“Like a master rhythmatist, García juggles all the intricate polyrhythms, odd meters, and quick tempo shifts with assuredness and authority. The Puerto Rico native and New York City resident is fast emerging as a talent deserving of wider recognition for his remarkable adeptness on the kit and his considerable skills as a composer-arranger. On Guasábara Puerto Rico, García organically blends folkloric bomba rhythms and jazz in myriad satisfying ways. Backed by his core group of Kus, Vicéns, Chakarji, Pablo, and bassist Dan Martínez, the drummer and his simpatico crew of youngbloods push the envelope on García’s third album as a leader and debut for ZOHO Music.” – Bill Milkowski.
“Puerto Rican drummer Fernando García is part of a young vanguard of musicians celebrating the island’s folk traditions by studying it faithfully, reproducing it, then combining it with jazz in a sound that sounds familiar yet so very new.” – Felix Contreras, Alt. Latino – NPR
Born in San Juan and raised in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, FERNANDO GARCÍA studied guitar at the extension program of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and drumset at Micheo Music Academy (Santurce) while later receiving a bachelor’s degree in Música Popular from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico (Graduating in May 2011). Furthermore, he was awarded the Juan Luis Guerra Scholarship to complete a master’s degree in Contemporary Performance at Berklee College of Music, Valencia, Spain (Graduating in July 2013). In May 2018, García completed a second master’s in Music Education at the prestigious Teachers College Columbia University.
