Venezuelan-born, Berklee-trained guitarist has worked with a who's who of Latin-inspired jazz innovators such as Paquito D'Rivera, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Romero Lubambo and more. Doubling on the nylon-string cuatro (a Venezuelan cousin of the ukelele), Aquiles melds folkloric and modernist influences in ingenious ways, as reflected on his marvelous new Cacao album La Patilla ("the watermelon").
Citing the inspiration of Jobim, Pascoal, Gismonti, Baden Powell and Astor Piazzolla as well as the painter Armando Reverón, Aquiles says, "I chase the vivid tonalities of our landscapes, the orchestra of colors that is produced in our tropic and particularly, in my land, Venezuela."
". . . La Patilla is many things: eclectic, nostalgic, culturally diverse and nuanced, yet its unifying factor is the creative genius of Aquiles Báez. . ." JAZZTIMES
