Diego Hedez: Distante

The Diego Hedez Quintet’s debut release of 7 original tracks, composed and headed by 21 year-old trumpet player Diego Hedez. The album is dedicated to the creation of Latin jazz, maintaining a profound connection with musical expressions from the Caribbean and Latin America. Diego and the quintet bring an incredibly authentic and transporting sound of Cuba, while having a universally accessibility that you could instantly hear sweeping the L.A. and London jazz scenes.

All the songs were composed by Diego Hernández and arranged by Marlon Castro. The compositions were created in the years of study at the National School of Arte (ENA) en Havana, Cuba.

These compositions have great personal value for the composer, in which he expresses his appreciation and affection for all of those who inspired him. All the originals were based on and inspired by his love life, and by getting to know his own culture while traveling through Cuba. His personal life and his relationship with his wife were also very crucial to the creation of his first compositions.

The recording were done live in studio to give a feeling of greater confidence among the musicians, thus achieving a great compatibility between them, reaching a natural sound. The quintet is very well- connected as a band, thus interweaving themes and creating musically dense events, filled by the sounds of their culture and Latin rhythms, allowing for an easy performance of the music.

About Diego:
Diego was born on February 17th,2000 in Remedios, Cuba. From an early age he was introduced to the world of music through his uncle and father. This was the start of his path to become a musician. In 2009 he started his elementary studies in trumpet in the vocational school of music in Santa Clara, Cuba. In this school he was participant of several music competitions and ensembles. In 2014 he traveled with the school’s symphony to Havana where he recorded his own solo. In 2015 he was
admitted to Cuba’s selective National School of Art also known as ENA.

At the National School of Art, he met several trumpet players such as Roberto Garcia whose works taught him to mix Cuban music with jazz, and also be bop. During his years at this school, he was part of renown music ensembles such as Afro Cubanos, The National School of Art’s Jazz Band and others. These groups gave him the opportunity to interact with influential music players such as Roman Filiu, Michael Rodriguez, Dave Welck, Brian Linch, amongst others. Hedez also had the opportunity to participate in various performances realized by the Joven Jazz Band directed by Joaquin Betancourt. Within the same, he played in relevant events such as the 15th anniversary gala commemorated by the band at the Theater of Beaux Arts of Havana.

Later, influenced by his friend and mentor Kevin Barreto, Diego made himself known in Havana’s night scene performing at popular jazz clubs such as La Zorra y el Cuervo and Jazz Café. During the following period of 2020 to 2021 Diego has participated in several collaborations on Spotify with different artists including Matthew Little, Sandeep Chowta, Fran Trip, Charly Siaba, Varijashree Venugopal, Karonlina Mint, Abahy Nayampally and Cuban DJ duet PAUZA. On platforms such as YouTube he has shared his own work and collaborated with other musicians such as Bruno Belasco, Daniel D’ Alcantara, Marques Carroll, Hermon Mehari, Gustavo Villas Boas, Lucas Gomes and Telemakus.