Introductions and Expectations

Hello! This post is going to be an introduction to who I am and what the goals of this blog are.

My name is Enrique Vargas and I’m a 23-year-old musician living in Chicago, Illinois. I’m interested in a lot of styles of music, although I’m particularly interested in jazz, funk, pop, and electronic music. I graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2024, where I studied jazz performance on electric and double bass, as well as production and arranging.

When I was younger, I was involved in every music program around me. By the time I was in highschool, I was in the orchestra, choir, guitar, and jazz band classes. I mostly focused on classical double bass and rock guitar. I started at Berklee as a guitarist and quickly switched my instrument to electric bass, an instrument I was much more excited to explore. While I focused on jazz and funk, I still had that passion to explore different styles of music. I dove into avant-garde jazz, West African djembe, and odd meter latin jazz, trying to draw connections between the different styles. I’ve learned that I’m much more interested in the more general concepts of music, that cross all genres: what makes something groove, what creates energy and anticipation, what makes music feel intimate, what drives musicians and music-lovers towards music, etc.

This blog aims to explore these larger concepts. I plan to break down music created by artists, producers, and performers to find out what makes it appealing. Whether it’s John Coltrane’s hour long solos, or Charli XCX’s creative production style, or D’Angelo’s massive influence, I want to write articles that dive deep, but are also accessible and applicable to most people. This will help me improve as a musician and a communicator.

I find it difficult to find spaces online where discussion is open and respectful, so I hope this can be a nice change of pace. Please feel free to send me a message if you find anything interesting or disagree with things I say!

-Enrique