Showcase of CD Nuevo Mundo / Ms. Ayllon's debut in a jazz context
Trumpeter and composer Gabriel Alegria has developed a unique form of World Jazz that combines his distinctive approach to the jazz trumpet with the rich heritage of Afro-Peruvian music.
Alegria will appear at Joe's Pub with his Afro-Peruvian Sextet featuring saxophonist Laurandrea Leguia; acoustic guitarist Yuri Juarez; bassist Ramon de Bruyn, drummer Hugo Alcazar and master percussionist Freddy “Huevito" Lobaton, who plays the traditional Afro-Peruvian instruments cajon (box drum) and quijada (jaw bone) and adds spectacular passages of zapateo dancing to each performance.
Alegria and his Afro-Peruvian Sextet will be joined at Joe's Pub by the renowned Peruvian vocalist Eva Ayllon.
The ensemble will also accompany Ms. Ayllon in her first public performance in a jazz context in advance of her appearance with the Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet at the Festival Internacional Jazz Peru in March 2008.
A native of Lima, Peru, Gabriel Alegria is the founder and artistic director of Jazz Peru Internacional (JPI), the premier jazz arts and cultural exchange organization in his homeland and producer of the annual Festival Internacional Jazz Peru. Alegria was recently named Associate Director of the Jazz Studies Program at New York University and has been living in New York City since September 2007.
Eva Ayllon is a renowned vocalist revered as the “Queen of Lando" not only in her native Peru but also around the world. Ms. Ayllon's stature in Afro-Peruvian music circles is comparable to Cesria vora's in the world of the morna music of Cape Verde or the late Cuban salsa star Celia Cruz.
Gabriel's a wonderful trumpet player and composer creating a sound few people have heard. Very Fresh! --Maria Schneider
In 2000 Alegria founded Jazz Peru Internacional (JPI), Peru's premier jazz arts and cultural exchange organization whose goal is to spread the message of peace, love and joy found in Afro-Peruvian music around the world. Under the auspices of JPI, countless artists, students and music fans have toured internationally and Alegria continues to work for the internationalization of Afro- Peruvian jazz music and education.
Alegria combines his experience playing jazz as it developed in the U.S. with a passionate interest and careful study of the black music of coastal Per. By incorporating and exploring the
common African roots found in both styles, he has developed a uniquely Afro-Peruvian jazz music concept. With the release in 2002 of Un Rezo, Alegria's recording debut as a leader, many Afro-Peruvian rhythmic concepts were introduced into the mainstream jazz language for the first time. The CD Nuevo Mundo includes collaborations with jazz artist Tierney Sutton, Bobby Shew, Russell Ferrante and Bill Watrous as well as with the formidable native Afro- Peruvian artists Freddy “Huevito" Lobaton (Peruvian percussion - cajon, quijada, cajita), Hugo Alcazar (drums), Jocho Velazquez (acoustic guitar) and Joscha Oetz (bass). The CD, which includes six compositions by Alegria and his Afro-Peruvian jazz arrangement of the Gershwin classic “Summertime," represents, represents his most varied work as a trumpeter and composer to date.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet w/ special guest vocalist Eva Ayllon
The Aurea CD Project - Geoffrey Keezer
Group: Geoffrey Keezer, Ron Blake, Steve Wilson, Essiet Essiet, Jon Wikan, Sofia Koutsovitis, Mike Moreno and Hugo Alcazar.
Follow along with Geoffrey through ArtistShare as he writes three new compositions to complete his new CD (Delivered in December 2008) with his band ÁUREA
See sketches of the new compositions as they unfold and hear clips from the first rehearsals through to the final recording session
Learn how Geoffrey got interested in Afro-Peruvian music and hear how this relates to his new compositions and the recording of the ÁUREA CD .
Be credited on the ÁUREA CD for helping make this recording possible
Greetings! Welcome to my brand new musical adventure called ÁUREA. After nearly 20 years (yikes!) in the jazz piano and composing business, I can say with complete confidence and enthusiasm that I've never been as excited about making a new CD as am about this one! As a participant, you'll get an exclusive pass to experience the completion of this significant recording as my special guest. Through this project you will gain exclusive insight into my creative process, and a window into the wonderful, crazy world of making music with a band of international all-stars!
Ingrid Jensen - At Sea
Ingrid Jensen Artist Share (2006)
By Russ Musto
Personnel: Ingrid Jensen: trumpet, flugelhorn; Geoffrey Keezer: piano, Fender Rhodes, keyboards; Matt Clohesy: bass; John Wikan: drums, percussion; Lage Lund: guitar; Hugo Alcazar: percussion.
Ingrid Jensen’s ArtistShare debut offers a fresh insight into a worldly trumpeter already established as a formidable player in the hard bop idiom. On At Sea she embarks on a journey into the often treacherous territory of post-Miles electro/acoustic jazz (where other trumpeters' individual voices are frequently eclipsed) and proves that she is a truly original composer.
Dispensing with the customary front-line foil of a saxophonist, Jensen surrounds her sound with Geoff Keezer’s orchestral keyboard accompaniment. The title track is a plaintive piece (with an ethereal ECM-ish atmosphere) that dynamically builds in intensity while maintaining a captivating lyricism. A cymbal interlude by drummer Jon Wikan, “Storm,” connects the opener to Keezer’s dedication “Captain Jon,” a powerful straightahead cooker that takes on a Latin flavor.
“As Love Does” begins impressionistically before gradually transforming into a melodic ballad that showcases Matt Clohesy’s tasteful bass playing and Keezer’s virtuoso touch. “Tea and Watercolors,” by Keezer, is another spacious outing in a Miles-ish mood that features Jensen’s piercing muted trumpet and guest artist Lage Lund’s lithe electric guitar.
The final two original selections—the delightfully playful “Swotterings” (again with Lund on guitar) and the moving tribute “KD Lang,” an episodic suite with compelling contributions by each of the quartet’s members—mark a turning point in Jensen’s career, one clearly headed in the right direction.
Visit Ingrid Jensen on the web. Ingrid Jensen at All About Jazz.
Track listing: At Sea; Storm; Captain Jon; As Love Does; Tea & Watercolors; There Is No Greater Love; Everything I Love; Swotterings; KD Lang.
Style: Mainstream/Bop/Hard Bop/Cool Published: May 29, 2006 This article first appeared in All About Jazz: New York.
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Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra - Walt Disney Concert Hall
© 2008 Reed Business Information
Dianne Reaves, Jon Wikan, Ingrid Jensen, Hugo Alcazar, Maria Schneider and Steve Wilson.
Posted: Thurs., Feb. 9, 2006, 3:52pm PT
Band: Steve Wilson, Charles Pillow, Rich Perry, Donny McCaslin, Scott Robinson, Tony Kadleck, Greg Gisbert, Jon Owens, Ingrid Jensen, Keith O'Quinn, Rock Ciccarone, Larry Farrell, George Flynn, Ben Monder, Frank Kimbrough, Jay Anderson, Clarence Penn, Jon Wikan, Hugo Alcazar. Conductor: Maria Schneider. Reviewed Feb. 8, 2006.
By RICHARD S. GINELL
In fact, there were a couple of passages that rose to the spine-chilling level of sublime -- and when was the last time that happened at a big band concert?
There are overt displays of autobiography in Schneider's work, distinct storylines, moments when the pulse disappears and the mood is everything. Indeed, Schneider's band has more of a kinship with Europe's adventurous big bands than it does with her mostly tradition-shackled American colleagues.
The opening number, the title track from "Concert in the Garden," set the table gorgeously, with gong-like use of cymbals, a high note on the accordion resembling the whine of bowed crotales, clusters from the piano and a samba groove gently propelling the piece on its way.
The evening's other revelation was "The Pretty Road," which Schneider described at length as a love song to her hometown of Windom, Minn. It's a narrative tone poem, opening with plain, sturdy Midwestern harmonies, building in volume and drive until it dissolves in a tranquil, idyllic, touching vision of a small town as seen from high on a hill.
"Aires de Lando," a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, explored South American cross-rhythms in a laid-back, tango-like groove, and "Hang Gliding" was a graphic play-by-play of the thrills and terror of a hang gliding episode Schneider experienced in Brazil.
Big-band concerts usually strive to leave you breathless and super-charged. This one made you feel contemplative, absorbed, emotionally moved. Just like Gil.
Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=story&r=VE1117929548&c=34
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