Violin virtuoso and vocalist Quetzal Guerrero masterfully mixes up a hip hop and Latin Jazz musical concoction. This young, talented musician from Phoenix is already a veteran, having jammed with Latin music greats such as Tito Puente, Jorge Santana and Lalo Guerrero. His birth given name, Quetzal, derives from the Aztec-Nahuatl language and it means "precious feather". Quetzal "live on stage" conjures up images and sounds reminiscent of a young Jimi Hendrix jamming on a jet black electric violin while celebrating the exciting spirit of a Brazilian Carnaval.
This young, talented musician from Phoenix is already a veteran, having jammed with Latin music greats such as Tito Puente, Jorge Santana and Lalo Guerrero. His birth given name, Quetzal, derives from the Aztec-Nahuatl language and it means "precious feather".
Quetzal "live on stage" conjures up images and sounds reminiscent of a young Jimi Hendrix jamming on a jet black electric violin while celebrating the exciting spirit of a Brazilian Carnaval.
Quetzal has opened for the Barrio Boys, Los Illegales, Fey, Christian Castro, Vicky Carr, Acoustic Alchemy, Jorge Santana and Paul Rodriguez.
He began his classical music training at the age of four, studying the Suzuki violin method. In 1986, at age five, he attended the Suzuki International Institute in Matsumoto, Japan. This child prodigy was the featured violinist for the Conservat?rio Pernambucano de M?sica annual recital in Recife, Brazil in 1990.
Quetzal started performing professionally at age ten with the group Z?m Z?m Z?m and was invited by Tito Puente, the Mambo King himself, to perform on stage in San Diego, California in 1994, and again in 1999 at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix. Legendary singer/songwriter and Grammy Award winner, Lalo Guerrero, has teamed up with Quetzal to present numerous concerts in California and Arizona.
As an actor, Quetzal performed for the Tenaz Festival in San Antonio, Texas in 1993. He has appeared in the play, "La Pasi?n", written and directed by Zarco Guerrero, and recently starred in "A Bowl of Beings", written by Culture Clash and directed by Guillermo Reyes of Arizona State University.
He is also an accomplished dancer, and has been in various performances and competitions with his award winning street dance crew, Sour Patch Urban Dance. Sour Patch is an eclectic group of young dancers from all over Phoenix. In April of 2000, they were part of a world premiere performance with H.T. Chen and Co. from New York at the ASU Gammage Auditorium.
Quetzal had recently joined Earth Dance Theater out of San Francisco and has toured with nationally recognized Native Dancer Rulan Tangen. He was also featured in the movie" The New World" featuring Collin Ferrell which was released in November 2005.