Gilbert
Castellanos
Gilbert Castellanos is a renowned musician, composer, curator, educator and arranger, and one of the country’s top-call jazz trumpeters. Skilled with impressive dexterity and control, his clarity of expression moves listeners on a deeply emotional level with music that sounds effortless.
In San Diego, his chosen home of over two decade, Castellanos has hosted THE WEDNESDAY JAZZ JAM, the city’s longest-running and legendary weekly jam session, in various locations including downtown warehouses and clubs such as The Onyx Room and Seven Grand. Currently, you can catch his session on Wednesday nights at Panama 66 at the San Diego Museum of Art, where Castellanos develops new material with his own band, while giving up-and-coming players a chance to perform with seasoned professionals. Panama 66 was recognized as City Beat Magazine’s “2016 Best Jazz Venue,” making it the heartbeat of the jazz scene in America’s Finest City.
For two decades, Castellanos has been and is a leader in the overall establishment of the San Diego jazz scene, and says he will “never give up” in his tireless effort to “put the West Coast back on the map.” And he is doing that as Artistic Curator of significant collaborations with major art organizations including: The San Diego Museum of Art’s new “Portraits In Jazz” series launching in August 2017; The San Diego Symphony’s Jazz @ The Jacobs, a highly successful series entering into it’s third season. Since 2015, he has brought some of the biggest stars of the jazz world – Diane Reeves, Gregory Porter, Eric Reed, Roy McCurdy, Helen Sung, and Chucho Valdez – center stage at the Jacobs Music Center in Downtown San Diego.
A passionate advocate of formal jazz education, Castellanos is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Young Lions Jazz Conservatory based in San Diego, California. Prior to that, he served as the Artistic Director of the International Academy of Jazz San Diego from 2014-2016, and conducts high school workshops and is a lecturer at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. He is also a firm believer in the type of “real world” education jazz musicians have counted on to learn the ropes since the music was born. A champion and advocate for the “next generation of jazz,” Castellanos is the Founder and Curator of The Young Lions Series, a two-hour weekly program highlighting the brightest up-and-coming middle and high school jazz musicians from San Diego and Southern California, many of whom he has personally taught and mentored. He has hosted over 80 nights and over 250 young musicians in the series to date.
Gilbert Castellanos
