Bará Group founder and bassist talks tips, tone and touring plans
Exclusive video interview with FBPO’s Jon Liebman
April 6, 2020
By David Sands
To listen to Santiago Gonzalez is to hear one of the rising stars of Latin jazz ascending. The 25-year-old Colombian native is the founder and bassist of The Bará Group. He’s also a leading figure in a new genre called joropo-timba-jazz fusion, which blends together elements of Colombian joropo and Cuban timba music with jazz. Introduced to music at a young age, Gonzalez got his start playing local churches and music festivals and later went on to tour his home country and the United States. In 2018, he won top honors with the XXX International Jazz Festival of the Free Theater, one of the biggest jazz fests in Latin America. Over the course of his career, Gonzalez has recorded over 200 tracks and appears on albums by Gianni Bardaro, Fabio Ortiz and Alex Pastrana. He’s also released his own album, Bará, with his band, the Bará Group. Currently Gonzalez is studying music in the United States at the Los Angeles College of Music.
FBPO’s Jon Liebman had a chance to talk with Gonzalez at this year’s Winter
NAMM show. Their conversation covered the Colombian bassist’s introduction to music, how he was influenced by players like Victor Wooten and Jaco and advice including the importance of having patience while learning the bass.
Watch our interview with Santiago!
See Jon’s blog, with key takeaways from this interview, here.
