Biography
Diego Urcola, the Argentine trumpeter celebrated for his improvisational skill and compositional insight, fuses post-bop jazz with South American traditions. Active in New York since the 1990s, he has formed enduring partnerships with saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, bassist Avishai Cohen, vibraphonist Dave Samuels, and pianist Guillermo Klein, while earning individual recognition through Grammy nominations for Soundances in 2003 and Viva in 2006. His recordings continue to trace a path from Astor Piazzolla to Miles Davis, as heard on the 2011 quartet session Appreciation and the 2020 collaboration El Duelo with D'Rivera.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1965, Urcola received his earliest musical guidance from his father, director of the Music Department at Colegio Ward. He took up the trumpet at age nine and later gravitated toward jazz through the examples of Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis. After studies at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica in Buenos Aires, he advanced his training at Berklee School of Music in Boston and Queens College in New York, where he completed a master’s degree. Wider notice arrived when he placed second in the 1997 Thelonious Monk Trumpet Competition. His debut album, Libertango, appeared in 1999 and wove jazz together with Argentinian and other Latin idioms.
In addition to directing his own ensembles, Urcola has performed alongside Wynton Marsalis, Joe Henderson, Slide Hampton, Claudia Acuña, and Danilo Perez. He remains a longstanding member of Paquito D'Rivera’s group and Avishai Cohen’s International Vamp Band. Soundances, his second album, came out on Sunnyside in 2003; recorded in Buenos Aires, it again mixed tango, post-bop, and fusion, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album. A further nomination followed for Viva in 2006, an album steeped in hard bop and Latin roots that featured saxophonist D'Rivera, vibraphonist Dave Samuels, saxophonist Jimmy Heath, drummer Antonio Sanchéz, another Berklee alumnus, and additional musicians. Further work with D'Rivera included the Grammy-winning Funk Tango and the Grammy-nominated Jazz Clazz of 2009.
Appreciation, released in 2011 as his fourth album, presented Urcola leading a quartet with pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Eric McPherson. Mates followed in 2014, pairing him with bassist Cohen, vibraphonist Samuels, harpist Edmar Castaneda, and pianist Juan Dargenton. After additional projects with Guillermo Klein, David Weiss, and Michel Camilo, Urcola rejoined D'Rivera for El Duelo in 2020.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1965, Urcola received his earliest musical guidance from his father, director of the Music Department at Colegio Ward. He took up the trumpet at age nine and later gravitated toward jazz through the examples of Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis. After studies at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica in Buenos Aires, he advanced his training at Berklee School of Music in Boston and Queens College in New York, where he completed a master’s degree. Wider notice arrived when he placed second in the 1997 Thelonious Monk Trumpet Competition. His debut album, Libertango, appeared in 1999 and wove jazz together with Argentinian and other Latin idioms.
In addition to directing his own ensembles, Urcola has performed alongside Wynton Marsalis, Joe Henderson, Slide Hampton, Claudia Acuña, and Danilo Perez. He remains a longstanding member of Paquito D'Rivera’s group and Avishai Cohen’s International Vamp Band. Soundances, his second album, came out on Sunnyside in 2003; recorded in Buenos Aires, it again mixed tango, post-bop, and fusion, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album. A further nomination followed for Viva in 2006, an album steeped in hard bop and Latin roots that featured saxophonist D'Rivera, vibraphonist Dave Samuels, saxophonist Jimmy Heath, drummer Antonio Sanchéz, another Berklee alumnus, and additional musicians. Further work with D'Rivera included the Grammy-winning Funk Tango and the Grammy-nominated Jazz Clazz of 2009.
Appreciation, released in 2011 as his fourth album, presented Urcola leading a quartet with pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Eric McPherson. Mates followed in 2014, pairing him with bassist Cohen, vibraphonist Samuels, harpist Edmar Castaneda, and pianist Juan Dargenton. After additional projects with Guillermo Klein, David Weiss, and Michel Camilo, Urcola rejoined D'Rivera for El Duelo in 2020.
Albums