Victor Mendoza, vibraphonist, composer and educator is internationally recognized for his stellar contributions to Latin Jazz and world percussion. As a professor at Berklee College of Music, Mendoza is recognized worldwide for his work as professor of vibraphone, jazz improvisation studies and co-founder of Berklee’s prestigious Latin Jazz ensembles. Mr. Mendoza has lectured at universities in the US, Canada, Europe and Israel, and given clinics at the International Association of Jazz Educators, the Percussive Arts Society Convention and many other organizations internationally.
His career as a performer include performances with his own group and the likes of Paquito D’Rivera, Danilo Perez, George Garzone, Claudio Roditi, Giovanni Hidalgo, Horacio “The Black” Hernandez, Antonio Sanchez and Lee Konitz, among others. As a soloist, his performances include appearances with the World Festival Orchestra under the direction of Paquito de Rivera, Milan Svoboda Orchestra in Prague, Sinfonica Carlos Chavez in Mexico, the prestigious Big Band Jazz Knights of West Point, the Band of the Port in Valencia under the direction of Isidro Coll, and more recently the Orchestra of Granada with director Alejandro Posada. Appearances with his group and his duo with pianist Rafael Alcalá, include jazz festivals in Montreal, Quebec, Paris, Boston, New Orleans Heritage, London, Tel Aviv, Freiburg, and Mexico.
Latin Beat magazine named him among the most prominent artists of 1996 in the Latin jazz genre. His album Black Bean Blues was named one of the best of the year by Modern Drummer magazine, and Jazziz magazine said Mendoza was “the leader of the vibraphone in this (Latin Jazz) genre, and one of his most imaginative composers.”