Meet Fabio Rojas

We recently connected with Fabio Rojas and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Fabio, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
From the foundation that I received from my parents.  Not only when the scenario was good, but specially when things get hard. They always worked super hard/smart and worked the extra mile, honest in every situation. So that became a role model for me, and to always plan for the future and the long run, and plan for the different scenarios that may arise.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am Fabio Rojas, and I am a Musician. A Drummer & Film Composer based in New York City and I am from Valencia-Venezuela. Right now I’m focused on my career and scaling it at a larger radius.

Some exciting news is that my album debut as a leader is coming to fruition and I plan to release on Spring 2024 is close to being finished. All original compositions of mine for a modern jazz quintet. It will be all acoustic. The band has an all star line up of musicians in it: Gustavo D’amico on Flute/Soprano Sax and Tenor Saxophone, Greg Osby on Alto Saxophone, Kevin Harris on Piano/Rhodes, Osmar Okuma  on  Double Bass & Electric Bass and myself Fabio Rojas on Drum Set and Compositions. Every one of the compositions represent my story up until now, life events and figures that have affected and influenced my upbringing and made me who I am today, and I’m excited to share it with the world. My story growing up in Venezuela and also my story as an immigrant in the US where I’ve been living for almost 14 years.

More details on my story/shop/tour dates are on my website:
www.FabioRojasMusic.com

Besides performing as a leader,  co-leader and sideman (accompanying other musicians), I also love to compose and arrange music. A recent film project where I had the honor to compose one of the scores came out, the project is a short silent films and is called Cinema’s First Nasty Women, which is a compilation of short films made by women in the early 1900’s that weren’t released up until now. It’s a total of 99 films and here I composed one of the scores.

Besides composing and performing I’m also a Faculty member at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, where I teach drums and Film Scoring.

Regarding my educational background, I earned my Master of Music in Jazz Studies at CUNY Queens College 23’, and my Bachelor of Music in Performance & Professional Music (Dual Major) at Berklee College of Music 14’.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I think being perseverant towards my dreams, always try and try again until the goal happens, not mattering how many tries or time it may take, even if you have to beat all the odds to achieve, go for it, everything is possible in my opinion.

I think that’s the main one.

Another quality would be being positive and expect the best outcomes always, even if they don’t happen right away, with each try they get closer or you learn something that you didn’t know before. I choose to look at the cup half full instead of half empty.

And the last one would be being humble enough to be willing to learn something new all the time, so you can keep evolving, there’s always something new to learn, and I see a lot of people that stay stationed, but there are so many possibilities always to keep learning, specially with technology, and it’s exciting to figure things out, and it gives you a great feeling when you achieve it, and then you go for more and more to learn. That’s what I love about music, there’s always something new to learn and it’s amazing.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I would start with my family, but combined with the people that surrounds you, and the one that you choose to surround with. Mentors, friends, schools and most importantly life itself will teach you a lot through experiences “if you pay attention”.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Main Photo: Carlos Alvarado Fabio Rojas pic 1: Kat C Zea Fabio Rojas at Bunker Studios: Raquel Rivera. Photo At Daegu Jazz Festival 1 (South Korea): Yongwon Cho Photo At Daegu Jazz Festival 2 (South Korea) Yongwon Cho Photo at the Brooklyn Conservatory: Alison Luntz Photo at couch: Fabio Rojas

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