Alex Pastrana

Jazz Piano

Alex Pastrana is a Colombian jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator whose career spans performance, composition, and teaching. Rooted in jazz, his work reflects a broad engagement with improvisation, rhythm, musical language, and creative practice. Jazz at Lincoln Center has described his sound as “both rooted and forward-looking” and a recent set as “full of depth, rhythm, and connection.”

As a performer and bandleader, Pastrana has appeared at venues and festivals including Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, Blue Note São Paulo, Jazz al Parque, and the Montclair Jazz Festival. His performance and recording work has included collaborations with Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ari Hoenig, Troy Roberts, John Benítez and Luisito Quintero, as well as with the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. His orchestral arrangements have also been performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. His projects as a leader include Rajando Leña, which explores a dialogue between rajaleña and jazz, and In The Big Apple, recorded in New York with Jeff “Tain” Watts and guest artists.

Alongside his performing career, Pastrana is engaged in jazz education and creative research. His academic interests include jazz piano pedagogy, improvisation and the acquisition of jazz language, rhythm, transcription, musical analysis, and the intersections of performance, composition, arranging, and aural learning. He currently serves as a Teaching Assistant in Jazz Performance at Stony Brook University, where he teaches jazz piano.

Pastrana holds a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from New Jersey City University and two degrees from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana: a master’s degree in Music Performance completed Summa Cum Laude and an undergraduate degree in Music with an emphasis in Jazz, for which his thesis received honors. He is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Performance (Jazz Studies) at Stony Brook University.