GILBERT "NINO" GARCIA - 

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Born in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, Niño was raised in the North West section of Chicago. He attended Roberto Clemente High School where he played baseball and football and was also part of the high school Steel Band. Early musical influences included family reunions where folkloric Puerto Rican music was performed and danced to as well as popular music from the 60's and 70's.  

 

His list of heroes include James Brown, Barry White, Ray Barretto, Tito Puente, Willie Colon, Cal Tjader, Dizzy Gillespie, Lawrence Welk, El Gran Combo, the Beatles and Chicago, to name a few.  His musical beginnings were humble; originally self taught with a Ludwig tom drum and random housewares, as a boy Niño would play along with radio tunes and later as a teenager would purchase his first LP fiberglass quinto and conga drums.  He joined his first Salsa band at the age of 14 with a local Chicago band named "La Libertad Latina" where he played bongo & minor percussion.  

 

Out of high school he decided to pursue a career in sports and was out of the music scene until 1990, where he was asked to play congas with his local church band.  He had also been performing with several local bands in the Tampa Bay area when in 1997, he founded the "Caribbean Jazz Knights" with the initial goal of performing Latin Jazz music. In the summer of 2000 he started performing with Fred Johnson at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (nka the STRAZ Center). Then in October of  2002 he was signed with Meinl Percussion by Ramon Casales and Juan Berrios.  

 

Then, in 2012, at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday Festival, Niño presented the band as "The Latin Jazz Knights".

 

The rest is history.  Since then, he has been nominated by the Florida Music Hall of Fame and has combined his electrifying percussive grooves and afro-caribbean rythms with soulful jazz to consistently create the rich sound that we hear today.