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Born Alain Pérez Rodríguez in 1977 in Manaca Iznaga, a small town in the province of Santi Spiritus, he recalls as a young child being raised in a family that took extra care to acquaint him with the major customs and traditions of his land. “My musical life began at the hands of my parents,” he recalls, “singing at family parties and fiestas in the town. My father, Gradelio Pérez, discovered my musical instincts when he took me to one of the carnavales in the city of Trinidad, and I instantly started to dance!” Several years later, by the age of seven, he was playing on the guitar punto guajiro and guarachas, two traditional styles from the Cuban hinterland. Within a short while, he was accompanying poets and vocal improvisers at gatherings staged at sugar plantations. “It went on for five days without stop,” he recalls. “It was my first important and most heartfelt influence in music and in life.”

On En El Aire, Pérez returns to the style that captured his soul when he performed with Irakere. “I try to compose for my Muse, but when she doesn't come, I search for colors and images that will suggest a certain path,” he comments. “Harmony is food for the melody, and as I am a rumbero, the end comes through the clave (the rhythm). Very humbly, I consider myself to be versatile, and life has given me proof that one has to be subservient to their instincts.”

His instincts are keen not only in his role as a composer and arranger but on the electric bass, an instrument infrequently heard as a primary solo voice on Latin jazz recordings. The album's title track is an eye-opener. ..

“Alain Pérez is a marvelous discovery. He is going to have a huge impact. He is great, superb.” Enrique Morennte

“Cuban electric bassist and composer Alain Pérez, has generated a trans-Atlantic buzz, being hailed as a hot-waired update of the fabled Cuban band Irakere’s sound” Mark Holston, Jazziz (Nov 06).