Javier Díaz

Javier Díaz, originally from Cuba, is a percussionist and composer in the New York Area. He has performed with the New York Pops, American Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Broadway productions of Tarzan, Guys and Dolls, The Wiz, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Rocky, On Your Feet, Once on This Island, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, Sweeney Todd, and The Who’s “Tommy”. His studio/film soundtrack credits include Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, collaborations with jazz greats David Sanborn and Marcus Miller, ECM’s Tituli by Stephen Hartke with the Hilliard Ensemble, Barbershop 3, several HBO films and many TV and radio commercials. As a hand drum specialist, Diaz has appeared with: Miami Sound Machine, LaChanze, David Sanborn, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Marcus Miller, Sean Kingston, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Patty LaBelle, Lazaro Galarraga’s Afro-Cuban All Stars, Candido Camero, David Yazbek, Román Diaz and Pedro Martinez, The Panamerican Jazz Band, Tribal Sage and the New York World Music Institute. Diaz is on faculty at New York University and the Juilliard School.