Juan Carlos Cáceres

Who is Juan Carlos Cáceres?

Juan Carlos Cáceres is an Argentinian musician.

Born in the '30s in Buenos Aires, Juan Carlos Cáceres became intimately involved with the existentialist movement that thrived in the city during the years of his youth. Cáceres was an accomplished jazz trombonist by his mid-twenties, and though he studied fine arts at the university rather than music, he quickly became a fixture in the Buenos Aires jazz community. He became a mainstay at the Cueva de Passarato jazz club, which was not only an important musical venue, but a gathering place for revolutionary and existential thinkers. In the late '60s Caceres relocated to Paris, where he engaged in a wide variety of artistic pursuits, including painting, producing, teaching, and above all, playing.

During this period, he became an expert on the music surrounding the Río de la Plata - styles such as tango, milonga, murga, and candombe. His musicianship flourished as he earned a reputation not only as a proficient trombonist, but as a pianist, vocalist, and songwriter as well. His debut record, entitled Sudacas, was released on the French/American label Celluloid Records. His second release, Tocá Tangó, was deeply influenced by his studies on the African origins of tango and its relationship with murga and candombe. It featured a non-traditional, fusion-oriented ensemble and the stunning candombe compositions "Tango Negro" and "Tocá Tangó." His fourth original release, Murga Argentina, found a home on the Manana Music label. Caceres' 2007 release Utopia was the first to earn him the moniker The Lion, heralded as a triumph of both performance and musicology.