Juan Carrizo is a musician in constant motion. Guitarist, multi instrumentalist and live looping artist. Composer, arranger, producer and mastering engineer, he records and produces his own music and other colleagues’. His work has no boundaries regarding musical genres or geographical limits.
His credentials include, besides music, filmmaking and sound postproduction degrees. He has taken lessons with renowned artists such as Leo Sujatovich, Martin Pavlovsky, Pino Marrone, Gary Burton and Alan Parsons. He is currently enrolled in the Music Creation and New Technologies course in the CMMAS -Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Juan about the latest music, motivations, memories and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
What’s something you’d like readers to know about your latest project?
The song is a homage to the cliffs in my hometown. That inmortal giants who have been witnesses of most of my life and direct inspiration for this piece. The lyrics are greatly inspired by the homonymous tale by Jorge Luis Borges. That text was a gift from a friend (Eleo) at the time when I was leaving one life behind to embrace my 24/7 journey with music. It resonated a lot then and it still does.
How does this project compare with your other release(s)? Was there anything specific you were trying to accomplish?
Usually my music is released along with graphic art and some form of text BUT the songs themselves are mostly instrumental. Unlike any other of my previous releases, “El Inmortal” has lyrics and there is someone there to sing it. Mica Oyarzo, an amazing singer from my hometown did the honors and brought the song to another place.
Also, this song has a more “popular shape”, it’s a twelve bars blues. That’s old I know, but for me is totally new. It was, and it is still amazing to kinda speak that language from my own perspective and musical voice when I play the song.
What motivates you to create music?
First is my need to “land” music. The way I experience it is like an almost constant stream of melodies and sounds. So I need to give that a course. There are days I resonate particularly with something and follow up and develop further with a more composer/producer approach.
The other motivation for creating music is sharing the process with colleagues and friends. I always prefer to make music with other people than alone. That’s how projects like Aghora Sadhus, Macuarro, Pleamar, Cause and more recently Volkruna, came to be.
I enjoy a lot my session player side of life where I get to perform and record different genres and styles. Having the chance to arrange guitars for artists all over the world, with different influences than mine, both culturally and musically, its very enriching and motivating.
There is also a big motivation for me in trying new stuff. Many songs I’ve made where born as experiments on a certain style of composition or sound palette.
What’s one of your first or most powerful music memories? Did that play any role in driving you to create?
Never really thought this trough. As I do now, first thing that comes to my mind is a concert by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones being aired on Direct TV in the early 2000´s. I was “all metal” at that time. Watching that concert blew my mind. The incendiary performances, the songs, the technical difficulties (hey Racer X), that was pure metal. I think that was the moment I realized that such music could be done and got me started with the fusion path.
Another powerful moment was listening “Spain” by Chick Corea for the first time (and the second and the third and so on and on) How he starts with the Concierto de Aranjuez and then go all fusion, oh my!
If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why? If it’s an indie/DIY artist, please include a link so readers can check them out.
This could have a different answer on weekly basis, right now I’m back to listening to Karina Vismara´s “Selva” album (https://www.instagram.com/karina_vismara/). She is an amazing artist from Argentina who is making a fusion of rock and Argentinian folklore.
What was the last song you listened to? And who is one of your favorite all-time bands/artists?
The latest album (the live one) by Bill Laurence is spinning almost every day since released. Also Robert Glasper´s Black Radio III. As for a favorite all time band, Steve Vai continues to amaze me.
Where is the best place to find you and stay connected?
Right now I’m pushing myself to be more active on instagram (http://instagram.com/juancarrizoae), publishing stories and music there. I have my website (http://juancarrizo.com) where I publish mostly in Spanish and I recently launched a Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/juancarrizoae) for English communication. I also have a newsletter where I write from time to time with new releases and thoughts about them (https://juancarrizo.com/suscribite).
I really appreciate Your time. Anything else before we sign off?
Thanks a lot to Joshua and Indie Music Discovery for the time and dedication. It was very fun to answer this questions. I would like to invite you and your audience to watch the video for “El Inmortal” on YouTube.
