Jay Perez names veteran musician Jonathan McGraw as his new Music Director, taking over for Mario Ortiz, who announced his departure from the band last week.
The announcement was made via social media on Jan. 8. “On behalf of Jay Perez and The Band, we would like to introduce you to our new Musical Director Jonathan McGraw. Many of you know him already, as he has been playing with us for about 6 months now.”
McGraw is a veteran musician of the Tejano music industry for over 21 years. The Adrian, Michigan native is an accomplished guitarist showcasing his skills playing bass, bajo sexto, and electric guitar, plus adding his voice for harmonies. He has performed with Elida Y Avante, Ricardo Castillon Y La Diferenzia, and Gary Hobbs for over 10 years with six of those years as Musical Director.
The statement continued, “So as you can see he is no newcomer! We are looking forward to working together with McGraw in his new role and we are looking forward to seeing all of our fans very very soon!”
McGraw shared his excitement about the announcement in a video posted to social media on Jan. 9. “I just want to say thank you to Jay Perez, first of all, to even have the confidence in me to even be able to help direct his band,” he said. “I mean, me coming from Adrian, Michigan, growing up just playing Tejano music and then to be able to direct Jay Perez’s band is like beyond crazy for me and I really appreciate that confidence that he has in me.”
The first task for McGraw is to add a new keyboardist and accordionist to The Band. Interested musicians contact McGraw at 210.788.1058 or jonmcgraw11@gmail.com.
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