We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joey Navarro a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Worked with Linda & Carmela Jazz group in the mid 80’s

Signed to Island Records 1988.

Relocated to Los Angeles, CA 2001
Worked with Greg Adams & East Bay Soul.

Co-wrote an entire recording project for Ersi Arvizu, produced by Ry Cooder (Buena Vista Social Club).

In 2005, Joined legendary group, “Tierra”. Performed alongside with Rudy & Steve Salas.

2010, Joined legendary group, “El Chicano”.

2012. Formed the Joey Navarro (Latin Funk) Band which features, Brandon Fields, Rene Camacho, Joey De Leon Jr, and Joey Heredia.

2017, becam an instructor for Los Angeles College of Music.

Joey Navarro commemorated on the House floor, Phoenix,Az. March 10th, 2022

Joey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been playing piano all my life. Being gifted an organ for Christmas at the age of six set me on my path. By the age of 11, I was invited to play in My first band, and I’ve been playing ever since. I started playing by ear, by the age of 14 I studied with a few wonderful maestros, including Ernie Chavarria and Armand Boatman. Now at the age of 62 and an instructor at Los Angeles College of Music, I still teach the valuable lessons that were taught to me. Being a lifetime musician, I’ve had to diversify by producing, arranging, sequencing, chart, writing, and composing music. I’ve had too many wonderful musical experience to name, but my most cherished endeavor is my LA based band. The Joey Navarro Band features mostly all original music, including my own arrangements of covers. It’s one of the most challenging bands the features world class musicians from LA. Playing regularly at the Baked Potato in Studio city is one of my proudest achievements

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

For most of my life, I’ve been a big Carlos Santana fan. I’m Fortunate to have a connection with two wonderful world-class musicians, bassist Benny Rietveld, and Vocalist Andy Vargas. They are both long time members of Carlos Santana band. In early 2022 on a Thursday late morning, I received a call from Karl Perazzo. who’s the percussionist for Carlos Santana. He said the Keyboard Player tested positive for Covid and asked if I was available to play with Carlos the next day through the weekend at House of blues in Mandalay Bay. Of course I said yes and started working on the material straightaway. No charts, just mp3’s and one day to prepare. We chose to drive since I needed to review the songs. The next day we arrive early to make a 4 PM sound check. I was about to realize my childhood dream. That evening I would play with Carlos Santana. The moment became real when I saw how close his acoustic guitar was set up to the Keyboards. Immediately I settled in, started looking for sounds and reviewed some of the tracks. I was as prepared as anyone could be with 20 hours notice.
4 PM rolls around and I noticed that I was still the only one on stage. At 4:15 PM one of the technicians comes to me and says , “It’s over.” I asked, “you mean there’s not going to be a sound check? I’m supposed to play the show without a soundtrack?” The technician replies, “No, the entire weekend has been canceled. Carlos just tested positive for Covid .” I doubled over, it felt like someone kicked me in the groin. Benny and Andy walked out to express her condolences and Benny said, “At least you can tell everyone you didn’t make any mistakes.” Moral of the story is always be ready. You never know when your next big opportunity will Knock on your door.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

At this stage of the game, it gives me great pleasure to share my experiences and knowledge to the next generation.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/Joeynavarromusic
• Facebook: Joeynavarromusic
• Youtube: https://Youtube.com/joeynavarromusic

Image Credits

Photo by Mai Navarro