Rodolfo Zuniga + Surfaces

Jeff Ellwood-Saxophone

Josh Nelson-Piano

Eric England-Bass

Rodolfo Zuniga-Drums

Drummer, and composer Rodolfo Zuniga is a native of San Jose, Costa Rica, now residing in the LA area.
Since his arrival in U.S., he’s become one of the most sought-after sidemen and educators. Rodolfo has
shared the stage with Gary Campbell, Ira Sullivan, Bill Mays, Silvano Monasterios, Tomasz Dabrowski,
Errol Rackipov, Stephen Scott, Troy Roberts, Bill Cunliffe, Martin Bejerano, Dave Fernandez, Camila Meza,
John Hart, Michael Dease, Jonathan Kreisberg, Alex Norris, Chris Dingman, Rotem Sivan, Andy Laverne,
Othello Molineaux, Adam Kolker, Randy Brecker, Lew Tabackin, Joe Locke, Don Friedman.

Rodolfo is an Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at Cal State University-Fullerton and has over 13 years
of university teaching experience. He held previous positions at Florida International University, Broward
College and Miami Dade College teaching Jazz, Music Production and Music Business. He has performed
and presented at the Jazz Education Network convention and has been a Thelonious Monk Institute
clinician. He has taught masterclasses at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Denmark, The American
Modern School of Music in Paris, The Universidad de las Americas in Ecuador, The New World School of
the Arts in Miami, and The Universidad Nacional, Universidad de Costa Rica and The Symphonic
Conservatory in San José,Costa Rica.

As a leader and composer, his quartet “Surfaces” has released two albums and maintains a busy schedule
performing in the US and in Central and South America. In 2005 the group was awarded the Carnegie Hall
Residency under the direction of Dave Douglas. In that same year Rodolfo was chosen to be part of Betty
Carter’s Jazz Ahead Residency featured at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. More recently, Rodolfo
has put together an octet version of “Surfaces” which is comprised of a jazz trio, string trio, electric
guitar and vocals. This large ensemble is planning a forthcoming 2023 release.

As a sideman, Rodolfo has toured the world with highly creative jazz projects performing in festivals like
Copenhagen Jazz Festival, The Cully Switzerland Jazz Festival, Jazz Fest Málaga, The Ecuador Jazz
Festival, Jazz Sur Le Ville Marseille, The Guatemala Jazz Festival, Ground Up Music Festival, The
Jacksonville Jazz Festival, and The St. Petersburg Jazz Festival. In addition, Rodolfo is the drummer for
multi-Grammy award winner and best-selling Latin Pop artist Julio Iglesias. As part of this group, he has
performed at iconic venues like The Royal Albert Hall in London, The Kremlin Palace in Moscow, The Dubai
Opera House, Rockefeller Center in Noew York, The Al Majaz Amphitheatre in Sharjah, UAE, The Forest
Opera in Poland, The Yad Eliyahu Stadium in Israel, and The Auditorio Nacional in Mexico.

Rodolfo is a proud Zildjian Cymbals and Vic Firth endorser.

WWW.RODOLFOZUNIGA.COM