Edy Martinez Biography! - September 2, 2008
Edy Martinez was born in the south of Colombia, in a small city called Pasto. He didnt have any formal training in music. Edy left Colombia in 1960, moving initially to the Netherland Antilles and then to New Orleans, Miami and New York.
He remained for 33 years outside the country, working as keyboardist and arranger for Tito Puente, Ray Baretto, Mongo Santamaría, Ron Carter, Bobby Watson, Gato Barbieri and Paquito d'Rivera.
Edy came back briefly to Colombia with the idea of promoting the development of Jazz by way of concerts and recordings with young musicians but he found many obstacles. He told a local newspaper (El Espectador) : "There's no respect for our career. That's the problem. The musicians have to become politicians, engineers, scientists or astronauts [to get some respect]... To record a CD of Latin Jazz in the U.S is very difficult but to do it in Colombia is nearly impossible". Edy Martinez managed to achieve it in 1995 after a lot of hard work. He recorded the first CD of Latin Jazz totally produced in Colombia, "Privilegio", featuring a young group of musicians from Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia. That CD has become the most successful Jazz recording ever in Colombia with more than 5.000 copies sold in four years.
Edy told El Espectador: "We just want people to take our efforts into consideration, the strength with which our music is born, our idea of introducing culture and harmony in our lives". Why has Edy insisted so much in spite of the many obstacles he has found ? "I'm a Jazz musician because I'm a modern musician and Jazz is the most contemporary sound today...All my life I've done what I feel in my soul with the raw materials that I've had on hand".
He remained for 33 years outside the country, working as keyboardist and arranger for Tito Puente, Ray Baretto, Mongo Santamaría, Ron Carter, Bobby Watson, Gato Barbieri and Paquito d'Rivera.
Edy came back briefly to Colombia with the idea of promoting the development of Jazz by way of concerts and recordings with young musicians but he found many obstacles. He told a local newspaper (El Espectador) : "There's no respect for our career. That's the problem. The musicians have to become politicians, engineers, scientists or astronauts [to get some respect]... To record a CD of Latin Jazz in the U.S is very difficult but to do it in Colombia is nearly impossible". Edy Martinez managed to achieve it in 1995 after a lot of hard work. He recorded the first CD of Latin Jazz totally produced in Colombia, "Privilegio", featuring a young group of musicians from Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia. That CD has become the most successful Jazz recording ever in Colombia with more than 5.000 copies sold in four years.
Edy told El Espectador: "We just want people to take our efforts into consideration, the strength with which our music is born, our idea of introducing culture and harmony in our lives". Why has Edy insisted so much in spite of the many obstacles he has found ? "I'm a Jazz musician because I'm a modern musician and Jazz is the most contemporary sound today...All my life I've done what I feel in my soul with the raw materials that I've had on hand".