Bio

Sebastian Arias grew up in a small town in Costa Rica where he began to play music and take lessons at the age of 9. He took up electric bass when he was 11 and upright bass when he was 13. He first visited the United States in Summer of 2014 to attend the Benny Golson Jazz Festival, where after spending a week learning from and watching artists such as Carl Allen, Rodney Whitaker, Rodney Jones, Reggie Thomas, among others, felt inspired to pursue jazz music as one of his primary focuses from then on. At the age of 18 he moved to the state of Utah, where he got his Bachelor’s Degree in Commercial Music from Snow College. There, he developed his jazz bass studies under the instruction of Philip Kuehn, as well as other mentors such as Carl Allen and Chase Baird, and was an active player in the Salt Lake City jazz and pop scene during this time. In 2023, he moved to Kansas City to pursue his Master’s Degree at UMKC, continuing to study under the instruction of Carl Allen as well as other instructors such as Eric Hitt and Jeff Harshbarger. Since moving to Kansas City, he has continued to maintain a busy performing schedule within the local jazz scene. He was also selected to attend the prestigious JAS Academy in Aspen in 2024, where he worked under the artistic direction of Christian McBride. During the program, he got to perform with Grammy-winning singer Lisa Fischer, as well as receive mentorship from acclaimed artists such as Shelly Berg, Chuck Bergeron, Brian Lynch among others.

Some of the artists Sebastian has performed with include Chase Baird, Adam Larson, Electric Tinks, Peter Schlamb, Roger Wilder, Matt Villinger, Michael Eaton, Trample Man, Marcus Lewis’ Brass & Boujee, Stephen Martin, Matt Otto, Stan Kessler, David Halliday, Danny Embrey, Matt Hopper, and many others.