Luis Perdomo

by Alex HendersonBased in New York City but originally from Venezuela, Luis Perdomo is an acoustic post-bop pianist whose playing has been directly or indirectly influenced by Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, among others. Although Perdomo comes from a Latin American country, his compositions aren't the type of straight-up Afro-Cuban jazz one associates with Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Machito or Poncho Sanchez; nonetheless, there are subtle hints of Latin and Caribbean music in some of his material (which has tended to be on the cerebral side). Perdomo was born in 1971 in Caracas, Venezuela, where he began studying the acoustic piano as a kid; Perdomo was still a teenager when he became the house pianist in one of the city's top jazz clubs. Perdomo was 22 when, in 1993, he moved to New York City, where he studied both jazz and European classical music at the Manhattan School of Music as well as Queens College; Perdomo earned degrees from both of them. It was during that period that he met veteran jazz pianist Sir Roland Hanna, who became one of his teachers and gave the Venezuelan immigrant a great deal of encouragement. By the summer of 2000, Perdomo was making weekly appearances at the Jazz Gallery (a Manhattan jazz club) as a sideman in alto saxophonist Yosvany Terry's band, which also included Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto and Puerto Rican bassist John Benitez (not to be confused with the famous urban/dance-pop producer John "Jellybean" Benitez, who was one of Madonna's earliest supporters). The early 2000s also found Perdomo performing with well known artists like percussionist Ray Barretto and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane (John Coltrane's son), and it was during that period that the pianist began leading some groups of his own (which ranged from trios to quintets) at the Jazz Gallery and other Big Apple clubs. In 2003 (the year of his 30th birthday), Perdomo produced his first album as a leader, Focus Point, which listed Ravi Coltrane as executive producer; Focus Point was given a February 2005 release date by the small independent label RKM Music.