Vicente Avella - Rising (2018)

Vicente Avella is a pianist and composer, working on several projects and in several positions at once, as so many musicians have done for centuries to earn a living. Avella was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. He was 17 years old before he took his first real piano lesson, but had already written rock songs for himself and friends to play during high school. When he was 20, he began pursuing a piano performance degree at Indiana University, which was followed by a Master's degree in composition at the Eastman School of Music. Since then, Avella has assisted with music production for the television shows Family Guy and American Dad; he writes scores for independent films, directs music at more than one church, and teaches courses for Berklee College of Music Online Extension. He also performs as a soloist and in chamber groups in the Los Angeles area. With the guidance of Windham Hill's Will Ackerman, Avella released his first album in 2013: All the Days of My Life: The Wedding Album. It featured his own compositions and arrangements of classics often heard at weddings, but with a much more contemporary sound. The album and his music has earned some recognition by contemporary music organizations, and he received an ASCAP award each year between 2006 and 2013. ~ Patsy Morita.