guitarist, and a pleasure to work with. And Avion Blackman, who invited me to play on her gospel reggae debut album, "Onyinye", produced by her husband Mark Mohr from Christafari. The album wound up winning the coveted Marlin Award (the Caribbean equivalent of the Grammy) for Album of the Year. It couldn't have happened to two nicer people. And Eddie Resto, bassist with virtually everyone you can name in Latin music--Celia Cruz, Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, Giovanni Hidalgo. Eddie's one of the most colorful characters in my life, always with a great joke and a great story to tell, and always a loyal friend.
I'd say right now I'm at a place where I'm enjoying music more than ever. I see music as a way to say things that would be very difficult to say any other way.
Eddie Stephens and Jammers are hosting a Jam session for all musicians. It is a great opportunity to listen to some jazz and network with some of the top Musicians in LA.
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ANARCHY LIBRARY
13250 Woodruff Ave Downey Ca, 90242
Where the 105 and the 605 meet.
Sandie Castaneda .
(drums) Her fierce dynamic can be heard throuout LA in from the Hollywood Clubs, to national TV stations. Her performances include sharing the stage with Elvis Crespo, Will Smith, Nelly, Kirk Franklin, and is most reccently touring with the Vive Brasil Dance Company.
Carlos Becerra .
(sax) Has played with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl, USC,Wayne Bergeron , Rick Baptist and many more .
Eddie Stephens (bass and Vocal ) Has traveled around the world playing for everyone is the music industry
hey there friend i was looking through my friends and i happen to see your page and i thought i would say hiso keep it up with your music and God bless you
Ciao Marcus Gerakos - Una canzone è davvero bella quando le sue note giungono dritte al cuore! - A song is really beautiful when his notes come straight to the heart! - Una canción es realmente hermosa cuando sus notas vienen directamente al corazón!
Hey Marcus-it's Shane! We have a show this MONDAY @ THE DERBY @ 9pm (4500 Los Feliz @ Hillhurst). It's an 18+ show. We'd love it if you'd consider joining us. :)
I couldn't agree with you more regarding Chick's "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs"... one of my favorite recordings. You're tracks are absolutely fabulous! Just amazing technique and taste. Best wishes for 2008-
Hi Marcus... so great to see you last night and hear you play with Luis. What an awesome performance from you guys! Wow, I was blown away... Hope to see a repeat sometime soon. I'm also looking forward to our new business relationship!
Thanks for the message today. I'm glad you enjoyed my music. Yeah, we mixed several latin genres... probably NOT stylistically the right thing to do, but it sounded good to us. Digging on your latin approaches to those standards. Best wishes,
Hi Marcus Gerakos, just a quick hello from the Jazz Pistols - hope you are doing fine and having a great week. Wish you all the best - thanks for being our friend and good luck for the things you do. Best regards - Christoph
If you would like to hear more tunes of the Jazz Pistols you can check out our homepage and get the Jazz Pistols CDs in our own shop - if you are living in the USA it will be cheaper to get them at Abstract Logix, CDBaby or as digital download at iTunes. Please join our newsletter if you are interested in our tour schedule and upcoming releases.
Hi Marcus Gerakos, just a quick hello from the Jazz Pistols - hope you are doing fine and having a great week. Wish you all the best - thanks for being our friend and good luck for the things you do. Best regards - Christoph
If you would like to hear more tunes of the Jazz Pistols you can check out our homepage and get the Jazz Pistols CDs in our own shop - if you are living in the USA it will be cheaper to get them at Abstract Logix, CDBaby or as digital download at iTunes. Please join our newsletter if you are interested in our tour schedule and upcoming releases.
