Gerardo Velez
Encyclopedia
Gerardo "Jerry" Velez is a Puerto Rican
musician. Best known for performing with American psychedelic rock
musician Jimi Hendrix
at Woodstock Festival
in August 1969, Velez is a veteran percussion
ist and drummer
who has performed with many artists covering a number of different genres of music. He is also a common member of jazz fusion
band Spyro Gyra
.
. The band's performance at Woodstock was released on the live album Woodstock
in 1994, followed by live album and video Live at Woodstock
in 1999. For all Hendrix releases on which he appears, Velez was credited with the nickname Jerry.
Since performing with Jimi Hendrix, Velez has continued to record and tour with high-profile artists, including David Bowie
, Elton John
and Duran Duran
. According to his official website, Gerardo Velez has been nominated for seven Grammy Award
s and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
.
with Spyro Gyra
with David Bowie
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
musician. Best known for performing with American psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
musician Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
at Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
in August 1969, Velez is a veteran percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
ist and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
who has performed with many artists covering a number of different genres of music. He is also a common member of jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
band Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was originally formed in the mid-1970s in Buffalo, New York, USA. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the genre...
.
Life and career
Born in Puerto Rico on August 15, 1947, Velez began his musical career in The Bronx, New York. He notably joined Jimi Hendrix's band Gypsy Sun and Rainbows in July 1969, performed at the Woodstock Festival and at a small number of studio sessions, before Hendrix disbanded the group in favour of returning to the three-piece format of The Jimi Hendrix ExperienceThe Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
. The band's performance at Woodstock was released on the live album Woodstock
Woodstock (Jimi Hendrix album)
-Personnel:*Jimi Hendrix – lead guitar, vocals*Mitch Mitchell – drums*Billy Cox – bass guitar*Larry Lee – rhythm guitar*Juma Sultan – percussion*Jerry Velez – percussion...
in 1994, followed by live album and video Live at Woodstock
Live at Woodstock
The remastered 2010 "Experience Hendrix" DVD includes the following on the second disc titled "A Second Look":"Road To Woodstock: Hendrix performance footage, interview with Woodstock promoter Michael Lang and Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Larry Lee, Juma Sultan and others."Jimi Hendrix: Live At...
in 1999. For all Hendrix releases on which he appears, Velez was credited with the nickname Jerry.
Since performing with Jimi Hendrix, Velez has continued to record and tour with high-profile artists, including David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
. According to his official website, Gerardo Velez has been nominated for seven Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
.
Selected discography
with Martha VelézMartha Veléz
Martha Carmen Josephine Hernandéz Rosario de Veléz is an American singer and actress of Puerto Rican descent. Veléz is the former wife of famous trumpet player Keith Johnson. Her son is performance artist,writer/poet, singer, Taj Johnson. Taj appeared as series regular for two years on Parker...
- Hypnotized (1972) – conga
with Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was originally formed in the mid-1970s in Buffalo, New York, USA. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the genre...
- Morning DanceMorning DanceMorning Dance is Spyro Gyra's most commercially successful album, released in the summer of 1979. The title cut became a major hit also in the summer of 1979.-Track listing and personnel:...
(1979) – percussion, bongos, conga - Catching the SunCatching the SunCatching the Sun is the third album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1980 . The album showed an alto saxophone on the ground by a deciduous forest.- Track Listing and personnel :# "Catching the Sun" - 4:42...
(1980) – percussion - CarnavalCarnaval (Spyro Gyra album)- Track listing :# "Cafe A'More" - 5:02# "Dizzy" - 4:40# "Awakening" - 5:48# "Cachaca" - 4:18# "Fox Trot" - 4:40# "Sweet 'N Savvy" - 5:12...
(1980) – percussion, bongos - IncognitoIncognito (Spyro Gyra album)- Track listing and personnel :1. "Last Exit" - 4:17*Jay Beckenstein: Saxopohone*Tom Schuman: Yamaha GS-1, Synthesizers*Steve Love: Guitar*Will Lee: Bass*Steve Gadd: Drums*Gerardo Velez: Percussion*Manolo Badrena: Congas...
(1982) – percussion - City KidsCity Kids (Spyro Gyra album)City Kids is the seventh album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1983 .- Track listing :# "City Kids" - 5:11# "Serpent In Paradise" - 4:45# "A Ballad" - 5:42...
(1983) – percussion - Access All AreasAccess All Areas (Spyro Gyra album)Access All Areas is the eighth studio album and first live album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1984 .- Track listing :# "Shaker Song" – 7:14# "Serpent In Paradise" – 5:56...
(1983) – percussion - Alternating CurrentsAlternating Currents (Spyro Gyra album)Alternating Currents is the ninth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1985 .- Track listing :# "Shakedown" – 4:22# Alternating Currents" – 4:28# "Taking the Plunge " – 4:48...
(1985) – percussion - Down the Wire (2009) – percussion
with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
- Black Tie White NoiseBlack Tie White NoiseBlack Tie White Noise is an album by David Bowie. Released in 1993, it was his first solo release in the 1990s after spending time with his hard rock band Tin Machine, retiring his old hits on his Sound+Vision Tour, and marrying supermodel Iman Abdulmajid. This album featured his old guitarist from...
(1993) – percussion