Composer/musician/engineer/producer John Ugarte began playing the piano when he was 4-years-old, adding the guitar at 8, the drums at 12, and the bass at 15.  Born in San Francisco, he also spent some of his teenage years growing up in New York City, experiencing an urban environment, which would add to his musical influences.  Since he was 15, John’s performed live in 15 bands whose music ranged from progressive rock to jazz, Latin jazz, Spanish folk, and alternative rock.  “While I use the piano to compose, and play the bass when performing live, I spend a lot of time with the drums now, because that’s an area that can still use some improvement, “ he comically added. 

John has composed for film, television, radio, dance and theatre for over 20 years, working on such diverse projects as Steven Spielberg’s “Lost Children of Berlin”, and music for the Mark Taper Forum Theatre Series for New Playwrights.  

He’s produced back to back Los Angeles Music Award winning records, and has recorded and mixed over 100 CD projects in the past 10 years, garnering bass, keys, percussion, guitar and vocal credits along the way. 

As the chief engineer at the Track House since 1991, John’s worked with a wide spectrum of artists including the late master guitar virtuoso Laurindo Almeida; contemporary jazz’s Gerald Albright; Rap icon Ice-T; Pop superstar Dionne Warwick; Rock & Roll bad boys Motorhead & Quiet Riot; and Earth Wind & Fire’s saxman Andrew Woolfolk.