KEN YCHICAWA

ABOUT KEN

Drummer, composer and educator Ken Ychicawa is one of the leading figures in the young jazz music scene in his native Lima, Peru. He has performed across the Americas and Europe as a sideman and as a leader, and collaborated with artists from divers musical practices such as jazz giants Adam Rogers, Jon Cowherd, Peter Bernstein, Yotam Silberstein and John Scofield, as well as conductor Thiago Tiberio and the Orquesta Filarmónica Valcárcel, and indie-folk duo Alejandro y Maria Laura.

As a composer, Ychicawa explores avenues of contemporary jazz and various elements of classical, folkloric, modern and improvised music. He displays this nuanced mixture in his debut album ThruWorlds, as well as in is latest release, Temporal. Both recordings have been included in the top releases of new Peruvian music by the specialized media.

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Ken studied the violin and piano at a young age, and begun playing the drums at fifteen. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and New York University, where he was trained as a jazz performer and composer, under the mentorship of jazz figures like Kenny Werner, Hal Crook and Ari Hoenig. He has performed at international venues such as the Rochester Jazz Festival, Edmonton Jazz Festival, Kalisz Jazz Piano Festival, Ecuador Jazz Festival, Estéreo Picnic Festival in Bogotá, Gran Teatro Nacional in Peru, The Gardner Museum in Boston, Rockwood Music Hall in New York, Prez Jazz Club in Buenos Aires, Gregory's Jazz Club in Rome, Jamboree in Barcelona, among many others.

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He has worked as artist in residency at music programs in schools and universities in the US and Latin America. In addition to this, he is the founder and director of Peru Jazz Camp, the first educational camp in Peru that is focused in jazz and improvisational music.

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