Santi Perez: Improvising music and life

Many stories about pianists start with a description of their hands. Obviously.

But this one starts with the pianist’s voice: If you listen to Santi Perez talking with your eyes closed, you'll hear an unmistakable New York accent. He developed it growing up in New Jersey as a child and later attending the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.

Santi’s journey to becoming a composer and musician has been interesting and winding. He was born in Cuba, moved to the US with his parents at a young age, and later went to work and live in Spain – where he has called the island of Ibiza his home for more than 10 years now. From there, he works on a variety of projects, including composing music for theme parks around the world – which is one that especially caught my attention.

I asked Santi how he came to write music for theme parks? It's certainly not a common career path for composers.

For Santi, the journey began with an old friend: Joe Luciano, owner and CEO of Immersive Planet, a company specializing in the design of theme parks and attractions worldwide. On their website, Santi is credited as the "Pinball Wizard" and the "Soundtrack Area Head Imagineer", a role that involves creating original soundtracks and audio effects for a variety of parks, shows, and attractions. Joel came to Santi with an intriguing proposal: "Can you compose music for a ride we are building in China?" Perez accepted, and since then he has composed scores and music for theme parks around the world.

But let’s rewind a bit.
How did Santi first get into music composition?

Diatonic: Were you initially drawn to composing your own music? What sparked your interest?

Santi: I am going to be completely honest here ... I wasn’t a good enough pianist to attend a top notch conservatory. They wouldn’t have let me in. In other words: I would have failed the entrance exam. But I knew a lot of music. That’s why I took up composition and auditioned for the composition department – because I wanted to study music.

Hence I went to the Manhattan School of Music between 1979 and 1984. When you’re attending that institution, and in the composition department, you are surrounded by all that awe, you know? If you wanted to be really cool, you had to like all these serious composers like Pierre Boulez, Stockhausen, or Elliot Carter.

But in my third year, I remember a lesson very distinctly, a master class. The composer, I won’t reveal his name, was talking about a piece he had come up with thinking about the ballistics of gunshots. That’s when a guy got up, he was not only cool but also a great musician, and he just said: "Can we hear this?" After five minutes of the piece, the guy left the room and said, "Fuck this."

At that moment, it hit me in the head. I thought, "There’s no way that people can actually like this. It’s intellectual, conceptual bullshit. I don’t want to be a pedantic and stuck-up composer." And that’s when things changed for me. I started to write with my ears and heart and not with my intellect.

After graduating from Manhattan School of Music in 1984, Santi decided to move to Spain. He first lived in Barcelona and, after 16 years there, moved to Madrid, where he stayed for another 10 before moving to Ibiza.

Santi: When I lived in Barcelona, I studied with a famous classical conductor. I had rented a studio in a piano store where I could practice. But then I met a woman, and her son was working on Ibiza. I called him, and shortly after, I took my first trip to the island, that was in 1985. And that changed my life!

At first I had thought about only staying in Spain for a year. But then I started working with this Brazilian band. And over time I had almost completely forgotten about classical music and my career, to be honest. It’s something I just never focused on to this day.

So Santi let life decide about his next steps: And when he helped a singer rehearse for Cabaret, the musical, she told him that a production company was looking for a pianist to accompany the singers. He went for an interview. And unexpectedly, after having had lunch with some of their executive team they asked him if he could conduct: And they gave him the job of musical director for their production of Cabaret.

Santi: That started my musical theater career. Did I work for this or was I prepared for this or did I want to do this? No. It landed on me, but with my musical education I was able to do it. So I did.
I have never sat down and thought about my career strategically. It’s improvised in a sense. But I had a solid foundation because of the classical conservatory. So I was prepared for anything.

Same with family. I never planned to have a family or have kids. But one day my partner, Aniko, said: I’d like to have a baby. And becoming a father, having a son: It was the best thing that ever happened to me. It changed my life.

Diatonic: For me it almost sounds like there’s a bigger lesson to be learned here. Because if someone sets a binary career goal like: One day ... I want to play in Carnegie Hall. Then if she or he never makes it’s ... sad, because these people might consider their careers a failure at that point.

And as for your approach: There’s probably people out there thinking that approaching a career like that is irresponsible. But don’t you think that in the end it makes you ... well, happier? At least that’s the impression I get from you?

Santi: I always look on the bright, positive side of things. But my career really has been a rollercoaster. Sometimes I made a lot of money, sometimes I didn’t know how to pay next month’s rent. That’s definitely the drawback that I see. But on the other hand I was and still am able to work on a variety of projects in my life. And in that sense I feel very fortunate.

One of Santi’s newest projects he’s currently working on is a musical on the history of Ibiza. It’s set in the present, where a Journalist is working on a story about the island. But he’s sent on a clue quest and journey, uncovering a forgotten love story from the past.

Santi: There’s lots of composers that wouldn’t do something like this. It’s not serious enough for them. But I consider myself an a-la-carte composer. I am not a serious intellectual composer that critics write about in the New York Times. I am the guy that does the work that might not get that kind of credit, but it’s really interesting and fun.

Diatonic: What’s your process like, either for a musical or for theme park music, when composing something new?

Santi: I always start at the piano. Always. And I grew up with paper and pencil. So that’s what I use, too. And later I bring it over to the computer, to Logic Pro. I then already have a musical idea of what should happen in the piece and then start to play with sound banks, layers and different instruments. I need to have a solid foundation though. When that’s there ... everything else comes naturally.

Diatonic: if you were to give advice to young composers ... what would it be?

Santi: Know your stuff! Think about dance: When you see this wonderful, modern dancers and what they are doing ... I would bet you that all of them started with classical Ballet. They all have done that. And once you have the foundations, you can go crazy.

It’s the same in music: Learn it top to bottom. Get the basics right and the go crazy!

Diatonic: Do you still find the time to play just for yourself?

Santi: Yes. Definitely. It’s very important for me. I always loved to improvise, not just Jazz though. Sitting down at the piano, starting from zero, just playing ... It makes me so happy. And I think improvisation is so important for musicians, and way back all classical musicians were improvisers. Cadences were improvised.

But it also brings me to the problem I mentioned that I have with some of the contemporary music. I am sure I could fool lots of people into believing that I spent months writing a piece that I am just now improvising on the piano. I could fake it.

I mean, look at some of these contemporary scores, at the stuff that’s written on there? Come on! It's madness!

As mentioned earlier: Santi doesn’t take himself too seriously. This doesn’t mean that he’s not a serious composer or musician. It’s easy to geek out with him about Keith Jarrett or Bill Evans and whether Joseph Kosma’s Jazz Standard Autumn Leaves is written in G or E Minor. And when he describes how he approaches new projects, be it for a theme park or for a musical, it’s clear that he puts a lot of thought and experience into each one.

But what sets Santi apart is his humility and lack of ego ("I'm not pedantic about me and my music”). And even though I’ve only met Santi briefly I’d argue that this, being a rare trait in musicians, next to his abilities and education, explains why he was involved in so many projects and why his musical career spans such a wide range of genres throughout his career.

While Santi himself may dismiss the notion of a career path: Perhaps, then, the key theme in Santi Perez's life is simply a love of music ... playing it, composing it, and improvising with it. A wild journey that shows no signs of slowing down.