In June of 2017, The Soto Six was born. Based out of Oceanside, California, the combo spent its early years paying its dues before eventually establishing itself as one of the chief proponents of jazz in San Diego’s North County. In 2019, The Soto Six founded Oceanside’s only live jazz series with the establishment of their monthly residency at Brown Cup Café in the heart of Oceanside’s coastal downtown. The residency became quickly acclaimed, routinely playing to “standing room only” crowds and drawing the attention of such institutions as San Diego’s Jazz 88.3FM, the San Diego Reader magazine, and more.

Spurred off the heels of the success of the Brown Cup residency, in the Summer of 2019 the band accepted hosting duties of one of North County’s only jazz jam sessions located at Vista, California’s Aztec Brewing Co. In this setting, a diverse range of jazz musicians are welcomed to join together in the act of creating music and sharing in melody with one another.

In the Fall of 2019, several members of the combo began a wide-ranging collaboration with pianist/composer Bob Weller. With the establishment of the Weller/Soto Quartet, the multi-generational, multi-ethnic, and multi-gender quartet exploded onto the San Diego jazz scene with performances that celebrate the diversity of life and liberating nature of jazz. In the Summer of 2020, the Quartet released a series of recordings featuring Weller’s original reharmonizations of jazz standards utilizing the concept of Negative Harmony. Available to stream on YouTube, the recordings were captured by Peter Sprague at SpragueLand Studios and feature the Quartet firing on all cylinders with a vigorous, raw improvisational intensity. Presently, the Quartet continues performances concurrently with The Soto Six’s performance schedule.

After being forced into a hiatus from public performances for most of 2020 and 2021 due to the global Covid-19 Pandemic, the Summer of 2021 marked a return to form for The Soto Six. The band added a range of regular appearances at venues throughout the county to their performance schedule. Among these new bookings was the establishment of Oceanside’s only jazz jam session on the last Sunday of every month at Frankie’s in downtown Oceanside. Similar to the Aztec jam session, the Frankie’s jam seeks to bring a welcoming and positive jam environment to all musicians and music lovers. 

Presently, The Soto Six continues to expand their live performance schedule and works to bring live jazz to diverse audiences one performance at a time. The band routinely performs in a variety of settings, with varied instrumentation and personnel, and often with less than six total band members, but one thing is always present: love and passion for the music. There is no telling what the future holds for The Soto Six, but the band would like to thank everyone who has been supportive of their endeavors over the years. No success is possible without the support of others. Thank you all for being here on this journey!

January, 2022