Born in a small town in the border between Venezuela and Colombia, Jose started engaging in music at the age of 4, participating in school choirs, church bands and "Parrandones" (a Venezuelan Christmas celebration. At the age of 12 he would join El Sistema from 2013 to 2014, he later left the country to move to the US, where he would pick up the percussive arts at the age of 15, graduating from Serrano High School with the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award and receiving a full tuition scholarship to attend Berklee, where he currently studies Music Education. Jose comes from a long tradition of educators, most of his family is made up of professors and elementary school teachers.