Features and Reviews
Guest Performer Patrick Aranda Bio
Patrick Aranda is one of ragtime's most entertaining and talented performers. He plays a mean piano, sings, performs on trombone, tuba, and who knows what all (not necessarily all at once), and has a huge ragtime repertoire, including the most difficult and flashy novelty-style rags, plus classic rags, Harlem stride compositions, and favorite tunes from the Tin Pan Alley era. For years he performed ragtime and stride piano at Disneyland and Universal Studios, but now he teaches jazz band, concert band, history of jazz, and improvisation as a professor of music at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.
He made his Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival debut in 2002 and has been invited back by popular demand ever since. In 2003 he was among the modern ragtime composers honored at the Festival, having created several of his own ragtime pieces, including one inspired by his Sutter Creek debut. Patrick is a favorite headliner at Orange County's annual RagFest and The Ragtime Corner of the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. Last November he was also featured at the West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento. In his spare time, Patrick plays trombone in his brother's Salsa band; performs with several Southern California Dixieland groups, and, has finally recorded his own solo CD.
