Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Pablo grew up in northern Arizona on the Navajo Indian Reservation and in Billings, Montana. He studied classical trumpet at Lawrence University with Robert Levy, receiving a Bachelor of Music degree. Following a year of Graduate study in classical trumpet with Dennis Najoom at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he moved to New Orleans, where he studied with Terence Blanchard, Clyde Kerr Jr. and Ed Petersen, and received a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from the University of New Orleans.
After two years in New Orleans, Pablo moved to Omaha Nebraska in 2004, where he was an active freelancer, performing across the Midwest. He attended the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency at the Kennedy Center in 2007 and also participated in the Banff Centre’s Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music in 2009, led by Dave Douglas. In 2009 he released his first album of original compositions, titled “Half Past”, featuring Omaha musicians Chris Steinke on saxophone, Mitch Towne on piano, Anthony King on bass, and Dana Murray on drums.
Pablo moved to New York City in 2009, and has become an active freelancer and educator. He has performed at New York venues including Joe’s Pub, The Blue Note, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Waldorf Astoria, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Irving Plaza, Littlefield, and The Cornelia Street Cafe, among others. In addition to his own group showcasing Pablo’s original music around New York City, he has performed with a variety of New York based ensembles including Kyle Saulnier’s Awakening Orchestra, Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse Big Band, and the David White Jazz Orchestra.
In 2012 Pablo released his second recording with a quintet of musicians from New York, titled “Intrinsic”, featuring Chad Lefkowitz-Brown on Tenor Sax, Alex Brown on Piano, Linda Oh on Bass, and Jared Schonig on Drums.
After the release of “Intrinsic”, Pablo decided to pursue writing music for a smaller ensemble. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, he went into the studio with Aidan Carrol on bass and Jared Schonig on drums. This project, titled “Rubicon”, was released June 30th, 2014 and features five original compositions written for Trumpet/Bass/Drums.
Pablo has appeared across the United States and Europe including New York, Seattle, Portland, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Kansas City, Washington DC, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Poland. Pablo has presented concerts and masterclasses at Rocky Mountain College, South Dakota State University, Augustana University, and Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
In February 2015 Pablo traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan where he was a guest artist with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music for their Winter Academy. While there he gave individual and group lessons to the school’s brass students, taught a series of introductory jazz classes, performed in recitals, and assisted with outreach for Afghanistan’s only music school.
Pablo released “Thought and Memory”, an album of seven of his compositions, on September 8th, 2023, on Brooklyn Jazz Underground (BJU) records. It was recorded on May 9th, 2022 at Big Orange Sheep in Brooklyn, NY by Michael Perez-Cisneros. This album features Adam Hutcheson on saxophone, Jeff McLaughlin on guitar, Jeff Koch on bass, and David Hawkins on drums.
Pablo currently lives in Brooklyn, where is he on the teaching faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.