When I first came to RI from New York, I asked my friend, “Where is all the Latin music? Where is all the jazz?” One of the first people he introduced me to was Jesus Andujar. I remember he was playing in Burnside Park. I really enjoyed it. It took me back to New York City and my music. I had spent my evenings at clubs around the city most of my life. When I listened to his band play, I finally felt at home.
Earlier this week, when I met Jesus at Coffee Exchange, I learned more about his journey and what brought him here. Jesus was born in the Dominican Republic. He stayed with his uncles on his family farm when his dad was away in the military. He lived there from the age of 6 through 14. He explained that he learned a lot about farming. One of his tasks on the farm was to help separate the rice grains from their husks. This was done with a pilón. A pilón is a traditional wooden mortar and pestle used in Caribbean, Latin American, and some Indigenous cultures to crush, grind, and mix foods. He explained you had to be gentle. There was a rhythm to doing this task. The people working to harvest the rice would sing and rhythmically winnow away the chaff, ever so gently. It was then he learned a little about himself. He stayed up late listening to his uncle play the accordion and the guitar and watching people dance. It seems he found his rhythm and his love for music on those evenings.
At 14, when his father returned home from the military, he went back to the capital, Santo Domingo, to live with his family. His brother played the bass. His sister was very musical and played many instruments. He learned more about his gift for percussion. He graduated from the pilón to the drums.
Jesus went on to refine his drumming skills and studied at the New York Drummers Collective. He recalled meeting many exceptionally talented musicians in New York and wanted to stay there. Jesus eventually chose RI as the place to raise his growing family. At that time, there was only one music venue in his neighborhood. Since then, the music scene in RI has grown, and so has his reach.
Jesus is a humble and modest man. He brings a rare and highly valued set of talents to our area. Over time, he has become a member of RI’s inner circle, performing all over the state and beyond. He has become a mainstay at WaterFire and PVDFest and has been prominently featured in an award-winning PBS documentary about Latin music, “Ivy League Rumba,” produced by Richard Snyder in 2016. To watch the documentary, check out pbs.org/video/wpbt2-presents-ivy-league-rumba
Most recently, along with Grupo Sazón, he has performed at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford at Latin Jazz Summer & Salsa Night. He can also be found with his colleagues playing on the lawn of the Castle Hill Inn next to the ocean on Sundays in Newport.
As we sat together and chatted, I asked Jesus if he had a favorite type of music. One thing he said to me, was that you cannot speak only one language. Music has more than one language; you must learn new ones.
As he gained notoriety and new languages, Jesus has continued giving back to our community and expanding their love of music as he has expanded his fluency in the language of music. He has gone on to share his musical knowledge with students of all ages, including college students at Brown. He has previously taken part in Arts for Learning, formerly known as The Young Audience program, in Massachusetts. Their current program, “A Musical Journey through the Caribbean,” is for K–12 and can serve up to 300 students. The program includes Cuban Son and rumba, Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena, and Dominican merengue, with student participation through singing, dancing, and playing instruments. For more than 20 years, he has worked as a drum instructor in RI. Jesus explained that he loves having the opportunity to contribute to keeping his culture alive outside his country. Jesus is indeed a local legend. In his own words, “RI has been a great place for me. I have been able to be an independent musician, gain a great reputation and a lot of friends in the different communities as a drum instructor and as a performer.”
Although he specializes in Latin Jazz, a blend of jazz and Latin American rhythms, Jesus also plays rumba, Son, mambo, salsa, bachata, cha cha, and merengue. As the number of music venues grew from one to many, Jesus has become an integral part of Rhode Island’s music and has expanded the reach of his experience. He has taught our children and educated us through his many musical languages. I cannot help but think how lucky we are that he chose Rhode Island as his home.
Jesus can be found on Instagram @jandujar48.