Aquiles Navarro is a New York-based trumpeter, composer and DJ of Panamanian heritage. He is also the CEO & Founder of River Down Records, a label that focuses on documenting and expanding the creative sounds and minds of Panamá. Aquiles derives his sounds from folkloric music, salsa, reggae and everything that were around. This eclectic music background, based on his upbringing in Panama has led him to collaborate with folkloric musicians, dancers, visual artists, actors, poets and really the world around him. He studied in Panama with tenor player Carlos Garnett and trumpeter Victor “Vitin” Paz. After moving to the US, he received a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory, and a Master’s degree from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami where he studied with trumpeter Brian Lynch. He considers himself an improviser, coalescing his range of influences into a unified sonic vocabulary that can be incorporated across genre and medium.