José Miguel Crego Castro

Known artistically as El Greco, he was born on January 25, 1958.

He began his musical studies at the age of 5 at the Manuel Saumell Music Conservatory in El Vedado specializing in piano. Subsequently at age 7 he continued his studies at the Alejandro García Caturla Music Conservatory in Havana, specializing in trumpet.

In 1970 he went to study at the National School of Art in that same city and from a young age demonstrated strong aptitude and passion for improvisation.

He began his professional career in 1976 in the Big Band at the Hotel Capri, which at that time was directed by the famous trumpeter Leonardo Timor. In Cuba he also played on many occasions at jazz festivals and alongside the famous trumpeter Arturo Sandoval in the Salón Libertad at the Hotel Nacional.

Later he joined the group Los Yakos and from there became part of the Grupo Afrocuba, with whom he made his first international tour, presenting himself as the first Cuban musical group in European Jazz Clubs; such as the New Morning in Paris and Geneva, Switzerland and the Ronnie Scott in London.

Later he joins the Grupo Irakere with whom he performs several international tours and records three albums, one of concert music (Tierra en Transe) and two dance albums (Ruta 43 and Bailando así), also alternating with the Pacho Alonso Orchestra and as a member of the Orchestras that accompanied the Soviet Circus when it visited Cuba.

From there he moves to the Cuban Orchestra of Modern Music and from there to the Grupo Galaxia, with whom he performs for several months in Central and South America and records an album (La mujer precisa) in Panama and Colombia, in addition to recording the music that was created for the welcome of Pope John Paul II, under the direction of Producer Mario Cuesta. He also worked with the orchestra Los Tupamaros, recorded an album with the ensemble Los del Caney for CBS Records and several TV programs with Mr. Jimmy Salcedo, in addition to playing with singer Paloma San Basilio.

In 1988 he founded together with prestigious Cuban musicians, mostly coming from the Grupo Irakere, the group "NG La Banda", under the general direction of José Luis Cortés with whom he travels much of the world, visiting countries such as: Curaçao, Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Suriname, Martinique, Saint Martin, Puerto Rico, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Bulgaria, Monaco, Andorra, Japan, performing at the world's most important Jazz festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreaux Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, Nantes Jazz Festival, Normandy Jazz Festival, Color Café Festival, Japan, Rio de Janeiro, Venezuela, Cancún 2000 and 2001 with pianist Gabriel Hernández and Chucho Valdés, etc.

He has recorded around 50 albums, some of them for important record labels in the world and has performed on stages such as the Lincoln Centre in New York, in 1997. In addition to playing with Willy Colón, Oscar De León, Frankie Ruiz, Héctor Lavoe, Roberto Roena, José Cheo Feliciano, Michel Legran, Luis García, Andy Montañés, Tommy Olivencia, Papo Lucas, Willy Chirino, Diky Gaytan, Afrocuba All Star, Danilo Pérez, David Sánchez, David Valentín, Dizzy Gillespie, etc.

He was invited to record by numerous personalities in the artistic world such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, in the CD titled Antigua, from the BLUE NOTE record label, nominated for the Latin Grammy that year, as well as several film soundtracks by important film directors, such as "Pareja de tres" (Spain), Nazca (Chile), Kyoto (Japan).

El Greco passed away on December 18, 2021 as a result of respiratory failure.