Darwin Noguera

Making a living as a performing musician often requires an artist to wear many hats, working in a variety of contexts. Only the most established and well-known musicians work exclusively as bandleaders; that’s a luxury that takes years to earn. Many younger musicians still work as bandleaders, but its only one gig among many performing gigs.

In most cases, they pour their artistic souls into their own projects, working double time regardless how much (or how little) their group actually performs. The other gigs pay the bills and allow them to maintain a livelihood in music. For some artists, these dual-working conditions can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the artistic conditions surrounding the work. A number of musicians encounter an endless string of weddings, private parties, and corporate affairs, playing a supporting role in the background behind a larger event.

These jobs generally pay well, and a number of them can keep a musician’s wallet happy. Artistically they leave many musicians wishing for more satisfying ventures as they pay the same basic wedding tunes every weekend for years on end. Smart musicians spin their passion into several different projects, finding a variety of ways to package and distribute the music that they love. They stay in contact with a wide variety of fellow musicians and meet them on different artistic playing grounds. These musicians may still spend their time on the wedding circuit, but in most cases, they are able to balance that piece of the music world with their multiple artistically satisfying jobs. These musicians still need to wear many hats in order to survive, but their multiple artistically stimulating gigs allow them to balance the best of both worlds.


Pianist Darwin Noguera works consistently on the Chicago jazz scene, holding the best of both worlds through his work with multiple Latin Jazz groups. His own band, the Evolution Quintet, serves as a working small unit that features Noguera’s compositions, arrangements, and piano skills in the group’s forefront. He mixes his love for jazz harmony and improvisation with a deep connection to the music of Nicaragua, Peru, and more.

This flexible group finds its way around Chicago’s lively music scene, sometime pairing down to a trio and at other times performing as a full quintet. Noguera’s recent release with the Quintet, The Gardener, displays the pianist’s outstanding range and musicianship with a wide range of exciting and memorable tracks. Noguera also co-leads one of the Chicago jazz world’s musical treasures, the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble.

This big band brings modern jazz ideals together with the music of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Peru, and more. The larger ensemble allows Noguera and his partner, trumpet player Victor Garcia, an opportunity to express their musical ideas on a larger scale, fleshing out lush horn parts, writing interesting rhythm section arrangements, and exploring a more dramatic dynamic range. A labor of love, Noguera and Garcia worked extremely hard to get the band rolling, and it has moved forward strongly.

The CALJE has performed in a number of the city’s top jazz clubs as well as being a major piece of the city’s jazz festival and Latin Jazz festival. These two groups allow Noguera to bring his artistry to a large number of people and keep his musical hats thriving as he maintains a career in the front of Chicago’s jazz scene.
http://www.chipboaz.com/blog/2009/10/04/latin-jazz-photo-album-chicago-afro-latin-jazz-ensemble/