By all accounts, Pablo Correa is an achiever. And I would hesitate to say he's an over-achiever because he doesn't strike me as someone who has ever had a complete idea of how much he is capable of. A multi-instrumentalist quickly making his mark as a songwriter and producer as well, Correa seems baffled by the acceptance and relatively easy entry he has had into the bands and creative endeavors of the people he has worked with to date. At the same time, he is equally nonchalant about the relatively lack of difficulty for him to create those opportunities through his talent and hard work in the first place. Need to figure out a way to pay your tuition for the music school you want to study at? Then get a job answering phones for that very same school. You're one of too many drummers in your band? Then pick up another instrument. Or two. And play. For many people, obstacles become mountains that are impossible to overcome. For Correa, a mountain would just be a good reason to finally take up that rock climbing hobby he had always though about. We spoke with Correa on the phone during a break in his project juggling.

The latest thing is I'm playing for a friend of mine, Leslie Paula, in her band. She's finishing her new CD and I wrote three of the songs and did the arrangements for two of them. It's kind of like a salsa band - 15 piece. She's been around for several years. She's pretty well known in the Latin market. She plays a lot of the summer festivals — stuff like that.

Hussain Jiffry, the bass player and teacher at the LA Music Academy. I performed with him once and awhile with this sax player Robert Kile. And they both had worked with her. In fact, right now, Robert is working with her. He's the producer of her new CD. I started playing with her two years ago. I started just playing the drums, then things kept getting better. The relationship was better, and she started seeing me as a writer of music and songs, doing arrangements and things like that. So she started giving me more chances to work with her [in that capacity].

In January 1999, a friend of mine who is also a graduate student, Alberto Albis, a bass player from Columbia, he came six months before I did. And he called me once he was here and said, "Man, you've got to come down here. This is the place. This is the place to get to study what we really want to study." We had studied together at one of the best universities in Columbia — Universidad de los Andes. We had worked on classical harmonies - stuff like that - and I wanted to work on more popular stuff like Jazz, Rock and Pop or, say, Punk — any of that stuff. We never got to study that. We played it, but we were raised on Latin music so we never learned the basics of it. So he said, "Here is where they give you all the basic information about the Pop music. You've got to come here."
So I made it happen somehow. I made some arrangements with the school to pay the tuition. I was working for the school.

Yeah, I was working at the front desk.

I was definitely impressed. They had places for the drummers to practice in the evenings after classes were over, and the equipment, and the teachers — that was the main reason I came to the LA Music Academy. To get here and see guys like Ralph Humphrey — who was an idol to me. I learned a lot and now to see him, and he's still an idol. I was his student, and now he's like a friend, you know? So many times, he's helped me. He's great.

I would say the main thing is to be a professional musician. That's what they taught me here. There are rules. There are parameters to being a professional musician. You have to be a good reader. They teach you how to be a good reader. How to behave in a professional environment. Somewhere else they may show you the technical stuff, how to do it, this is the way it should be done, but then you don't have anywhere to apply it. Here, at the same time you are growing as a musician, you're also getting an opportunity to get out and play. When you're still in school, you can get into the ensemble performances. For example, Ralph's class — the guys that were playing in the ensemble were Steve Billman [bass player and instructor] and Brad Rabuchin [guitar player and instructor], and those guys are from a different planet. And you'd get a chance to play with them every Monday! By the time you would get out, you already would have it going on. You'd know how to behave and approach the different styles. How to play it safe if you aren't familiar with it right away, so you wouldn't look like somebody who doesn't know.

From '99 to 2000 — a year. Then when I was finishing school, I was in one of those bands that they do every six months, those performances that you have to do. So I was in the Latin band. And it was led by Hussain Jiffry. And since I had studied music - I had studied saxophone and keyboards before I got to the LA Music Academy — well, we had like four or five drummers in the same band — so, for one song he used me as a drummer, and then I said, "You know, I know how to play a little bit of this and a little bit of that." So I started playing some other instruments for him, I started playing keyboards for a song and saxophone for another song, and I guess he really liked that.
Then, we were at a gig for Sergio Mendes. I went to see them play, and Mike Shapiro was drumming for the band and Hussain was playing bass. Afterwards, I went up to Hussain to say, "You played great," and he said I want to introduce you to some of the other musicians here because they might be able to use you. That was kind of like my graduation. I got introduced by Hussain to some people and one of them was Alessa, and I produced a CD for her a couple of years ago. I produced it with a friend of mine, and that was a great experience for me. It was when I first started working in a studio with pro tools and all that stuff.

Right. And at the same time, Hussain and the LA Music Academy started hiring me to play in the ensembles at school. So I started getting a little more involved at the school at the same time I was doing these other projects around town. And then I got a call from another friend to play with this band that is very popular down in South America. They play like, Spanish Pop Rock. Vilma Palma is the name of the band. Right now, I am the musical director for them, and I play the saxophone and play percussion for them. And we toured eight months ago for about six months, and it was amazing. Those guys are really popular.
We played in Columbia in my hometown, and I was the only one from Columbia in the band. So, we went to the capitol of Columbia, and we're playing in a stadium for 40,000 people. And this guy is introducing everyone from the band, and when he got to me, he got down on his knees and said, "And this guy — from Columbia..!" And everyone went nuts. I was holding a flag from Columbia, and I couldn't play for like, five minutes, I had so much going on inside — I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream — it was amazing. After that, the tour continued through Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina before we went back to Columbia. Now they're working on a new CD. They're back in Argentina recording. And I came back here about a month and a half ago and began working on the CD for Leslie Paula.

I feel blessed because I've been given the chance by people like Leslie that trust me and say, "Okay, write me a song." And, you know, I have the pro tools studio at home. So, I write the song in my studio, put the keyboards on it and the horns through the keyboards, as well. I sang it for her, and she was thrilled. She ended up using three of my songs.

No. The main thing is playing the instruments in a band or for somebody. But I have been doing more writing over the past four years. You just keep growing as a musician. Now, when I record and sing on my songs in the studio — more and more I think I can do a pretty good job as a singer. So, now I would like to do a couple things: I want to continue as a producer for other people, but I would also like to try it as a solo artist. I would like to get my music out on a CD as the main guy or the front guy. Show it to some people and see what happens. That's what I will probably try to shoot for in the next year.