“As an artist, musically, I want to perform, to create, and to exist in a space wedged comfortably between contemporary creative jazz, contemporary chamber music, popular, and world music, drawing inspiration and influence from all areas.” Percussionist/Composer/Arranger, Jonathan Ovalle, is currently the Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Toledo. In addition to applied teaching of both jazz and symphonic percussion students, he is a member of the jazz faculty quintet, is the director of the UT Percussion Ensemble, director of the UT Latin Jazz Ensemble, is the director and arranger for the UT Rocket Drumline and most recently, was integral in the creation of the UT New Music Ensemble. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, receiving both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in percussion performance. His teachers include Michael Udow, Julie Spencer, Michael Gould, Gerald Cleaver, and Salvatore Rabbio as well as additional studies with Ted Piltzecker. He was formerly the Percussion Coordinator for the Plymouth Canton Educational Park in Canton, MI from 2001-2006.
As a drum set artist, he has performed with such jazz luminaries as Jon Hendricks, Vic Juris, Stephanie Nakassian, Phil Markowitz, Harold Danko, Claude Black and recently with Bobby Streng’s Saxomble. He has also been honored as a Regional Finalist in the Guitar Center Drum-Off in 2001 & 2002. He is also very active in the Detroit-area jazz/Latin music scene as both timbalero and conguero having performed with numerous artists including Los Gatos, Groupo Salvaje and Tumbao Bravo. As a jazz vibist and conguero, he has collaborated with drummer/composer Roland Vazquez and his Music for Percussion Quartet and 3 Jazz Players including a featured performance at PASIC 2003. When not collaborating with other jazz artists, he can be heard with his own Afro-Cuban jazz trio/quartet as well as fronting the J.O. Trio, a pop/rock group featuring him on piano and vocals as a singer-songwriter.
As a concert percussionist and chamber musician, he is active as a soloist and chamber musician. His symphonic experience includes time as a member of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, as well as performances with New Music Detroit, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and most recently, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. A participant in a number of world premieres, he has been a featured performer at PASIC as well as the International Conference of Computer Music.
An accomplished arranger and composer, he has served as both a wind and percussion arranger and design consultant for a number of highly-successful competitive marching bands and indoor drumlines in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and New York including, Plymouth Canton HS, Novi HS, and REDLINE percussion. He is currently authoring the book Why your practicing sucks and what you can do about it, a comprehensive guide to the understanding of memory and different learning processes as they related to successful learning of music and musical skills, as well as The Big Book of Rhythm, an extensive collection of progressive short exercises dedicated to the learning and teaching of rhythm.
He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society, The American Composers Forum, and BMI and is an Artist/Endorser with Pearl Drums, Remo Inc., and Innovative Percussion.
