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(Photo courtesy: U.S. Navy)
Senior Chief Musician Luis Hernandez from Miami celebrated his retirement from the Navy after 26 years of service on June 17.
Hernandez joined the Navy Band Commodores jazz ensemble, the Navy’s premier jazz band, in 1996 as a tenor saxophonist.
Hernandez attended the University of North Texas where he earned a Bachelor of Music in jazz studies. As a civilian he performed with world renowned artists and won a Latin Grammy in 2008 for best Latin Jazz Album of the year with the Afro-Bop alliance.
He has shared the stage with the Brecker Brothers, Jon Hendricks, Louie Bellson, and Gerry Mulligan, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Loston Harris, Keter Betts, Dave Samuels, Poncho Sanchez, Arturo O’Farrill, the Temptations, Vanessa Ruben, Mary Wilson, the Richmond Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony featuring Ray LaMontagne, and the Washington Symphony Orchestra featuring Leslie Uggams.
In 2002, he was a semifinalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition.
During a small ceremony shared with family and fellow Commodores members, Capt. Kenneth Collins, commanding officer of the United States Navy Band, presented Hernandez with the Meritorious Service Medal in recognition of his outstanding 26 years of service.
