Cisco Dimas

Francisco Dimas was born June 17, 1986, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cisco began listening to many different styles of music at an early age such as Paul Simon, The Beatles, Louis Armstrong, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. He started playing the piano at the age of seven, learning how to read music, but didn’t take music seriously until the age of eleven, when he found the trumpet during an audition at Jefferson Middle School. There he began studying with the superb classical trumpeter of the New Mexico Symphony, Jon Dante , while learning about jazz from his middle school band director. Cisco started gigging professionally and sitting in at jam sessions at the age of thirteen around the Albuquerque area and was soon winning awards from top university jazz festivals, winning the award for Outstanding Jazz Performer and also Outstanding Soloist for the University of New Mexico Jazz Festival. During this time he also played principal trumpet in the famed Albuquerque Youth Symphony where he toured through Spain, Mexico, Texas, California, and a final concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2004. He also won the principal trumpet position for the Southwest Regional Honor Band in 2003 and 2004. He continued to study classical trumpet with Jon Dante as well as University of New Mexico professor Jeffrey Piper but soon realized that it would be necessary to be in an overall more creative and art appreciating environment. This led to the decision to apply for a full scholarship to attend the prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp. Here Cisco continued his of classical trumpet, and took jazz performance classes. During his junior year, Cisco was selected from from applicants all across the country, to attend the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts under the direction of Paul Romaine and his band Convergence. There he studied with one of his biggest influences, Greg Gisbert. After graduating from Albuquerque High School Cisco decided to continue his studies with Greg Gisbert and Alex Norris at the University of Miami. Upon his arrival, Cisco was one of three musicians in history to win a spot in the Grammy award-winning Concert Jazz Band, the other two musicians being Pat Metheny and Jason Carder. Since then, Cisco has worked with many artists such as, Ed Calle, Bobby Shew, Shelton Berg, Chuck Owen, Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, Matt Brewer, Leo Brooks, Walter White, Michael Buble, and many others. Cisco currently tours throughout the United States with the infamous rock superstar Linda Ronstadt and her band.