Bill Ortiz's sweet, full tone and clear, assertive trumpet attack have made him one of the most in-demand players on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. His performing and recording credits include work with such diverse artists and groups as Patti Austin, Cachao, Don Cherry, The Dramatics, Destiny's Child, En Vogue, Sheila E, James Ingram, Tito Puente, Flora Purim And Airto, Todd Rundgren, Arturo Sandoval, Boz Scaggs, TLC, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Cecil Taylor, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and Steve Winwood. In addition, Bill has been very active as a studio musician in Hip-Hop,R&B and Jazz.

San Francisco born, Bill took up the trumpet at age 10 and played in R&B bands as a teenager. He feels that this experience was invaluable to his subsequent jazz work. "I consider myself a jazz player," he states, "but my musical upbringing contains a large amount of latin playing - I'm part cuban myself, ...(more)