Jack Yaguda (GUDA) is a multi-instrumentalist/composer/producer hailing from Portland, Oregon. His unique brand of psychedelic electronic music incorporates a wide variety of influences including glitch hop, down tempo, Jazz, Classical, and hip hop, among others. Look out for some tenor saxophone in a live setting!
Yaguda was born in the culturally rich area around New York City. Being constantly surrounded by music and dance, it was only natural for him (being from a musical family as well) to get involved at a young age. He began studying piano at age five and percussion fairly soon after. One of the most important musical experiences for Jack was when he saw Savion Glover; the world’s greatest hip hop tap dancer. This greatly influenced Jack’s percussion and rhythmic understanding, and also inspired Yaguda to heavily study the art of “hoofing”: the hiphop form of tap dancing for almost fifteen years.
When he was 9 years old his family decided to move out of the city and live in Vermont. This was a difficult transition for Jack, but interestingly did not hinder his involvement in music in the least. For it was here that he learned to play drum set, djembe, didgeridoo, beatbox, the euphonium horn, and eventually the instrument that really captured Yaguda’s heart: the tenor saxophone. The saxophone pushed him into a 6-year obsessive immersion into the art of jazz music. It was during this period that he studied with Fred Haas, and John Mckenna; a couple of the great saxophone masters of the north-eastern U.S.
After graduating High School, Yaguda made the decision to take some time off from school before heading off to college so he could travel the world. He spent three months in North India experiencing the culture, nature, and music. In Varanasi, the Indian classical music central hub of India, Yaguda had the immense honor of studying with a young, but very highly regarded tabla guru for 2 weeks. This two week musical immersion consisted of 2 hour lessons everyday followed by any where from 3-6 hours of practice on his own. Tabla is now a very important part of Yaguda’s musical arsenal.
Yaguda is now an undergraduate Music Major at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. There he focuses on Jazz performance and Acoustic and Electronic composition.
The west coast is where Jack was introduced to the world of Psychedelic music. After seeing bands such as Dark Star Orchestra, Lotus, The String Cheese Incident, Pretty Lights, and Bassnectar, Yaguda’s mind was open to the prospect of combining his background with jazz, classical, and Indian music with the infinite possibilities of psychedelic and electronic music. Jack has been perfecting this art for the past two years, and is finally ready to unleash his sounds on the Public.