en español

Carlos Pimentel aka “Minino” was born in Guachupita, a working class neighborhood in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Minino’s father is Barco Viejo, a legendary bass player whose style is continues to be immitated by aspiring young bass players.; Barco earned the respect of the musical community for his grasp of a wide spectrum of musical styles as well as his innovation of bass styles in tropical music in tropical music. Barco is remembered for his incredible performances with Wilfrido Vargas at the height of Vargas’ golden era.

At 12 Minino picked up the trumpet and studied general solfege under the meticulous and critical eye of “Barco Viejo.” By age 15 he was already performing with his father in Jorge Solano’s band, and by age 17 became a member of “The Jazz Band” at the Hotel Jaragua where he shared the stage with stellar musicians such as Tavito Vasquez, Hector de Leon and Jean Gomez.

Minino was his father’s musical copyist and he later performed the same function for Hector de Leon. In this way he learned how arrangements were put together and after a while, he experimented with his own compositions and arrangements.

Minino’s father instilled in his son a love for jazz and encouraged him to listen to Miles Davis and other jazz greats. Barco Viejo transcribed jazz masters’ solos and urged his son to practice them. Minino developed a great love for jazz and a natural talent for improvisation which he continues to develop at present.

By age 20 he was playing with Dionis Fernandez, who at the time, was one of the top band leaders in merengue.

Minino’s father also encouraged his son to focus on becoming an excellent reader. Because of this, Minino became a first-call sideman – he could read at first sight and therefore played with all of the contemporary Dominican bands and accompanied a large majority of foreign artists performing in the country.

Because of Minino’s love for jazz and ardent desire to become a better musician, he eventually traveled to New York City where his multi-faceted musicianship was readily embraced by the local musical community. At the same time, financial requirements urged Minino to fine-tune his arranging and producing skills – he also worked on his singing both as lead singer and backgroung vocalist – everything that he could possibly do to progress musically, and of course, earn a dime. Since relocating to the United States, he played with Johnny Ventura, Wilfrido Vargas, Joseito Mateo, Ramon Orlando, Alex Bueno, Ruby Perez, Frankie Negron, Marvin Santiago, Justo Betancourt, Joseph Portes “El Gato”, Jeffrey, Aramis Camilo, Peter Cruz, Sandy Reyes, among many others. He has appeared in musical videos for Wycliff Jean and Tego Calderon. For years he led the latin jazz ensemble at The Point in the Bronx where he played his own unique arrangements of standards as well as his original compositions.

He was commissioned by Amherst University to write and produce music for an Off Broadway theatrical work Eye Witness Blues.

Minino’s debut artist album “RADICAL” represents the summation of lifetime of dedication to music. With the exception of “Las 12 de la noche” (Danny Rojo), all of the songs were written by Minino; he wrote, produced and directed the recording of all of the arrangements, including the background vocal arrangements; he is the trumpet and flugelhorn player on some of the tracks including a beautiful Flugel solo on “No me dejes.” Minino’s vocal performances are passionate and soulful and his voice may be likened to a combination of Gilberto Santa Rosa, Ruben Blades and Alejandro Sanz.

A video for the lead promotional single, “Las 12 de la noche” was filmed in the Dominican Republic at an abandoned ruin in the town of Haina, some 30 kilometers from the Capital. The director, Alberto Zayas, is a young, creative, up-and-coming film producer and television personality of great talent, as is illustrated by the video.

RADICAL is set for release on November 7, 2006 with distribution by Sony Norte.