DIEGO PIÑERA

The drummer Diego Pinera grew up in Montevideo (Uruguay) and has now been living in Germany for several years. He studied drumming at the Berklee College of Music (USA), at the University of Music in Havana (Cuba) and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig. He received lessons from Danilo Perez, Bob Moses, Jose Luis Quintana ‘Changuito’, and Kenwood Denard.

Settled in Berlin, he founded his Berlin Quartett and recorded his album Reflexiones feat. Tony Lakatos. In 2014, the 'Jazz Thing Next Generation Series' with his album 'Strange Ways' followed. In 2015 he recorded his album 'My Picture' with Mark Turner and Ben Street in New York and he invited Donny McCaslin to play with him on his release tour in May 2016.

As a sideman, he has played with musicians such as Donny McCaslin, Jerry Bergonzi, Danilo Perez, Hans Glawischnig, Dan Tepfer, Alex Sipiagin, Miguel Zenon, Wilson de Oliveira, Tony Lakatos, Nene Vazquez, Joe Gallardo, Katja Riemann, Nils Wogram and Paul Brody.

With his Trio, he has achieved a new, unusual approach to Latin Jazz in his compositions. Sometimes this is close to Pop and Modern Jazz, sometimes he concentrates on the original, multilayered rhythms of this improvisational music. Pinera’s playing is nonetheless always grounded in the Latin American musical tradition.

Diego Pinera was nominated for the ECHO Music Prize in the category ‘Best Instrumentalist of the Year’ in 2015. In 2017, he received the prestigous ECHO Jazz prize for his album 'My picture' as best national instrumentalist, alongside his collegue Antonio Sanchez in the international category. In 2018, he released his Album 'Despertando'. It is his debut with ACT Music.