Steve Alcalá

For over 45 years, Steve Alcalá has dedicated his life to music education and has been an advocate for Latin Jazz since the early 1980s in the Fresno area. He taught for 32 years in Fresno Unified School District - 30 of those years at his alma mater, Roosevelt High School - where established the first high school Latin jazz class in the country circa 1983, as well as one of the first high school mariachi classes in California in 1989. In 1992, he also created the Roosevelt Steel Drum Band. An advocate for higher education, he also founded the Fresno City College Latin Jazz Ensemble in 1989. Many of these ensembles performed at conferences and festivals nationally and internationally, including the Monterey Jazz festival, the re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty in New York, and throughout Mexico.

Mr. Alcala is an original founding board member and served as president of Arte Americas, a Fresno based Mexican art museum. During his tenure, he established and curated the Latin Jazz Festival (1989-1996) in downtown Fresno featuring performers such as Tito, Puente, Pete Escovedo, Dave Valentin, Rebeca Mauleón and many other Latin jazz luminaries. In 1992, Steve Alcala established 3-2 Music Publishing specializing in the sale of Latin Jazz sheet music for high schools, colleges, and professional musicians globally - the first catalog that provided sheet music of Eddie Palmieri, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Oscar Hernández) Poncho Sanchez, Wayne Wallace, Rebeca Mauleón, Hilario Durán, Roland Vazquez and many other legendary Latin jazz artists.

In 2023 Steve received one of four California Arts Council “Legacy Awards.” He has been recognized by NPR for his achievements as a music educator, musician and promoter of Latin Jazz. In 2024, he received a significant grant from the Fresno Arts Council/Measure P, the first local tax to support parks and local arts organizations. Through this grant, Steve established the first Latin JazzFresno Big Band, which has performed ten public concerts throughout the city of Fresno at no charge.

Currently Steve teaches part-time at Liberty Charter School in Madera where he established both the first music and mariachi programs for the district. He continues to perform with his former students in his own bands and in recording sessions with his own groups, Rumba 32 and the Latin Jazz Ambassadors Big Band. It is clear that Mr. Alcala has had a profound impact on many students through his significant and lasting contributions to the field of music education.