Luisito Quintero

Luis Ernesto Quintero Vegas, known as Luisito Quintero, was born in the populous Caracas, Venezuela neighborhood of San Agustin on August 24, 1967.  Quintero, a child music prodigy, hails from a lineage of distinguished musicians and singers.

His father, Luis Quintero Sr., a respected percussionist in his native country, tutored and encouraged his son to play timbales at a young age. Quintero’s first steps into the professional music arena were performing in the group “The New Generation” playing the bongos and timbales at only eight years old. This group was inspired by his father and his uncles, Carlos “Nene”, Ricardo, y Jesus “Chu” Quintero. At the age of twelve, he played with one of the most popular bands at that time, “El Trabuco Venezolano”. A year later he joined world-renowned Salsa singer, Oscar D’León. He remained with D’León for more than a decade until his departure to New York City in 1992.

Quintero quickly integrated into the New York City Latin music and Jazz scene. His reputation as one of the best percussionists garnered him opportunities to perform and record with legendary artists as well as serving as the musical director for some acts.

This Master Percussionist is not afraid to push the boundaries of his musical expressions and style, incorporating a variety of percussion instruments: timbales, congas, bongos, drum sets, the West African djembe, and dundun, and a wide variety of other percussion instruments. Quintero brings technical wizardry and musicality to every performance and recording.