* En anglais uniquement
Based in New York City but originally from northern California,
Sylvia Cuenca is a skillful, hard-swinging post-bop/hard bop drummer who is best known for her associations with veteran trumpeter/flügelhornist
Clark Terry (who she played with extensively in the '90s and early 2000s) and the late tenor saxophonist
Joe Henderson (who she toured Europe and the United States with on more than one occasion).
Cuenca has been employed on several of
Terry's CDs (including The Hymn on Candid,
Top and Bottom Brass on Chiaroscuro, and
Herr Ober: Live at Birdland Neuburg on Nagel-Heyer), and the other major artists who have used her on their albums range from veteran tenor saxophonist/
Count Basie alumni
Frank Foster (as in "Shiny Stockings") to trumpeter
Eddie Henderson.
Cuenca has also played with
the Vienna Art Orchestra, a big band based in Vienna, Austria.
Cuenca was born and raised in San Jose, CA, where the Mexican-American drummer's interest in music was enthusiastically encouraged by her parents -- especially her father, a guitarist/singer who had a huge collection of jazz and Latin LPs. One of the records in her dad's collection was
Max Roach and
Clifford Brown's Live at Basin Street; she fell in love with
Roach's drumming, and he became an early influence on
Cuenca (whose other influences have included, among others,
Art Blakey,
Billy Higgins, and
Philly Joe Jones). After graduating from high school in the mid-'80s,
Cuenca attended San Jose City College, where she performed with the City College Big Band under the direction of Dave Eshelman.
Cuenca was still living in northern California when she studied with drummer
Victor Lewis, who encouraged her to move to New York City -- and at the age of 21,
Cuenca followed his advice.
Not long after her arrival in the Big Apple,
Cuenca saw
Joe Henderson performing at the famous Village Vanguard and said hi to the post-bop tenor man; he remembered
Cuenca from a visit to San Jose (where he had been a featured guest of the City College Big Band) and ended up hiring her to tour with him.
Cuenca (who became a semi-finalist in the
Thelonious Monk International Jazz Drum Competition in 1992) went on to play with many other well-known improvisers, who have ranged from tenor man
Michael Brecker (who she toured Japan with) to pianist
Marian McPartland to violinist
Regina Carter. New York City was also where
Cuenca met
Clark Terry -- an association that lasted more than a decade. As a leader or co-leader,
Cuenca has released some CDs on her own label, Etoile Records; the first was The Crossing, which boasted
Eddie Henderson on trumpet. That album was followed by the 2003 release Exit 13, a trio date with organist Kyle Koehler and guitarist
Dave Stryker. ~ Alex Henderson