ABOUT JOSÉ - THE PERFORMER
Dr. José Valentino Ruiz is a Latin-GRAMMY nominated artist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, educator, clinician, and record producer known for his passionate performances, versatility & fluid expression on the flute, saxophone, bass, piano, and latin percussion.
His albums, performances, ensemble leadership in higher education, improvisations and compositions, and engineering skills have won an unprecedented 42 International DOWNBEAT Student Music Awards (2006 - 2016) for the following categories: Best Jazz Soloist - 7, Classical Soloist - 2, Blues/Pop/Rock Soloist - 7, Studio Engineered Recording - 5, Live Engineered Recording - 3, Latin Group - 8, Jazz Group - 3, and Blues/Pop/Rock Group - 3. Other awards include: Winner of International Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, Winner of the International COG Teen Talent Competition (Woodwind) - 3, and Winner of the National Flute Association Jazz Flute Competition.
José has collaborated as a co-main artist, sideman, and producer for albums with Grammy-winning and internationally recognized artists/composers such as Chick Corea, Paquito D'Rivera, Jim Walker, Phil Ramone, Jonathan Butler, Alex Acuña, Aaron Neville, Brian Lynch, Nestor Torres, Dave Valentin, Andy Montanez, Hubert Laws, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Dave Cleveland, and Abraham Laboriel, just to name a few.
As a radiant performer, José has performed with his ensembles, Crossmatch Vamp, José Valentino Band, and Touch (iPad Band), at many prestigious venues: Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, DC Jazz Festival, The NAMM Show (Largest music convention in the world), RCA Dome, Festival Miami, Orlando Convention Center, COG International General Assembly, National Museum of Arts of Puerto Rico, Tampa Jazz Festival, Low Country Jazz Festival, Cape Coral Jazz Festival, St. Armand's Jazz Festival, Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Winter Park Jazz festival, Clearwater Jazz Festival, National Flute Association, Florida Music Educator's Association Conference, Texas Music Educator's Association Conference, National Association for Music Education Conference, Florida Technology and Education Conference, Popular Music Education Conference, TEDx Talk, ESPN, FOX News, CBS, NBC, World News, CNN, ABC, Univision, Telemundo, and CBS.
PRODUCER & COMPOSER
As a composer and film scorer, his work has been featured in several films, shorts, and documentaries that have garnered 13 awards in various categories at the Gasparilla International Film Festival, Los Angeles Shorts Festival, Chelsea Film Festival (3x), Newport Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival, Champs Elysees Film Festival, and Best Short Competition. José also works extensively as a music supervisor, composer, and music producer for Hayden5Media LLC., a company that has produced nationally-publicized commercials - Swiffer, Coca Cola, Converse, Truth, Pasties, Doritos, Slim Fast, and so forth.
In 2015, the 16th Annual Latin GRAMMY awards nominated José's album, José Valentino & The Latin Jazz Ensemble "I Make You Want To Move" for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Initially, this album began as a music education project to help students gain a deeper understanding of music production and technology, music industry, world musics, the performing arts, and endorsements. Fueled by a student-centered learning philosophy and a professional production opportunity, José's students realized their dreams and became relevantly equipped for the music industry post-graduation. Today, those students are competent in these subjects, have obtained numerous endorsements and awards, have released solo albums, and have established thriving careers in performance and production.
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