Juan Bautista H. Alegre III (born June 4, 1955), known professionally as Johnny Alegre, is a

jazz guitarist Jazz guitarists are guitarists who play jazz using an approach to chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has fulfilled the roles of accompanist ( rhythm guitar) and soloist in small and large ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines. He leads the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

group

Johnny Alegre Affinity The Johnny Alegre AFFINITY is a jazz group originating from the Philippines. It is led by self-taught Philippine guitarist-composer Johnny Alegre, together with bassist Colby de la Calzada, drummer Koko Bermejo, pianist Elhmir Saison and saxophoni ...

and the world music group Humanfolk.

Biography

Career

Alegre studied composition at the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 200 ...

College of Music in the latter 1970s. He was a founding member of the U.P. Jazz Ensemble. He participated in workshops by composer

Erhard Karkoschka Erhard Karkoschka (March 6, 1923 – June 26, 2009), was a German composer, scholar and conductor. Karkoschka was born in the German linguistic enclave of Moravská Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, and subsequent to World War II became a violinist for t ...

, guitarist Ike Isaacs, and composer

Chou Wen-chung Chou Wen-chung (; July 28, 1923 – October 25, 2019) was a Chinese American composer of contemporary classical music. He emigrated in 1946 to the United States and received his music training at the New England Conservatory and Columbia Univer ...

. In May 2002, Alegre formed the

with bassist Colby de la Calzada, drummer Koko Bermejo, pianist Elhmir Saison, and saxophonist

Tots Tolentino Tots Tolentino (born on July 2, 1959) is a jazz musician from the Philippines. Biography Tots Tolentino's interest in jazz began at age 16 upon hearing recordings by Charlie Parker. In 1977, he enrolled at the University of the Philippines Con ...

. Their first recorded work, "Stones of Intramuros", written by Alegre, was included in the limited edition Philippine jazz anthology '' Adobo Jazz: A Portrait of the Filipino as a Jazz Artist (Vol. 1)''. The self-titled album ''Johnny Alegre Affinity'' was released in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in mid-2005 by Candid Records Philippines; and was re-released in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

the same year by

Candid Records (UK) Candid Records was a jazz record label first established in New York City. Early Candid Records The CANDID jazz label was founded in New York City in 1960 as a subsidiary of Cadence Records, owned by Archie Bleyer. The jazz writer and civil right ...

for global distribution as ''Jazzhound''. This was followed by performances at the

PizzaExpress PizzaExpress is a British multinational restaurant group, owned by a group of bondholders. It has over 470 restaurants across the United Kingdom and 100 overseas in Europe, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, the Philippines, the Unit ...

Jazz Club in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

with guest saxophonist, Dimitri Vassilakis. During 2006 and 2007, Alegre and Affinity worked on ''Eastern Skies'', an album of original compositions with the Global Studio Orchestra conducted by

Gerard Salonga Gerard Imutan Salonga (born October 11, 1973) is a Filipino musical conductor, composer, and arranger. From 2012 to 2020, he was the music director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra ...

. In 2009 MCA released ''Johnny Alegre 3'', a trio album with

Ron McClure Ron McClure (born November 22, 1941) is an American jazz bassist. Early life McClure was born in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. He started on piano at age five, and later played accordion and bass. McClure studied privately with Joseph I ...

(bass) and

Billy Hart Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest, among others. Bi ...

(drums). Alegre was MCA's first jazz act from the Philippines. In 2014, MCA released a compilation of highlights from Alegre's Candid Records recordings, entitled ''Stories''. In 2008, Alegre recorded Humanfolk, the name of an album and a band formed with percussionist Susie Ibarra, drummer Roberto Juan Rodriguez,

Cynthia Alexander Cynthia Alexander (b. ''Cynthia Veronica Ayala'', 1971) is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist originally from the Philippines. She has performed on local and international stages including the Rainforest World Music Festival in Malaysia ...

, and Malek Lopez. For Humanfolk he wrote " Para Sa Tao" based on the

Baybayin (, ''pre-kudlít'': , ''virama-krus-kudlít'': , ''virama-pamudpod'': ; also formerly commonly incorrectly known as alibata) is a Philippine script. The script is an abugida belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. Geographically, it ...

letters of the

tagalog language Tagalog (, ; ; '' Baybayin'': ) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, ...

. Alegre is profiled in the books ''The Great Jazz Guitarists'' by

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

and the

Cultural Center of the Philippines The Cultural Center of the Philippines ( fil, Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas, or CCP) is a government-owned and controlled corporation established to preserve, develop and promote arts and culture in the Philippines.Presidential Decree No. ...

''Encyclopedia of Philippine Art'', Second edition (Volume 7).

Family

Johnny Alegre is the youngest surviving grandchild of the late Sen. Juan Bautista Alegre y Levantino,

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

who represented the 6th Senatorial District of the

Bicol Region Bicol, known formally as the Bicol Region or colloquially as Bicolandia ( bcl, Rehiyon kan Bikol; Rinconada Bikol: ''Rehiyon ka Bikol''; Waray Sorsogon, Masbateño: ''Rehiyon san Bikol''; tl, Rehiyon ng Bikol), is an administrative region of ...

to the 6th and 7th

Philippine Legislatures The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The family

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

of Johnny Alegre is descended from

Carlist Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimists (disambiguation), Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty ...

exiles from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

to the

and intermarried with Filipinos. His paternal grandmother, Amanda ''("Aimee")'' Alegre née Sargent, is descended from the early Sargent family of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Affiliations

Alegre is a member of

FILSCAP The Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Inc. (FILSCAP), is a collecting society in the Philippines. It undertakes collective rights management for public performances and use of songs in television and radio broadcast and movie ...

, the Jazz Society of the Philippines, and served a term as a consultant of the Philippine International Jazz and Arts Festival. Other than his activities in jazz,

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

and

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

music, Alegre was an officer of the now-defunct Wikimedia Philippines, the national chapter of the

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...

in the Philippines; and was the fourth president of the said chapter from July 2014 to June 2015. As part of his social commitment he was a past president of the Rotary Club of Makati Rockwell of Rotary International District 3830, serving his term in the Rotary Year of 2018–2019, and was conferred a

Paul Harris fellowship Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

. In 2022, he was voted president of the affiliate Wikimedia

user group A users' group (also user's group or user group) is a type of club focused on the use of a particular technology, usually (but not always) computer-related. Overview Users' groups started in the early days of mainframe computers, as a way to sha ...

, Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group or PhilWiki Community (PH-WC).

Discography

Collaborations

Videography

Johnny Alegre Affinity

Humanfolk

Awards

Paternal line

Images

File:Alegre family emblem.jpg, alt=Historical emblem of the Alegre family of Villarroya de los Pinares, Historical emblem of the Alegre family of

Villarroya de los Pinares Villarroya de los Pinares is a municipality located in the Maestrazgo region, province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality had a population of 190 inhabitants. It is in the northern part of the Gúdar ...

File:15-05-17-conference-berlin-RalfR-N3S 7116.jpg, Johnny Alegre at the 2015 Wikimedia Conference in Berlin File:2014 Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon 38.JPG, Johnny Alegre at the 2014 Waray Wikipedia, 11th Sunrise Festival File:Humanfolk.JPG, Johnny Alegre's maiden HUMANFOLK project

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alegre, Johnny Jazz fusion guitarists Lead guitarists Filipino jazz guitarists Palanca Award recipients 1955 births Living people Candid Records artists MCA Music Inc. (Philippines) artists Wikimedia Philippines Filipino jazz composers Filipino jazz musicians Filipino record producers 20th-century guitarists 20th-century jazz composers 21st-century guitarists 21st-century jazz composers