BIO
It has been a long & hard transformative road for Jara Queeto, an island boy from Alameda, CA who was born and currently resides with his family of four across the estuary in Oakland. What he has transformed into is little more than a myth and a dream. Many people believe reality to be the result of a collective dream. In Mr. Queeto’s case, that dream is rather the result of reality– of overcoming the reality of a bitter-sweet, paternally-abused upbringing within a colorfully Californian multi-cultural working-class neighborhood.
The resulting dream is an enigmatic and paradoxical performer, one who relies less on virtuosity and more on the heartfelt inspiration that stems from the dreamtime of nature. This motivation has led Jara to the name he has chosen for himself, to an affinity for the technological innovations that have shaped music over the last few decades, and to the music of Louisiana, which directly ties American jazz and pop music to its African roots.
In 2004, Mr. Queeto founded the band Blue Bone Express, which has served as an outlet for the inspiration he received from his exposure to the fabled tradition of New Orleans jazz. The band is respected and has been well-received in the Bay Area. He is also the trumpet player for the powerhouse Memphis-style soul band Lord Loves A Working Man, and lends his latin-pop keyboard and musical direction talents to the internationally touring Carmen Milagro Band.
On the horizon is a deeply-felt self-named project simply called Jara Queeto, which debuts in 2008. It is songs of soulful inspiration, from the past, present, and future… songs of dreams, love, life, and stars…
Photo by Jon Wayne Kishimoto