NYC-based Spanish Clarinetist
“Carlos is a very sensitive, and intelligent player. His lines are spontaneous and swinging, showing his great sense for harmony and melody.”
“Carlos Ruiz Serra is a passionate and tremendously gifted musician. His playing thrills and moves you, his instrumental virtuosity is up there with his communicative expressiveness.
It’s terrific that he makes all this happen on the clarinets and saxophones, but his wonderful spirit and musicianship come across bountifully also when he is not playing beautiful notes: his presence in general radiates heartfelt joy”
"Carlos is an inventive, adventurous player, ingeniously reconciling musical intelligence with spontaneity."
“I love immersing myself in the world of jazz, and bringing that with me to every performance.”
Carlos Ruiz Serra (2001) is a dedicated trad-jazz enthusiast from Barcelona, based in New York City. His passion for all forms of swinging music comes from artists like Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker, and Louis Armstrong.
After falling in love with music by listening to his pianist grandmother in her living room, Carlos began his studies in classical clarinet at age 6, later adding the alto saxophone and piano. At 17, after recording his two first albums as co-leader, he moved to the Netherlands to keep pursuing his passion with a degree from the prestigious Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
Having extended his experience as the leader of his trio and Hot-Club style quartet, as well as playing bebop, swing, and early jazz on many of his colleagues' projects in Amsterdam, he now moved to New York City to study a Master’s Degree at The City College of New York, under the mentorship of Dan Block.
Carlos has performed at Festival de jazz de Vic, Jamboree Jazz, Festival de Jazz de Palma, as well as other European and North-American venues.
