Julio Fernandez

I was born in Havana, Cuba on August 29, 1954 and came to the USA in 1961. My family settled in Hoboken, New Jersey, a small town across the Hudson from Manhattan.

I started playing guitar at the age of nine, my father being my first and most influential teacher. Although his roots were in traditional Cuban music, he was very much into jazz and big band sounds. His playing style was a hybrid of these idioms and it always fascinated me to hear how he would take an otherwise simple tune, and turn it into something more harmonically & rhythmically complex. These were very valuable lessons.

Another major influence for me was rock & roll music. I think that the first time I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, I knew what I wanted to do in life. I started listening to and learning as much music as possible. I would practice 3 to 4 hours every day. By the time I was in high school, I was playing with different local bands and was very involved with the school music program. Unfortunately, guitar was not one of the offered instruments in the program, so I started playing the tuba. I think it weighed more than I did at the time. Anyway, I graduated in 1972 and went to Montclair State College, majoring in music education. I continued playing the tuba in college studying with Don Butterfield. By the time I was in my second year I decided it was time to take a leave of absence from college and start making a living playing the guitar.

In the mid 70's I took some Jazz workshops at "The Sound of Joy" music school in Manhattan. It was a very cool experience because the program also included private lessons and jazz improvisation classes. This was the place where I met a lot of musicians in the NY scene which led to me doing some session work in town. In 1977 I took a songwriting class at the School of Visual Arts with Lou Stallman, a well known songwriter and music publisher in NY. Through my assocation with Lou, I met a lot of people in the music business, including Gerardo Velez, the percussionist for Spyro Gyra at the time. Gerardo and I became good friends and started collaborating on various projects. In 1984, when Spyro Gyra was looking for a new guitarist, Gerardo got me an audition with the band. I remember being nervous, but I still gave it all I had. The next day I got a call from Phil Brennan, the band's manager, telling me the chair was mine. It was definitely one of the happiest days of my life.

I've been involved with the organization since 1984 and I must say that it's been a very rewarding and learning experience. As far as the future goes, my plan is to continue working with Spyro Gyra as well as doing a solo project and getting more involved in the production side of things, with Spyro as well as other projects.

Equipment List

My new ROAD RIG consists of:

• Amps: RIVERA "Quiana" head driving a FENDER 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celstion "Vintage 30's"
• Effects: FULLTONE "Full-Drive2",
• FULLTONE "Clyde Wah",
• BOSS Digital Delay,
• BOSS Compressor,
• TC ELECTRONICS Chorus,
• BOSS Digital Tuner
• Strings: DEAN MARKLEY SLP's on Electrics,
• DEAN MARKLEY Vintage Bronze ML's on acoustics
• Guitars: RONALDO Custom Strat with DiMarzzio pickups and a FISHMAN Powerbridge,
• RONALDO Custom Tele with DiMarzzio pickups,
• Washburn Acoustic with FISHMAN Transducer

THE STUDIO RIG

In the studio, in addition to using the same rig as on the road, I'll use some of the following guitars and amps:

• 1969 GIBSON Les Paul
• RONALDO Custom Strat with EMG's
• ALVAREZ and TAKAMINE classical guitars
• HOHNER PS 400 Archtop
• SEAGULL Acoustic
• MESA/BOOGIE Studio pre-amp
• FENDER Prosonic
• MARSHALL JMP 50