Tue Sep 15
Mario Wellmann Trio - Chilean Jazz Series
7PM / $30 | $7 Fees Get Tickets
Mario Wellmann
Mario Wellmann Trio presents Ecos del Sur — original music from Chilean jazz guitarist and composer Mario Wellmann's debut album as a leader, freshly recorded in New York City with engineer Joseph Branciforte. Funded by Chile's Fondo de la Música (the country's equivalent of the National Endowment for the Arts), the project synthesizes contemporary jazz language with rhythmic and melodic traditions drawn from Chilean and Latin American music. This Blues Alley date — part of the Chilean Jazz Week programming in partnership with the Embassy of Chile — offers an intimate first listen to the album just weeks after the recording sessions, featuring Wellmann's lyrical guitar work alongside an all-star trio.
Mario Wellmann is a Chilean jazz guitarist and composer based in New York City and Austin. His music synthesizes the language of contemporary jazz with rhythmic and melodic traditions drawn from Chilean and Latin American music, shaped by a personal aesthetic that values lyricism, narrative, and contemporary guitar textures.
In 2026, Mario was awarded Chile's Fondo de la Música—the country's equivalent of the National Endowment for the Arts—to produce Ecos del Sur, his debut album as a leader, recorded in New York with Grammy-winning engineer Joseph Branciforte (Immanuel Wilkins, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Julian Lage). The album is scheduled for release in late 2026 and anchors an international tour spanning Austin, New York, Philadelphia, Mexico City, Washington, D.C, Santiago, Concepción, among other cities.
Mario has performed across the United States, South America, and Europe, with recent and upcoming appearances at The Django, Jazz Forum Arts, Blues Alley, Nublu, Soapbox Gallery, Monks Jazz, Elkhart Jazz Festival, Sala Master at Radio Universidad de Chile, Thelonious Lugar de Jazz, and Club de Jazz de Santiago, among others. He has shared the stage with Kurt Elling, Sinne Eeg, and Allison Wedding.
Between 2021 and 2024, Mario recorded on four acclaimed albums as a sideman: In Situ with the Alexa Torres Quartet (2024)—featured in All About Jazz, Strings Magazine, and Women in Jazz Media, and named among Couleurs Media's top releases of June 2024; Of Narratives and Nocturnes with the Simeon Davis Group (2022), whose single "Eden" was selected as Song of the Day by All About Jazz; and the award-winning I Carry Your Heart (UNT Jazz Singers) and 5th Harvest (UNT Latin Jazz Lab), both DownBeat Student Music Award winners in 2022. That same year, Mario earned two DownBeat Awards himself—including one with The West Mulberry Trio, a project he co-led. Mario holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas, and he's studied with Davy Mooney, Noel Johnston, Philip Dizack, Helen Sung, Paul Bollenback, among other jazz masters.
Mario's work has been featured in Strings Magazine, All About Jazz, Voyage Austin, Baltimore Jazz, Bucks County Herald, and across Chile's national press—including El Mercurio de Valparaíso, Radio Beethoven, Radio Bío Bío, and TVN's Cultura y Espectáculos. Davy Mooney, Head of Jazz Guitar at UNT, has called him "technically brilliant and deeply musical… one of the best musicians I have worked with in my teaching practice." Noel Johnston (Kenny Wheeler, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano) describes his playing as reflecting “one of the most intelligent people I know, conveyed through music with clarity and elegance.”
He is currently a PhD Fellow in Music at Columbia University.
Co-Presented with the Embassy of Chile
7PM / $30 | $7 Fees Get Tickets
1. Final sale, no refunds, not transferable.
2. $15 food/beverage minimum per person not included in ticket price.
3. Seating first come at the door. Doors open 6 PM & 8:45 PM respectively Monday thru Saturday, and 4:30 PM & 7:15 PM Sundays.
4. No Photography or Recording of any kind during the performance.
5. Keep conversation to a minimum during the performance.