Meet Nick Gomez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Gomez.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Nick. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started playing music in elementary school and started to really care about it in middle school. I used to try to learn the oldies and soul music my parents listened to (Santana, Earth Wind & Fire, Tower of Power) by ear and played those songs incessantly. In high school, I was in the marching band and jazz band and really loved music, but was adamant about quitting before college because I wanted to help my family by choosing a career that made a lot of money. My dad finally talked me into pursuing music for a living, seeing that there was nothing else that really excited me.

I majored in music education at Azusa Pacific University. There was this sense that I wanted the piece of paper that could land me a decent job, but I didn’t want to let that detract from my playing, so I pushed myself really hard trying to excel at both the education and performance aspects and ended up very stressed out and kind of average at both.

After graduating from APU in 2014, I worked in the house band on a cruise ship for a time, traveling to Alaska and Mexico, meeting and working with all sorts of weird people and really getting my sight-reading and jazz playing together. After leaving ships, I started working for entertainment companies like Collective Music, the Weekend Society, and Wayne Foster Entertainment for weddings and corporate gigs got a job teaching elementary and middle school band at United Christian Academy in Rancho Cucamonga and married the love of my life.

During that time, I met the great pianist Bill Cunliffe, who encouraged me to go for a masters in Jazz Performance at Cal State Fullerton. While there, I got my butt kicked by Bill, Chuck Tumlinson, and Jeff Ellwood, met a bunch of fantastic, dedicated jazz musicians that I work with a lot today, and got into academic writing with encouragement from Dr. John Koegel. I got my degree in 2017 and a year later, started working at San Bernardino Valley College, where I currently teach Jazz History, Rock History, Jazz Improvisation, and Applied Woodwinds.

While at CSUF, I threw myself into studying and playing jazz and did my best to connect with people in my local jazz scene. I put together my own group, who I’ve now gigged with throughout LA, Orange County, and the IE practiced and studied with some brilliant local musicians, and founded IEJazz- an organization that puts on concerts and jam sessions throughout the IE.

Despite the disastrous effects of COVID-19 on my performing career, I have managed to pick up a few more jobs to make up for it: working with RCC’s Marching Tigers, teaching Applied Saxophone at UC Riverside, and writing album reviews for The Fusion Press- all of which I love.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’ve always known that I wanted to have a family and be the best husband (and hopefully father someday) I can be. I try my best in that regard, but I would be lying if I said being a musician never felt at odds with that. I have this insatiable desire to get better and dedicate myself more to my craft, but I also need to be there for the people I love and pull my weight as the bills are concerned. The uncertainty of a career in music seems to get more challenging as I get older and take on more responsibilities. There’s an ever-growing need for money and ever-shrinking time to practice and gig. Even academia is tough- trying to balance multiple adjunct jobs, none of which pay over the summer, and fight for classes that always seem to be on the chopping block.

And that’s all before Covid-19, which has devastated music scenes everywhere. I went from always having a gig to prepare for to missing even just hear another person play.

I think most musicians would say that if we could do anything else, we would be, but there’s something that keeps us trying to make it work. That’s probably going to be a life long thing for me.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
Like most musicians, I wear a whole bunch of hats.

A lot of what I do is playing saxophone, flute, and clarinet for weddings, events, musicals, cruise ships, and sometimes artists coming through town (I got to play with the Four Tops a few years ago!) For a while, I played in Missus Jones- an Amy Winehouse tribute band- and funk/classic rock/oldies bands like Balance of Azusa, Soul Pursuit, Best of Times, and Yesterday’s Dream- which are sometimes referred to as the “Burrito Circuit”. Those bands are especially fun because I feel like I get to play the music of my childhood.

I’ve recorded with Christian singer/songwriter John Stratton, rapper Ramaj Eroc, and others. I’m a regular member of an LA-based funk band called Breakestra, an acid jazz trio called Vatomico (with Danny Andress) and the Ron King Big Band, with which I got to play in the Java International Jazz Festival in Indonesia in March.

Before Covid, my jazz trio played a monthly residency at Mantra Coffee in Azusa and a regular gig at Edwin Mills by Equator in Pasadena. We like to keep things interesting by constantly learning new tunes, new arrangements of old tunes, and sometimes original compositions.

I teach several music history and jazz improvisation classes at San Bernardino Valley College and UC Riverside and am on the marching band staff at Riverside Community College (all via Zoom of course). One of my greatest joys is seeing my students develop a passion for music or anything else. I think there’s a lot of meaning to be found in having a passion or discipline in life.

Lately, I have tried to combine my love of music and writing by publishing essays and album reviews on my website and on The Fusion Press. I think of myself as a music lover first and a musician/educator/writer second.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I think there’s some part of me that still defines success in terms of money, things, and comfort. It’s hard not to, especially when we so often find ourselves grasping for those things in order to stay afloat.

More and more, however, I think I’ve come to define success as being the best you can be in the areas you care about (for me- family, music, teaching, and writing) and feeling, at the end of the day, like you’ve lived a life that’s yours. I want my life to be ruled by my curiosity, my passion, and my principles- not just by the material.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ngomezmusic.com/
• Email: [email protected]
• Other: The Fusion Press: https://thefusionpress.com/author/ngomezmusic/

Image Credit:
Javier Medina, Farah Sosa

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