With multiple Grammy Award nominations and over 100 original compositions to his credit, John Santos is one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today with a career spanning five decades. He was founder and director of the internationally renowned Machete Ensemble and currently directs the Cubadisco-nominated John Santos Sextet.

A nationally-known torch-bearer of the Latin jazz tradition, John has performed and recorded with masters such as Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Cachao, Eddie Palmieri, Omar Sosa, John Faddis, Susana Baca, Lalo Schifrin, McCoy Tyner, Zakir Hussein, SF Jazz Collective, Giovanni Hidalgo, Armando Peraza, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Arturo O'Farrill, Charlie Hunter, Joyce Cooling, Gonzalo Rubalcava, Miguel Zenon and Carlos Santana.

John was recently the subject of the documentary film Santos: Skin to Skin, by Kathryn Golden and Ashley James and was featured prominently in the PBS American Masters documentary, Cachao: Uno Mas. He has written for, or performed with, the SF and Oakland Ballets and the Oakland Symphony and was 2013-2014 SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director. He was the director of the first Cuban-style charanga orchestra in San Francisco, Orquesta Tipica Cienfuegos (1976-1980) and the award-winning Orquesta Batachanga (1981-1985).

He has served on the Smithsonian Institutions’ Latin Jazz Advisory Committee and as a faculty member at the California Jazz Conservatory, San Francisco State University, the College of San Mateo and Jazz Camp West. John has also lectured extensively and conducted countless clinics in the United States, Europe and Latin America including such prestigious institutions as Yale, Stanford, UCLA, Manhattan School of Music, Berklee School of Music and La Universidad Inter-Americana in San Germán Puerto Rico. He has contributed to the international magazines Percussive Notes, Modern Drummer, Modern Percussionist and Latin Percussionist.

The John Santos Sextet is made up of some of the most distinguished Latin jazz artists on the West Coast. The Sextet’s latest album, Horizontes, features 14 musical guests and was released in January 2025.