Angelica Sanchez: piano
Omar Tamez: guitar

Angelica Sanchez
Pianist/Composer Angelica Sanchez moved to New York from Arizona in 1994. Since moving to the East Coast Sanchez has played with such players as: Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Motian, Richard Davis, Chad Taylor, Chris Lightcap, Rob Mazurek, Vincent Chancey, Susie Ibarra, Tim Berne, Mario Pavone, Mark Dresser, Ben Monder and many more. Sanchez leads many groups including her own quintet featuring Marc Ducret, Tony Malaby, Drew Gress, and Tom Rainey. Her music has been recognized in international publications like, Jazz Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and many more. She was also the 2008 recipient of the French/American Chamber Music America grant and the 2011 Rockefellers Brothers Pocantico artist residency. Her CD Life Between was chosen as one of years best recording 2009 in The New York City Jazz Record (formerly AllAboutJazz-New York). Her debut solo CD A Little House was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition in May 2011. Her latest CD Wires & Moss featuring her Quintet was chosen as one of best Releases of 2012 in The New York City Jazz Record. Her Duo CD "Twine Forest with Wadada Leo Smith received Honorable Mention as a best release in 2013 in The New York City Jazz Record.

"In her piano playing as well as her compositions Angelica Sanchez seeks out the lyrical heartbeat within any avant-garde storm." - The New York Times

"Sanchez is involved with free jazz that has structure, if that isn't too much of a contradiction; it has a loose, cantankerous energy, but it's given shape by some smart writing." - The New York Times


Omar Tamez
Mr. Tamez studied composition with Nicandro Tamez. He also studied privately through workshops and seminars with André Richard, Daniel Catán, Mario Lavista, Manuel de Elías, Helmut Lachenmann, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Mr. Tamez received a Masters degree in composition and philosophy from Universidad Regiomontana, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. In addition Mr. Tamez attended the NIMES (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) and Résonances Music Technology Convention at IRCAM-Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.

He has taught privately for twenty years in Monterrey, as well as teaching workshops in different cities in México, Argentina, Brazil, USA & Germany.

He was a visiting artist at CalArts, February 2013. He's a visiting artist/educator in the last CMS (Creative Music Studio) Workshops during 2013, 2014, 2015, & 2016, led by Karl Berger.

He is the founder and leader of Non-Jazz, his group of twenty-two years. He is also the founder, producer and artistic director of the "International Musicians Meeting." He is currently preparing for the twelfth edition that will take place in 2017.

Mr. Tamez has performed in more than 144 countries including Mexico, United States, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Turkey, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Japan and extensively trough Middle East, Asia, & Africa.

"Tamez's music, while including modern European and American instruments never seems to originate in their commonly associated styles...

At first, he almost seems to be playing at the guitar; but as his performance continues, you see that the guitar is what he plays his music on. Instead of accessing the "tradition" of the instrument (something he is quite capable of doing, as his discography shows), he goes to a tradition of place, where instruments are assimilated.

In a sense, the umbrella he uses for his projects, "Non-Jazz," is a non-sequitur, since indigenousness is the root of jazz as well."
- Ratzo B. Harris - New Music Box