Faculty Guest - Jose Duque

In October, several of the PMAC faculty will be featured on the blog. I've asked all of them a series of questions - ten questions to be exact - and asked them to answer at least four of them, to be posted on the blog. Today we begin with Jose Duque, who answered eight of the ten questions. Jose is the drum instructor for PMAC. For more about Jose and his music, visit his website www.zumbatres.com.

Name a musician who is relatively unknown, but whose work you think everyone should hear. Name examples of recordings if possible.
Nguyen Le' , an incredible French guitarist of Vietnamese descent, very unortodox way of playing, and great compositions, I would recomend, his album BAKIDA, it's gorgeus

Who was your most important/inspiring teacher/mentor and why?
I think mentors change according to your growth as a person and musician, at the beginning were all those drummers in the records I listened to, Bruford, Peart, Taylor, Mosley, Negus...then my drum teacher back home, a Cuban Master drummer, nick named Tutty, as of late in life, Jon Hazilla, my teacher at Berklee....a great source from whom I learned jazz, and lately my friend from back home, Pablo Bencid, a superb drummer, and a friend

What was the most unusual performance you've given?
Playing at a beauty pageant contests back home, in which after setting up, we never got a chance to play because time constrictions.

What was the most recent concert you attended? Did you like it? Why or why not?
RADIOHEAD, incredible, I like it coz it was definitelly a conveying of how rock music should sound today, incredible songwriting craftsmanship and performance

What album/CD do you love to listen to that you think others would be surprised to hear you like?
ARVO PART, TE DEUM, Scandinavian composer, very subtle and beautiful

At what age did you decide to become a professional musician or artist? How did you come to that decision?
I played drums since I was 12, but it wasn't until I was in college back home that I started doing gigs, around 23 I decided that Psychology wasn't my thing, so i went to music school, was hard, my dad didn't talk to me for 3 or 4 months

As a child, who was your favorite composer or artist? Are they still among your favorites? Why or why not?
BILL BRUFORD, and still is!!

What is your favorite movie about an artist or musician?
BIRD, by Clint Eastwood