Will Roman was born in Jersey City, NJ with native roots from the island of Puerto Rico. Will is a self-taught musician who began feeling the Latin pulse of “La Clave” at the age of 3 and began playing the congas at the age of 5. While living in New Jersey, he developed his skills playing Traditional Cuban Son, Timba and Salsa music with his father. Will’s introduction into Latin music took birth while his father would play the captivating music that would soon introduce Will to some of his greatest musical influences such as Giovanni Hidalgo, Eddie Montalvo and Tito Puente. His father would test him and ensure that he knew each band’s musical style and could mimic the percussive playing in each track. Through this teaching, Will has been able to develop his own sound on the tambor (drum).

Over the course of his musical career, Will has performed for more than 250,000 people varying in festivals, concerts, private events throughout the U.S, as well as Puerto Rico and France.

Currently, Will is an Associate member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) for the Grammy Pro Washington D.C Chapter. Will also keeps busy with his YouTube channel, “Roman Percussion” that he started during the pandemic, where he uses a different teaching format then others, providing tips and showing various percussion rhythms to learn in a tempo format rather than step by step guides.

INSTRUMENTS THAT WILL MASTERS/PLAYS:

Congas / Bongos / Timbales / Djembe / Cajon / Surdo / Barril de Bomba / Pandero de Plena / Cua / Drum Set / Bata / All minor percussion (Clave, Guiro, Maracas, Cowbell)

MUSICAL STYLES THAT WILL MASTERS/PLAYS:

Salsa / Timba / Son Cubano / Rumba / Changui / Bomba / Plena / R&B / Pop / Go-Go / Hip Hop / Jazz / Latin Jazz / Merengue / Cumbia / Bossa Nova / Samba

WILL IS PRESENTLY PERFORMING WITH:

Timbason (2010-Present) / Kevin Davis & Ban Caribe (2010-Present) / Bio Ritmo (2013-Present) / Conjunto Sazon (2013-Present) / Quinto Son (2014-Present) / Miramar (2015-Present) / Raul Morel y Orquesta (2015-Present) / Rafael Ortiz y Tumbao Urbano (2017-Present) / Kadencia (2018-Present)

WILL HAS PERFORMED WITH:

Dogtown Dance Theatre (2015-2017) / VCU Greater Richmond Jazz Band (2010-2011) / University of Richmond Jazz Band- Cuban Spectacular (2011-2012) / Tropiikkimba (2010-2015) / Dance Candy (2014-2016) / Lynchburg College (2015-2016) / Dogtown Dance Theatre (2015-2017) / Orquesta Curare (2016-2017) / Mikrowaves (2016-2017) / Mike Davison & Latin Jazz Messengers (2016-2018) / Liberation Church International (2016-2018)

WILL HAS WORKED WITH THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS:

Carlos Mojica (2016)- Congas

David Gonzalez Jr (2016)- Congas

Luisito Rosario (2017)- Timbales

Isis “La Enfermera de la Salsa” (2017)- Timbales

Melina Almadovar (2017 & 2019)- Timbales and Bongos

Van Lester (2018)- Bongos

Wilson “Chembo” Corniel (2018)- Bongos

Frankie Vasquez (2018)- Bongos

Tito Puente Jr (2019)- Bongos

WILL HAS PARTICIPATED RECENTLY IN THE FOLLOWING WORKS:

-Kadencia- “No Me Quite El Tambor” (Timbales, Cowbell)

-Kadencia- “Oye” (Congas, Timbales, Cowbell)

- NPR Tiny Desk with “Bio Ritmo” (107,251 YouTube views)

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

www.YouTube.com/romanpercussion

www.Instagram.com/romanpercussion

ARTIST TESTIMONIAL:

They have provided an opportunity to be a part of a continuously growing family with support when you need it and Soultone is always being innovative to different sounds and sizes of cymbals. Artist Relations have been AWESOME, they are very professional, kind and helpful!