Born and raised in Humacao, Puerto Rico, José Rosa has been performing on percussion instruments since he was five years old. At age 11, he started formal music lessons with Professor Jose “Tito” Rivera at the Escuela Libre De Música de Humacao.



At 12 years of age, Jose Rosa started performing with Humacao Symphonic Band under the direction of Professor German Peña Plaza. With the Humacao Symphonic Band, Jose traveled to Venezuela, New York, Costa Rica, Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic.



At age 14, Jose Rosa received formal percussion lessons from Professor Jose "Pepe" Torres at the Escuela Libre de Música de Caguas. Under Torres direction, Jose performed with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Puerto Rico State Band and also with a variety of local bands.



By the age of 17, Jose Rosa was accepted into the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music where he studied percussion with Professor Jose Alicea. Under Alicea's direction, Jose played for the America youth symphony orchestra based in San Juan, Puerto Rico.



In 1994, Jose Rosa moved to Miami, where he attended the University of Miami and Florida International University.



Through the course of his life, Jose Rosa has had the opportunity to perform with renown artists such as Arturo Sandoval, Tito Puente, Marcos Barrientos, Gerson Kelly, Danilo Montero, Mike Orta, Bobby Cruz, Jose "Papo" Rivera, “Steel Pan virtuoso” Liam Teague, Gregg Bissonnette, etc...



Jose Rosa has also performed at the Disney’s Animal Kingdom “Tarzan Rocks” and “The Village Beatniks” shows, at the Universal Studios Florida “The I Love Lucy tribute show!”,”The Paul Vesco Orchestra”,“Michael Andrews & Swingerhead”, and many others.



Jose Rosa currently resides in Orlando, Florida where he performs, does recordings and also teaches percussion on a regular basis.



He also leads his own percussion group called “Los Rumberos de El Nuevo Dia”, his latin jazz band "Jose Rosa and Friends" and also co-leads with Hector "Pocho" Neciosup a fusion Latin-American Jazz band named: "Tinya". In addition, he can also be heard and seen in many radio ads and TV programs like syndicated PBS program “Jazz Then and Now” and also on the Travel channel in the program " The making of Disney's Animal Kingdom".



Jose Rosa has also co-written several instructional books with his long time friend Professor Hector ”Pocho” Neciosup some of the titles are: Award winning:"The Book of Contemporary Conga Techniques", "Beyond The Secret Hand / Mas alla de la Mano Secreta" published by Hal Leonard Corporation,"The Contemporary Latin Drummer minus one", "The Contemporary Latin-American Percussionist", among many others...



José Rosa is an active member of the American Federation of Musicians (Local 389), Percussive Arts Society, ASCAP, MENC, International Associations of Jazz Educators, International Association of Music Educators, Christian Educators Association International.