Cochemea Gastelum

Alto saxophonist Cochemea Gastelum grew up in Spring Valley, CA, graduating from Monte Vista High School there in 1990. His musical destiny, however, was on the other coast, and he relocated to New York City, where he became a key player and session musician in the emerging Afro-soul scene centered in Brooklyn, playing with house ensembles the Budos Band and the Dap-Kings for the Daptone record label and working with a wide array of artists, including Archie Shepp, Paul Simon, Public Enemy, the Roots, Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Amy Winehouse, and Sharon Jones, among many others. He released an album of instrumentals, The Electric Sound of Johnny Arrow, under his own name in 2010.