José Luis began his studies at the Conservatory in his native city of Valladolid, and after obtaining a degree as Professor of Classical Saxophone he delved into the world of jazz. At this time he became involved with crossover music studying composition, harmony and arrangement at the “Escuela Nacional de Música” in Madrid.

As a student of Barry Harris and Wade Mathews he expanded his interests into the areas of ethnomusicology, musical philosophy y sound art with José Iges.  
In 1996 José Luis was awarded a special scholarship to study with the master Malik Yaqub, with whom he later co-directed several groups.

Jose Luis has led his group (trio, quartet, quintet or sextet) in important festivals such as the International Festival of Jazz in San Sebastián (Jazzaldia), where the newspaper El País acclaimed his performance as the best within a festival “plagued with great talents”. Critiques like this one were echoed at other festivals and programs in Ibiza, Madrid, Mallorca, Murcia, Gijón, Córdoba, Valladolid, Terrassa, Burgos... or Vitoria-Gasteiz where the newspaper El Mundo affirmed: “José Luis Gutiérrez can claim the right to a place of honour in the memory of this festival”.

Attracting musical formations of high quality José Luis Gutiérrez has received praise by audiences and press on innumerable occasions. With his group José Luis has toured internationally in Europe (Italy, Greece, Estonia, Portugal), New York, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela. Morocco, etc. with musicians such of such stature as Chano Domínguez, Chema Sáiz, Carlos Carli, Baldo Martínez, Jimmy Castro, Nirankar Khalsa, Dan Rochlis, Moisés Sánchez, Miguel Ángel Chastang, Bob Mover, Iñigo Azurmendi, Fabrizio Pieroni or Marcelo Martins. 

He has appeared on the following television channels: Vía Digital, CNN, Canal Plus, TVE and the Nacional Greek Television and all the national radios.
In 1998 “Núcleo”, the first of his two CDs was published by Fresh Sound. This CD earned praise as the best jazz disco of the year and gave José Luis the title of key figure in the evolution of jazz in Spain. The second CD continuing with the excellent quality of the first one, was published in 2000 and called “El Ojo De La Aguja”.

José Luis continually performs educational concerts in Spain, having at the time of this writing exceeded 1500 concerts for 500,000 school children from 7 to 12 years of age. 

Since 2002 he is Artistic Director of the Festival Internacional Universijazz in Valladolid and since 2006 promoter of the Festival de Jazz in Castilla y Leon region and others like La GranJazz Festival. His group open all the years the concerts season of the most important jazz club in Spain, Café Central (Madrid). Recently he was honoured to make the stellar performance at the closure of the 51st edition of Valladolid Internacional film week, Seminci.
The quartet is the usual and most common band formation that José Luis Gutiérrez plays with and it is the most refreshing group on the Spanish Jazz scene. They have participated in important international festivals such as: European Jazz Festival in México, International Festival in Milan, International Festival in Clusone, Villacelimontana Jazz Festival (Roma), Jazz & Wine in Montalcino (Italia), Festival de Jazz Iberoamericano de Trujillo (Venezuela), Niterói (Brazil), Festival Internacional de Vitoria, San Sebastián (Jazzaldia), Getxo, Galapagar, Sevilla, etc. The Quartet's repertory is composed of all original pieces written by José Luis and characteristic of his eclectic style that meshes different musical cultures from around the world: the Iberian Peninsula, Eastern Europe, Maghreb, South America, New York, etc.
Among the projects he is working on at this time is one with the fellow saxophonist Jorge Pardo which is attractive because of the joint presence of these two important musicians from the same generation. If Jorge Pardo is described as finding his personal style in the worlds of Jazz and Flamenco, José Luis Gutiérrez is characterized as finding his spot in the world of improvisation and traditional Iberian music.

A second project meriting mention is “Christmas Blues” together with the vocalist from Chicago, Velma Powell. “Christmas Blues” is a modern Christmas concert of high musical quality, for general audiences and families bringing a fun and new vision to popular Christmas carols from around the world. 

Also, José Luis Gutiérrez has played with Paquito D´Rivera, the trumpeter and conga-player Jerry González, the Spanish pianist Chano Domínguez, the world music wind player Javier Paxariño, the Portuguese bass-player Carlos Barretto and with his old master, Mr. Malik Yaqub.