Rolando Briceño

Rolando Briceño (b. Caracas, April, 19, 1949).Saxophonist, clarinetist, oboist, trumpeter, percussionist and flute player. Rolando is member of a musical family founded by the legendary musician Napoleón Baltodano. He grown up in Guárico state, Venezuela, where began his musical formation by the hand of his father. Rolando plays all the family of saxs, although his debut was playing alto sax (1965) eith the Jets Orchestra. Briceño returned to Caracas to study flute with the teacher Ángel Briceño and harmmony with Raimundo Pereira and Vicente Emilio Sojo, at he José Ángel Lamas Music School, meanwhile started to plays with popular music groups and orchestras as the orchestras headed by directors as Eduardo Cabrera, Porfi Jiménez, Alberto Naranjo and Chucho Sanoja and bands as the Mango (14) and El Trabuco Venezolano. Rolando Briceño founded the Andrómeda Jazz Sextet and The Quinteto de Saxofones de Caracas, a local redention to SuperSax. Later worked as flute player with The Caracas Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Aldemaro Romero meanwhile is fequenltly called to integrated orchestras to play with international musicians guests as Burt Bacharach, Vicky Carr, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Frank Sinatra Jr.. A venezuelan culture institution (CONAC) gave him a beca to study in EEUU at Eatsman School of Music, where gained as titularity to be soloist on flute, alto sax, oboe, clarinet in the symphonic orchestra of the institution. After that, Briceño join to Manhattan School of Music and received lessons from Joe Allard, Harold,Bennet, Bonita Boyd and John Thomas, and took interest in everything around of jazz, meanwhile worked with Mel Lewis, Charlie Perset and Toshiko Akiyoshi. Briceño has worked with prestigious orchestras based on New York as the directed by Mario Bauzá, Chico O'Farrill, Daniel Ponce and Tito Puente.