Joan Torres has gained access to some of the most prestigious aspects in the Puerto Rican and international music scene. This San Juan raised bass player spent various summers in the Berkley College of Music, Music Program, and has played with some of the big names in the PR jazz world, like: Fernando García, Gabriel Vicéns and Jonathan Suazo. With the release of his album Before (2012) he has been able to perform along with his group “All is Fused” in multiple cities, even internationally! Joan and his colleagues head out on tour to New Orleans next week (Nov 18-22) with the hopes of his music transcending Puerto Rico’s jazz scene. Not to mention his very successful website that promotes and focuses its vision on the Puerto Rico jazz community, CulturaJazz.com. Oh! And he’s also a Computer Engineer. Wait, what?! Oh right, I forgot to mention that; Joan Torres is a Computer Engineering senior in our UPRM and a website creator. How does he manage that level of multitasking? Well, let’s take a peek into this intriguing jazz musician’s life.
Since his early years, Joan has been a well-focused person; he told HCUPRM: “I started playing the bass when I was 11 years old” and even though it was by a very particular situation(1), he stuck with it. Although, an intriguing fact is just when did he determine being serious about his music? To this premise Torres response was “between the 9th and 10th grade I decided to get serious so I started theory lessons along with my instrument”; and no doubt being serious had its benefits. Some years later, as Joan was attending his 2nd year of the Berkeley in Puerto Rico Program, he landed his first gig. He shared with HCUPRM his memory: “I saw some guys jamming and I noticed they didn’t have a bass player, so I joined them; after that, they asked me to do a series of shows with them.”
The jump to the professional jazz scene was not surprising for Joan, due to his persistent goal; the bass player continued making his way into the music world, this time with the reggae group “Raíces Rústicas”. It was precisely after working with “Raíces Rústicas” that Torres decided he felt ready to start his own thing. Joan told HCUPRM “I felt confident to do my own thing, so I talked to my friend Gabriel Vicéns to start an original music project, which eventually became two projects.” As for his website, CulturaJazz.com, the creation goes back to April 2010. The website creator explains “I decided to start CulturaJazz.com because I felt jazz was very scattered around; and all the jazz-related websites were not going to focus on Puerto Rico. We needed a community oriented website that could unite us in sharing events, information, etc. in the Puerto Rico jazz scene.”
Multitasking is definitely one of the main traits Joan has; he’s a producer, composer, bass player, web creator, and computer engineer. But how precisely does he manage to do it all? His response is very clear, “I try not to think about the fact that all of it is going on. Instead, I try on focusing on how to get results; without putting too much on my plate, lest I let people down.” But in spite of everything he has to manage, he expresses his thoughts on his best experience throughout his career: “Honestly the best experience has to be that moment when we perform our music and I can see the crowd’s positive reaction.” Time has surely given Joan the rewards to all his commitment; this past year Torres released his album Before, the renamed national journal El Nuevo Día made a piece on him and “Joan Torres and All is Fused” were nominated in two categories for the Annual Independent Music Awards. With his life taking a high speed, Joan shared just how he manages to stay grounded: “At first I didn’t believe it, it was almost as if it were happening to someone else. Then I noticed it was happening to me and for a second it became overwhelming; eventually I decided to look at everything as a positive response and didn’t let it go to my head.”
As all artists contribute with future generations, this bass player expressed to those aspiring musicians to “ be honest with yourselves, love what you do and most of all, work hard, practice and be responsible (especially when working with other people).” This jazz musician is surely an inspiration to any musician as well to college students, being an example of balance and commitment. With no doubt, we will continue seeing more of this campus celebrity in his years to come, after all –as Joan expressed- “this is just the beginning”.
Lighting Round:
Favorite Food-> True Italian lasagna
What do you do on your free time? Watch TV series and workout
Favorite TV series-> Dr. Who
San Juan or Mayaguez-> San Juan for performing, Mayaguez to relax
Favorite Movie-> Back to the Future (childhood), Twelve Monkeys
If you wish to know more about Joan Torres, his music and his work; be sure to click on these links:
Pictures were taken from Joan’s Facebook page and RUIDOfilms.
(1) Joan tells HCUPRM: “Around 1999 a lot of bands started coming out, and a group of friends and me got curious, so we decided to start a band. Somehow I ended up with the bass.”