Biography

Double bass player and composer Hernán Merlo was born in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires province, in 1957. In 1981, he traveled to the United States to complete his double bass and electric bass studies with Joel DiBartolo at the Dick Grove Music Workshop, in Los Angeles. He also studied with Charlie Haden, Mark Helias, Michael Formanek and Scott Colley. Today, he is a leading double bass player in the local jazz scene, who has performed with highly acclaimed musicians of different generations. He also accompanied several artists during their performances in Buenos Aires, such as Joe Pass, Barry Altschul, Chris Cheek, Conrad Herwig, Ingrid Jensen, Farred Haque, Sid Jacobs, Renato Chicco, David Kikoski and Sam Newsome, among others. His double bass appears on albums by Ernesto Jodos, Carlos Lastra, Lito Epumer, Enrique Norris, Quintino Cinalli, Patricio Carpossi, Juan Pablo Arredondo, Guillermo Romero and Diego Urcola, among others. He has released four albums as a leader of different ensembles: Hernán Merlo, A pesar del diablo and Neo (Uanchu) and ConSin (Fresh Sound/New Talent). He is a full professor at the Avellaneda Popular Music School and a teacher in the jazz program at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory. In this edition of the Buenos Aires Jazz, he will perform in a quartet, which will pay tribute to Thelonious Monk, with Pablo Aristein (tenor sax and clarinet), Alan Zimmerman (piano) and Fermín Merlo (drums).