Native of Madrid, Spain. At the age of 6, Javier began to study solfege, piano and clarinet under the guidance of his father. At 17, Vercher graduated with a degree in classical clarinet studies from the Joaquin Rodrigo Conservatory of Valencia. After graduating from the conservatory, Javier began to explore jazz music. He began playing the tenor saxophone and attended jazz seminars in Spain with teachers such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Perico Sambeat, Chris Cheek and Jorge Pardo.
At age 18, Javier was awarded a scholarship from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Berklee from 1997 to 2000, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in performance. At Berklee, Javier studied with teachers such as George Garzone, Frank Tiberi, Greg Hopkins, Jeff Galindo, David Johnson, Ken Cervenka and Andy McGhee. In 1999, he had the chance to meet legendary drummer/composer Rakalam Bob Moses in a session. Soon after their first meeting, Mr. Moses invited him to participate in one of his groups at the New England Conservatory. “It was one of the most powerfull musical experiences I had ever had”, says Javier. During that time, (1999 to 2000) Javier spent a lot of time with Moses, going to his house and playing duets, as well as listening and learning about some of the greats such as Jim Pepper, Harold Vick, Roy Haynes, Roland Kirk and master guitarist, Tisziji Muñoz. “Mr. Moses helped me understand music in a more organic and spiritual way, and I hope to keep growing in that direction”, says Javier.
In 2002, Vercher moved to New York City. In addition to playing regular sessions with many of the jazz musicians there, Javier took some lessons from one of his favorite saxophonists, Chris Cheek. In 2003, he formed a trio with Texas drummer, Brannen Temple, and bassist, Chris Higgins. Following a month long tour of Spain, Javier recorded his debut album for Fresh Sound New Talent Records, “Introducing the Javier Vercher Trio”. In the following two years, Vercher started to present his music in festivals with his trio featuring guitarist, Lionel Loueke. They performed at the Madrid Jazz Festival, Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival, Valencia Jazz Festival and other renowned Spanish venues.
In November of 2006, Javier won the Tete Montoliu Outstanding Musician of the year award, given by the SGAE in Spain. Other honored guests that year included Chick Corea and Federico Lechner. Soon after that, Javier began to play duet sessions with Hungarian drummer, Ferenc Nemeth, and they released a duet album in 2007 entitled “Wheel of Time”. The album also features Lionel Loueke on guitar and renowned American songwriter, Chip Taylor.
Javier has played with musicians such as Ben Street, Bill Frisell, Jorge Rossy, Rubem Dantas, Mike Ciro, Ari Hoenig, Massimo Biolcatti, Robert Glasper, Lionel Loueke, Jorge Perez, Nathan Townsley, Steve Rodriguez, Selan Lerner, Eric McPherson, Viktor Krauss, Kenny Wollesen, Arturo Stable and Henry Cole among others. Recently, Vercher just finished a tour with Multi-Grammy Award Winning Alejandro Sanz. They played in Chile, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Venezuela, Ecuador, Spain and USA.
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