Jazz Articles about Aruán Ortiz

About Aruán Ortiz

Album Review

The profile of Cuban-born pianist Aruan Ortiz climbed a few rungs on the ladder with the release of 2016's Hidden Voices (Intakt Records). The sound there was dark and brooding, as Ortiz constructed geometric musical shapes filled with sharp angles and unexpected tangents. His covers on the recordings--one tune by Thelonious Monk and another by Ornette Coleman--served as clues as to his own iconoclastic approach. Hidden Voices featured the pianist in the trio format with bassist Eric Revis ...

Album Review

Aruán Ortiz: Cub(an)ism

Read "Cub(an)ism" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 4, 2017

Hidden Voices (Intakt Records, 2016) brought Cuban born pianist and composer Aruán Ortiz some long-overdue recognition in the U.S. Cub(an)ism, Ortiz' tenth release, is a solo piano outing and his first such recording in the stand-alone format. Recorded in 2016 in Zürich, Switzerland, the album continues Ortiz' exploration of Cuban Cubism, his method of incorporating cubist principles of faceting and multiple perspectives with folkloric elements. Cub(an)ism consists of ten original Ortiz compositions that blend Afro Cuban and Afro ...

Album Review

Aruan Ortiz Trio: Hidden Voices

Read "Hidden Voices" reviewed by Luca Canini

by Luca Canini
March 7, 2016

Confesso che fino a qualche settimana fa poco o niente sapevo di Aruán Ortiz. Non che il nome del pianista cubano non fosse mai arrivato alle mie orecchie (a suonare con gente come Don Byron, Steve Turre, Esperanza Spalding e Wallace Roney difficilmente si passa inosservati), ma nulla di quanto ascoltato aveva attirato la mia attenzione. Superficialità? Forse. Contesti poco stimolanti? Probabile. Fretta? Può essere. Fatto sta che mi ero convinto di avere a che fare con l'ennesimo “professionista" in ...

Album Review

Aruan Ortiz Trio with Eric Revis and Gerald Cleaver: Hidden Voices

Read "Hidden Voices" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 26, 2016

Cuban born pianist and composer Aruán Ortiz is just now starting to broaden his long-overdue recognition after two decades as a leader or collaborator. More than ten years prior to his new trio release, Hidden Voices, he had drawn favorable comparisons to Chick Corea and Ornette Coleman with Aruán Ortiz Trio Vol. 1 (Pimienta Records, 2004). That outing featured an entirely different group but clearly set the groundwork for Ortiz' unique approach to creating and executing forward-looking music.

Album Review

Aruan Ortiz Trio: Hidden Voices

Read "Hidden Voices" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 17, 2016

The jazz piano trio comes in a wide spectrum of approaches, from the traditional--Red Garland, Tommy Flanagan--to the way out there avant-garde, like Cecil Taylor. When the subject of “Cuban pianists" comes up, some of the first names that come to mind are probably those who work in a traditional vein: Chucho Valdes, perhaps, or maybe Gonzalo Rubalcaba, both of whom work the percolating beauty of Latin rhythms to the hilt. Aruan Ortiz--Cuban-born and now New York-based (after ...

Album Review

Aruan Ortiz Quartet: Orbiting

Read "Orbiting" reviewed by Steve Bryant

by Steve Bryant
June 17, 2013

On an island known for its extensive array of virtuoso pianists, Cuban-born Aruan Ortiz distinguishes himself from the pack by a transcendent approach to his instrument, and an encyclopedic knowledge of styles ranging from traditional Afro- Cuban and classical to bop. He's also a prolific composer. Having roared into New York City and taken it by storm in a variety of settings, he now holds down the piano chair for the visionary Afro Horn MX group, composed a collection of ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with Aruan Ortiz

by AAJ Staff
April 19, 2013

Meet Aruan Ortiz: Named “the latest Cuban wunderkind to arrive in the United States" by BET Jazz, this classically trained violist and pianist from Santiago de Cuba, considers himself “a curious person who loves music," and portrays his music as an architectural structure of sounds, incorporating contemporary classical music, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and improvisation as primary material for his compositions. He has received a number of awards such as Latin Jazz Corner's Arranger of the Year 2011 for his contribution on ...