Baja, California-San Diego Borderlands Jazz Hero
While the U.S.-Mexico border is mostly portrayed north of it as a place of conflict and controversy, the extensive network of personal and professional connections among residents on both sides reflects a different reality, leading some to say that San Diego County (USA) and Baja California (in Mexico) are evolving into a single binational region rather than two separate societies.
Trumpeter, composer, educator, and band leader Iván Trujillo, based in Ensenada in Mexico just 70 miles south of the border, is one of this binational region’s most versatile and impactful musicians. He plays jazz and classical music, electro-acoustic and free improvisation, as founder and director of several Baja-based bands, and has established enduring collaborations with U.S.- side artists such as trombonist Michael Dessen, bassist Steuart Liebig and drummer Nathan Hubbard.
La Covacha Big Band, Trujillo’s large ensemble, specializes in his original compositions and Ellington/Mingus-leaning repertoire; his Iván Trujillo Ensamble focuses on his originals and free improvisation; his Petit Comité reaches back to the repertoire of the early days of New Orleans jazz. And he’s in the “full band” edition of the Grammy-nominated Tijuana-based electronic music group, the Nortec Collective. He’s performed at prestigious festivals around the world.
While the scope of his playing is impressive, it’s Iván’s work catalyzing the San Diego/Baja region’s jazz community that prompts this Jazz Hero celebration. In 2014 he co-founded the Semana Internacional de Improvisación (International Improvisation Week), a wide-ranging program of talks, workshops and performances that’s now had eight iterations. The fest has drawn artists and audiences from Baja, Mexico City, San Diego, New York City, Argentina, Peru, Iceland, etc. to come to Ensenada for an immersive week of creative interactions.
In addition, Iván is founder and director of the Instituto Contemporáneo de Música de Baja California, an afterschool jazz education program for teenagers to young adults, teaching basic skills in performance and improvisation. Iván is an Artistic Advisor (with San Diego’s 20117 Jazz Hero Gilbert Castellanos) to the upcoming first binational San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival, planning to co-lead a San Diego-Ensenada student ensemble in fest-debuting works.
In sum, Iván acts on his understanding that jazz thrives only through the creation of a jazz community. His community extends from his home in Ensenada across a geo-political boundary to create opportunities for artists, audience, and in particular young people to encounter new music together — fostering greater connections among us all. In this context, Iván’ Trujillo’s contributions to jazz are truly heroic.
— Dan Atkinson
2018 Jazz Hero
Executive Producer, San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival
