Jean Pierre Magnet Vargas Prada (born in Lima, Peru on September 11, 1949) is a saxophonist, composer, music producer, and director.

Early life

Magnet is the oldest of three and the son of a French Basque father and Peruvian mother. He started his musical career at an early age while working with his father at Country Club Hotel in Lima, Peru. At 10 years old, he revealed his dream to become a saxophonist to his father who immediately gave him his first saxophone. During his adolescence, magnet joined

Traffic Sound Traffic Sound was a Peruvian rock band founded in 1967 by Manuel Sanguinetti (vocals), Freddy Rizo-Patrón Buckley (rhythm guitar), Jean Pierre Magnet (sax), Willy "Wilito" Barclay Ricketts (lead guitar), Willy Thorne Valega (bass, d.2019) and Lu ...

, a Peruvian rock band in the late 1960s. The band recorded covers of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

The Rascals The Rascals (originally known as the Young Rascals) are an American rock band, formed in Garfield, New Jersey, southeast of Paterson in 1965. The original lineup featured lead vocalist and keyboardist Felix Cavaliere, vocalist and percussion ...

, The Animals, and Iron Butterfly. Traffic Sound recorded four albums: ''A Bailar Go Go'', ''Virgin'', ''Traffic Sound'' and ''Lux'', with "Meshkalina" their greatest hit between the 1970s and 1980s.

Education

In 1972, Traffic Sound disbanded. At age 20, Magnet began his studies of music theory and flute at the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires in Argentina, followed by jazz at the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

. Afterwards, he moved to San Francisco where undertook his first gigs as street musician, striving to accomplish his greatest dream, which was to study at

Berklee School of Music Berklee College of Music () is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level ...

of Boston.

Fusing jazz with Peruvian rhythms

In Peru, Magnet organized five jazz festivals, featuring

Arturo Sandoval Arturo Sandoval (born November 6, 1949) is a Cuban-American jazz trumpeter, pianist, timbalero, and composer. While living in his native Cuba, Sandoval was influenced by jazz musicians Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1977 ...

Ray Barreto Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Lati ...

Irakere Irakere (faux- Yoruba for "forest") is a Cuban band founded by pianist Chucho Valdés (son of Bebo Valdés) in 1973. They won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1980 with their album ''Irakere''. Irakere was innovative in Afro-Cub ...

Paquito D'Rivera Francisco de Jesús Rivera Figueras (born 4 June 1948), known as Paquito D'Rivera, is a Cuban-American alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He was a member of the Cuban songo band Irakere and, since the 1980s, he has established him ...

, and

Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian–American jazz drummer and percussionist. He has also worked as an educator at University of California, Los Angeles, and Berklee College of ...

for the first time in Lima, Peru. Magnet was invited to Satchmo's, a jazz club in Peru. He formed Wayruro, a band that played Andean music with other styles. In 1984 he established the PeruJazz quartet with Manongo Mujica, Enrique Luna, and Julio "Chocolate" Algendones. PeruJazz was the first band to combine African-Peruvian and Andean rhythms with jazz. The band performed at Umbria Festival of Italy in 1987, playing after

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

. PeruJazz performed for two consecutive years at the

Montreal Jazz Festival The Festival international de Jazz de Montréal is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. Every year it features roughly 3,000 ar ...

in Canada (1989 and 1990). In 1990, PeruJazz played at the

New Music America Festival New Music America was a nomadic American festival (held in Montreal during its last year) showcasing at its origins New York City's Downtown Music, but growing into one of the largest new music festivals ever held in North America, all in an attem ...

(Miami) and the

Cervantino Festival The Festival Internacional Cervantino (FIC), popularly known as ''El Cervantino'', is a festival which takes place each fall in the city of Guanajuato, located in central Mexico. The festival originates from the mid 20th century, when short pla ...

in Mexico, besides London, Buenos Aires, Santiago, and Hamburg. In 1997 Magnet founded Gran Banda (Great Band), performing a 1940s big band style which he directed, built on

mambo Mambo most often refers to: *Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form *Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music Mambo may also refer to: Music * Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particul ...

and

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

. In addition to their repertoire of

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

and Damaso Perez Prado, the band added classic themes and contemporary jazz. Gran Banda provided Magnet with the opportunity to undertake an African-Peruvian and Criollo fusion project featuring

Armando Manzanero Armando Manzanero Canché (7 December 1934 – 28 December 2020) was a Mexican musician, singer, composer, actor and music producer, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the most successful comp ...

, the Peruvian rock band Fragil, and Eva Ayllon.

Serenata de los Andes

In 2006, Magnet recorded ''Serenata Inkaterra'' in co-production with Inkaterra Hotels. This record was released two years later with 25 musicians, featuring

and

Ramón Stagnaro Ramón Stagnaro (May 10, 1954 – February 16, 2022) was a Peruvian guitarist and producer who had a career of 40 years, and who had toured or recorded with many great artists such as Alex Acuña, Eva Ayllon, Diana Ross, Gino Vannelli, Celine Di ...

. Serenata de los Andes has united musical styles from Peruvian Andes, recreating a sort of Andean symphony with 6 violins, 7 saxophones, 5 panflutes, 1 harp, 1 guitar, and percussion. The band toured in 2011 at Teatro de Bellas Artes de Bogota, Colombia and Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York.

Discography

Traffic Sound

* A Bailar Go-Go (Mag, 1968) * Virgin (Mag, 1969) * Traffic Sound (Mag, 1979) * Lux (Sono Radio, 1971)

Wayruro

* Wayruro (1996)

PeruJazz

* PeruJazz en Vivo (Cernicalo Producciones, 2001) * Mundo Nuevo (Cernicalo Producciones, 2007)

La Gran Banda

* Jean Pierre Magnet y La Gran Banda en Vivo (2007) * Eva Ayllon, Jean Pierre Magnet y La Gran Banda – Le Cantan al Peru en Vivo (2007) * Eva Ayllon, Jean Pierre Magnet y La Gran Banda – Del Peru para el Mundo (2007)

Serenata de los Andes

* Serenata Inkaterra (2006) * Serenata de los Andes en Vivo (2009)

Jean Pierre Magnet

* Arroz con Mango (2007) * Criollo (2003) * Mi Peru

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnet, Jean Pierre 1949 births Living people Peruvian people of Basque descent Peruvian musicians 20th-century saxophonists 21st-century saxophonists