Omar Sosa: Aleatoric EFX: Live Solo Concert - Radio Bremen (2004)

C. Michael Bailey

Senior Contributor since 1997

...wants to know if Gene Harris is playing "Summertime" in Heaven...

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Published: August 7, 2004

Omar Sosa: Aleatoric EFX: Live Solo Concert - Radio Bremen

It may be a bit disingenuous to say that Aleatoric EFX may become the next Köln Concert. Keith Jarrett's 1975 masterpiece could legitimately claim to have given birth to the New Age music genre. By today's standards, the Köln Concert perhaps does not seem so novel. It seems our sensibilities may need to be pushed a little, and Omar Sosa is here to do that. A native of Camaguey, Cuba, Sosa offers a quietly impressionistic vision of Latin-African-Caribbean music to the tornadic forces expressed by fellow countryman Chucho Valdés. Aleatoric EFX is great evidence of this impressionistic vision. It is a collection of original compositions, vignettes with key signatures that Sosa presented to Radio Bremen on November 22, 2003. They have traditional titles like "Impromptu in D Minor" and whimsical titles like "Intense Moon in F# Minor."

The performance, while filled with whimsy, possesses a brooding and thoughtful undercurrent. This music is more tangible in form and less tangible in mood than the famed Jarrett solo concerts. While Jarrett's solo performances are extended ruminations that conform to harmonic and melodic boundaries, Sosa's short pieces are less tethered by time signature and form. They are almost amorphous, filmy and opaque. This music will certainly appeal to the listeners of the earlier Sosa releases and anyone interested in a free vision for the piano.

This disc is only available from Omar Sosa online .

Track Listing: Follow My Shadow; Impromptu In D Minor; Mute Ostinato In C; Pentatonic Research; Dias De Lyawo; Sobre Un Manto En E Minor; Intense Moon In F# Major; Siberian Home; Muevete En D.

Personnel: Omar Sosa--Piano, Effects.

Record Label: Ota Records
Style: Latin/World