José-Miguel
Yamal is a Chilean-American jazz pianist with a repertoire
as deep and eclectic as his love of all music rhythmic
and soulful. José-Miguel was studying classical
guitar at the nationally acclaimed High School for
the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas when
he realized his true voice was best spoken through
the piano, specifically in the jazz genre. After changing
instruments and experimenting with jazz as a form
of self-expression, José-Miguel quickly nurtured
and grew his talent as a pianist. Recent trips to
Latin American have not only enlivened José-Miguel’s
Hispanic cultural roots, but have resulted in an expansive
musical vocabulary of salsa, cumbia, bossa nova, samba,
and cuecas. The Latin American styles, infused with
funk and soul are the synergy of a
cultural palette of sounds which now define José-Miguel’s
voice in the music
scene.
José-Miguel has performed with many jazz greats
including Tom Harrell, Bob Mintzer, Carlos Garnett,
Hubert Laws, and Milt Hinton, and from the Duke Ellington orchestra trombonist Buster Cooper, trumpet player Barrie Lee Hall, Jr.,
bassist John Lamb, and saxophonist Shelley Carroll. He has also collaborated
with salsa singers Ismael Miranda, Rey De la Paz,
Luisito Carrion, Choco Orta, salsa/latin jazz trombonist Jimmy Bosch and pianist Larry Harlow to name a few. José-Miguel
has performed in the internationally acclaimed 2001
Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland as well as the
Kemah Jazz Festival, Houston International Festival,
Corpus Christi Texas Jazz Festival, and the Puerto
Rican Festival. José-Miguel’s passion
for music is complemented by his love of mathematics
and science; he has a Ph.D. from Rice University in
statistics and is and working as a researcher and assistant professor at the
world renowned University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston,
Texas.