Pianist, composer, & popular sideman Javier Santiago is one of the most promising voices in the international music scene today. As an accomplished producer/beatmaker, arranger and educator, Santiago has become a notable force in both the beat and hip-hop scenes as well as in the jazz world. The Minneapolis-born Santiago was exposed to a myriad of great music and talented musicians in his early years. Taking his inspiration and career endeavors to the next level, he furthered his path by relocating to New York City to attend The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music, then later moved out West, first to the Bay Area in 2017, and then to Los Angeles in 2021, which remains his home base. Santiago is an alumnus of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA & The Brubeck Institute Fellowship Program. He was a finalist in the American Jazz Pianist competition in 2015, a recipient of the 2016 McKnight Fellowship for Musicians, and was selected to participate in the 14th Annual Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program in 2011. Javi has had the distinguished opportunity to play with many celebrated musicians on today’s jazz scene including Mr. Herbie Hancock, Terrace Martin, Louis Cole, Alex Isley, Jonathan Kreisberg, Braxton Cook, Kassa Overall, Azar Lawrence, Kenneth Whalum, Aja Monet, John Raymond, Sheila Jordan, & Yosvany Terry. His debut album, ‘Phoenix’ on Ropeadope Records was named the “#1 Jazz Album of the Year” by Vinyl Me, Please. As he pursues his path as a solo artist, he describes his style as “my usual brand of lo-fi, psychedelic rock jazz fusion.” His self-produced project, “Warrior Energy,” released in December of 2024. The album features jazz greats Justin Brown, Gene Coye, & Benjamin Ring on drums, Sharada Shashidar on vocals, & Devin Daniels on saxophone. Javier plays all of the keyboards & synthesizers on the album, and this is also his debut as a trumpet player. He will be performing 2 shows at Madison’s premier jazz club, Cafe Coda on May 17th and participating in a minds-on workshop. For this performance, as well as the other Midwest dates on his 2025 tour, he will be joined by drummer, Corey Fonville (Kurt Elling, Butcher Brown, Christian Scott) & bassist, Zach Brown (Paquito D’Rivera, Willow Smith). The performance at Cafe Coda will feature special guest, saxophonist/composer and Madison native Pawan Benjamin.
I had the pleasure of catching up with Javi ahead of the special May 17th event(s) in Madison at Cafe Coda. We dive right into the who and what of that event. His trio is one that all three players could actually have their own successful groups. The treat for us here will be Pawan Benjamin opening the show and we learn he will in fact sit in with Javi’s trio. More one off maGic for us. The ‘Warrior Energy’ tour is one that will leave an imprint on those in attendance. There is power guiding this new music, and I believe it will join you as you go about the rest of your days. We talk about the creation of and the releasing of the new album of the same name out into the world with that very intention. Of course a part of me wanted to talk about his working with and learning from Mr. Herbie Hancock, but I went another route and talked about time spent with Theo Croker, who I believe possesses a similar forward marking path into the universe. I didn’t let him escape without finding out which track off the new release he’d play on greenarrowradio and what other artist’s tunes he’d share.
