Jason
McGuire "El Rubio" began playing guitar at the age of nine,
inspired by his mother, who was an accomplished guitarist and folksinger.
His formal musical training began in Dallas, Texas from the Booker T.
Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where he studied
jazz and classical guitar, and composition. After studying these opposing
musical genres, Jason discovered the music of Spanish guitarist Paco
de Lucia, and fell in love with flamenco’s powerful emotional depth.
While in school he was given the prestigious "DEE-BEE" award
from Down Beat magazine in the category of instrumental jazz soloist
and later was one of four finalists in the 1988 American String Teachers
Association (ASTA) National Classic Guitar Competition. Still hungry
for more diverse musical experiences, he began working and collaborating
with other artists in an array of styles, including gospel, rock, fusion
and Afro-Cuban.
In 1994, Jason relocated to New York to pursue a career in flamenco, and began performing with Gypsy guitarists Chuscales and Pedro Cortes. He was chosen to record with famed gypsy guitarist Carlos Heredia on his “Gypsy Flamenco,” available on the Chesky Records label, and has since performed with many of Spain’s most distinguished artists including Enrique “El Extremeño, Jose Anillo, Chuscales, Alejandro Granados, Domingo Ortega, Antonio and Manuel de la Malena, Silverio Heredia and Jesus Montoya. In 1997, Jason became the Musical Director for Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos, an award-winning dance company whose flamenco productions have won critical and audience acclaim for innovation and choreography, and where he has demonstrated his creativity as a composer and arranger. The Los Angeles Times recently wrotethat “McGuire’s solo managed to be atmosperic and fiendishly complex at the same time.”
In 1999, he was selected as the Musical Director for the San Jose Repertory Theater's production of "Twelfth Night (or What You Will)" by William Shakespeare, a flamenco adaptation which featured Yaelisa, El Grillo and members of Caminos Flamencos. Jason has appeared as a guest artist with various artists and companies in the U.S., including the Festival Flamenco in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2000, he was awarded a distinguished Music Fellowship from the California Arts Council for composition. His new recording, “Distancias,” has just been released and features El Grillo and world-renowned bassists Kai Eckhardt and Benny Rietveld.
Jason McGuire “El Rubio” is also the Musical Director for
the highly acclaimed New World Flamenco Festival, which premiered in
August 2001 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine, and has earned its
place as one of the top two flamenco festivals in the U.S. The New World
Flamenco Festival continues in August 2003 with Artistic Director Yaelisa
and Musical Director Jason McGuire “El Rubio” as its guiding
forces.