I have been part of the San Francisco Bay Area Jazz and Blues scene for many years and have performed and recorded with many of the area's top artists.
In addition to being a performance artist, I am also into music education. I worked for many years co-teaching a class on the History of Jazz, Blues and Popular Music in American Culture with Johnny Otis. I am available for private lessons on both diatonic and chromatic harmonicas. I am a former staff member the The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music in Oakland where an exciting program of classes in music performance and theory are available. Vist them on the web at www.opcmusic.org
Music
I am primarily a blues player. Since I started out playing harmonica, my favorites and major influences would have to include artists like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson I and II, Little Junior Parker, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield and Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Since my interests also run deeply into Jazz and latin Jazz - I also owe a great debt to the music of artists like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Toots Thielmans, Hendrick Muerkens, Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Palmieri, Lou Rawls, Johnny Heartman, Arthur Prysock, and so many more!
Books
Since I am into music education, I am currently going through a pile of books on music history and also the history of the city of Oakland, CA - where there is a rich but largely unheralded history of artists, producers, record labels and promoters.
Heroes
I feel that the creation of beauty is one of the highest goals that a person can have. My utmost respect and love goes out to all the great artists (singers, musicians, painters, actors, dancers, etc) that make this world bearable - when all of the craziness around us becomes too much to take!
About me:
I am a singer and harmonica player from Oakland, CA. I play both diatonic and chromatic harmonicas and play in different styles including Blues, R&B, Soul, Latin, Brazilian, Funk, and Jazz. I have also started to incorporate traditional Filipino music into my repertoire. Currently I work in two groups that perform throughout the Bay Area - The Carlos Zialcita Jazztet and Little Brown Brother - a band I formed last year with Ben Luis. Other artists and bands I work with include the Sugar Pie DeSanto Band, Paula Caddy and Blues Crusade with Francis Clay, Macy Blackman and The Mighty Fines, Blues Logic with Chris Planas, Ben Luis and Friends, Lloyd Gregory, Bobby Cochran, Sugar G. Robinson, Steve Gannon, and Glen Pearson. For bookings, more biographical information and photos visit www.zialcita.com
Who I'd like to meet: Fellow artists and music lovers who share similar interests - go to the same shows, dig the same artists, tour to different and wonderful places in the world that I would like to visit. I would like to develop friends and contacts with musicians and booking agents/promoters from other countries where the music I love is also appreciated and maybe there is a stage there waiting for me!
Hi Carlos and Myrna. How's it been going? Haven't seen you guys since working with Country Pete at the Fifth Amendment! Hope all is going well. Have a good thanksgiving.
