Pablo Mayor, composer, arranger, pianist, from Cali, Colombia, holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in Jazz Arranging from the University of North Texas. While Professor of Jazz at Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1998, Mr. Mayor began his personal investigation of the native music of Colombia. Although it will be a lifelong process of discovery, Mr. Mayor has taken his knowledge of Colombian folklore and has combined it with an extensive knowledge of jazz harmonies and arranging. Since moving to NYC in 1999, Mr. Mayor’s reputation has grown from that of a brilliant pianist and writer, to that of a leader and visionary. His work with his band Folklore Urbano has produced three CD’s and taken the band to both national and international venues. Beginning in 2003, featuring the renowned “Gaiteros de San Jacinto,” he founded the annual “Encounter of Colombian Musicians in New York,” an event in its sixth year running uniting Colombian musicians in an effort to document what he calls a “movement” of Colombian musicians in the world, beginning in New York City. The Sixth Annual Encounter of Colombian Musicians in NY will be held June 14, 2009, at the High Line Ballroom in Maniatan, featuring such renowned musicians as Hector Martignon, Samuel Torres, Edmar Castañeda, Marta Gomez, Lucia Pulido, as well as Folklore Urbano and others. Mr Mayor has become a representative for Colombian music and culture in the USA; in 2008, Mr. Mayor was invited to speak on Colombian music at the Colombian Embassy on Capitol Hill, during the 2008 celebration featuring Petrona Martinez. In addition to his Colombian project, Mr. Mayor has been working as both pianist and arranger for Orquesta Broadway, where his music and piano playing is featured on their forty-year celebration CD, and has been an active pianist in the Afro-Cuban scene. Pablo Mayor’s renowned big band compositions were recorded by the Grammy award winning One O’Clock Lab band and his music was performed in March 2009 by Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra at Symphony Space in NYC. Mr. Mayor wrote and produced the music for “A Clear Midnight,” “El Patio,” “El Pesebre,” “Guadalupe, Años Sin Cuenta” (in conjunction with artist Omar Rayo), and “Allende: The Death of a President,” live theatre productions by the ID Studio performed throughout the NYC area. He most recently composed and directed music for “El Paso del Norte”, directed by Germán Jaramillo, at the Theater for the New City in Manhattan. He is an arranger for Drop 6 Media, Inc, a publishing company based in Denton, TX. Since 1999, he has been professor of Latin piano at the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts, where he teaches Latin piano and directs the Latin jazz ensembles, and co-directs an annual summer workshop in Latin music. He has taught jazz arranging at the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory. Mr. Mayor has produced and arranged for musicians, such as Toto La Momposina and Armando Manzanero, in Dallas, Chicago, New York, Colombia, and Mexico.