New York based composer and pianist Alejandro Zuleta; was born in Bogotá, Colombia. Carrying the Zuleta's family legacy a long line of celebrated Colombian Vallenato musicians and son of Emiro Zuleta one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation. Alejandro grew up surrounded by this wonderful musical environment and soon acquired a versatile and distinctive voice. Since 2002, he has been actively working as a composer, performer and producer developing projects in genres ranging from Jazz, to popular music, film scoring, experimental and electronic music.
Mr. Zuleta has an M.M in Jazz Studies from NYU where he studied Jazz Piano with Andy Milne, composition with Gil Goldstein and Film Scoring with Mark Suozzo and a B.A in music composition from Universidad Javeriana where he studied with Guillermo Gaviria and Juan Sebastian Monsalve and as well studying and performing with other world-class musicians such as: Ralph Alessi, John Benitez, Peter Bernstein, Brad Shepik, Billy Drews and Ron Sadoff.
Alejandro has released two albums as solo artist: Déjame Ser (2006) and Superheroes (2009). His music has been on top of the charts of radio stations and TV channels in Colombia such as: La FM, Amor Stereo, La X and El Canal 13 and has been reviewed by magazines such as Rolling Stone and newspapers as El Tiempo and El Espectador. He has performed in venues such as Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro, Museo Nacional de Colombia, The Jazz Gallery (NYC), Terraza 7train (NYC), Le Poison Rouge (NYC), Encuentro de Musicos Colombianos NYC 2011, Tito Puente Summer festival (Boston), Auditorio Pablo Sexto U.Javeriana, Plaza de Eventos Simon Bolivar Plaza Mayor (Madrid) and many others.
During the last couple of years Alejandro has explored ways of translating the Vallenato accordion repertoire to the piano. The result of this exploration is the unique sound of the Alejandro Zuleta Vallenato Collective, that performs regularly at Terraza 7 (NYC). The band presents an exciting journey into this beautiful Colombian folklore; filled with beautiful songs, contagious rhythms and true to the spirit of "La Parranda". The group also gives space for creative and engaging spaces of solo and collective improvisation.
Alejandro's other main interest is the idiom of improvised music. Often joined by very talented musicians from the NYC scene, he explores this language drawing inspiration from diverse sources. His own compositions, Afro-Colombian rhythms, avant-garde Jazz, free improvisation and live electronic music serve as starting points for his explorations. He has been developing an electronic interface to process the piano by the hand of Dafna Naphtali one of New York's most relevant voices on the electronic music scene.
In 2003 Alejandro founded Alma Estudio where he has composed and produced music for several artists and brands. He has scored films and TV series for directors and producers such as Unimedios, Alvaro Duran, Laurie Castelli, La Tribu and Jorge Correa. Dan Armas' short film "Gone" was on the official selection of NYC Latino Film Festival 2011 with score by Mr. Zuleta.
His credits for artist, brands, films and TV include among others: Charles King El Palenquero Fino (Producer & Record Engineer), La Elastica Asi Me Quedo (Co-Producer, Record Engineer, Keyboards & Acc Guitars), Moris Y Los del Sitio Corazón Sitiado (Co-Composer and Fender Rhodes), Alfonso Espriella Trazos de Ser (Co-Producer), USAID project El Encanto De La Ley 70 (Producer & Record Engineer), Kurt & Norman feat. Daniel Coronel Corazón Latino (Composer), McDonalds (Composer/Producer), Gatorade (Composer/Producer), BAT (Composer/Producer), Punto Blanco (Composer/Producer), Unicentro Bogotá (Composer/Producer), Panamericana (Composer/Producer), Redds (Composer/Producer), El show de Perico (Composer/Producer), Mente Nueva (Composer/Producer), Estaciones del drama (Composer/Producer).
