John-Carlos Perea (Mescalero Apache, Irish, Chicano, German) is an electric bassist, cedar flutist, powwow singer, composer, and ethnomusicologist. He will serve as Visiting Researcher, Composer, and Performer at CNMAT (AY 22-23) to develop a musician-specific augmented performance with voice, cedar flute, drum, and emerging technologies.
Currently an Associate Professor of American Indian Studies in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, Perea’s research interests include jazz and improvised music performance and composition, urban American Indian lived experiences and cultural productions, music technologies, recording and archiving practices, social constructions of "noise," Native and African American jazz cultures, and the Creek and Kaw saxophonist Jim Pepper.
In addition to his scholarly activities, Perea maintains an active career as a GRAMMY® Award winning multi-instrumentalist and recording artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has recorded on eighteen albums as a sideman and two as a leader, First Dance (2001) and Creation Story (2014). In 2017, Perea received grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission and San Francisco State University to compose and perform Improvising Home, a multi-movement work for Native American cedar flute and jazz ensemble. His next project, Cedar Flute Songs, is a document of solo and duet cedar flute performances recorded live at UC Berkeley and is expected in 2022.
In April 2019, Perea was recognized by the San Francisco Arts Commission’s American Indian Initiative for his musical contribution “to reclaim space, to challenge false narratives, and to reimagine public art from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples.” He was invited to serve as Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Music at UC Berkeley for the 2021-22 academic year.
