Al Criado

Born: February 19, 1952 | Instrument: Bass, electric Bassist Al Criado was born in Havana, Cuba and started playing professionally in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of nineteen. He moved to Los Angeles in 1978 where he lived for twelve years, and is presently residing in the Pacific Northwest since 1989. He performed and recorded with fretted and fretless electric basses for various artists in the genres of Jazz, Funk, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Caribbean, and African repertoires. Al has performed in venues and concert halls throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan, including appearances as a headliner’s sideman with various symphony orchestras around the world. He has also been involved in the teaching community. While in Los Angeles, he instructed a Latin Bass Performance Class at the BIT, a division of the Musician's Institute of LA, at the University of Oregon in Eugene and the Portland State University. He was a Bass Instructor for two years at Hudson Bay High School in Vancouver and taught private lessons at Beacock Music education Center, also located in Vancouver. Al is involved in commercial music writing with his company SoreOneMusic Design, producing background music for industrial films, commercials, radio, television, and internet web sites. In 2004 he built a new recording studio, Blackberry Jam Recorders. He has now undertaken a new project: 2:3 Trio, exploring the roots of improvisational music in the Afro-Caribbean realm, and is currently working on a live project.