William Cepeda Román

William Cepeda Román is a Jazz Artist, Innovator, Composer, Trombonist, Educator, Producer, and Conch Shell musician. In 2013, Cepeda was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate from the Berklee College of Music. The same year the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Festival was dedicated in his honor. Cepeda was born and raised in Loíza, and is known as a cultural icon of Puerto Rico with a passion for artistic excellence, authenticity, and advocacy for research and comprehensive documentation of Puerto Rican music, dance and culture, a passion that has earned him multiple awards, grants, and recognitions including being a four-time Grammy nominee and composer. In 1992, he revolutionized Latin music with the introduction of Afro-Rican Jazz, an innovative blend of traditional Puerto Rican roots, folk, dance, progressive jazz, and world music. His ensemble has toured the world and performed at such prestigious jazz festivals as Montreux, North Sea, and Tabarka and performing arts venues and clubs. A protégé of the Dizzy Gillespie, Cepeda was a member of the United Nations Orchestra. Also, he has traveled the world and performed with many jazz artists, such as Lester Bowie, Miriam Makeba, and Slide Hampton & the Jazz Masters, among many others. He is equally known in the Latin music scene and has performed with such legendary figures as Tito Puente, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Marc Anthony, and Ruben Blades. In addition to his jazz and world music repertoire, Cepeda’s oeuvre includes Bomba Sinfónica, a full-length orchestral work for a symphony, opera, choir, and soloists. Cepeda continues to compose and develop new projects in Puerto Rico and beyond.