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Joe Santa Maria: Oblique Rhyme
by Jack Kenny
The perennial challenge of balancing individual expression with collective harmony is masterfully addressed by Joe Santa Maria (saxophones), David Tranchina (bass), Gary Fukushima (piano), and Colin Woodford (drums). Their collaboration weaves contemporary jazz with blues and avant-garde elements, crafting an eclectic sound that showcases the quartet's versatility and chemistry. Fukushima's style is strikingly individualistic, marked by an idiosyncratic flair. He fills every open space with stimulating, unpredictable phrases, sidestepping clichés with a nod to jazz's rich history. While ...
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by Fran Kursztejn
The integral development of post-'70s jazz has nothing to do with instruments, playstyle or compositional ethos. After bop's heyday slowly petered out, its practitioners either holding strong to the tradition or scattering to other genres in the public's favor, the necessity of a studio-produced, hierarchical set seemed to disappear with it. Granted, the bandleader model maintains its popularity today, yet more and more, independent and revolutionary musicians turn toward a more anarchical understanding of the jazz group, prizing polyphony and ...
Continue ReadingJoe Santa Maria: Echo Deep
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un solido jazz per middle band (peraltro di tiro spesso molto big), con infiltrazioni easy, è quanto ci arriva da questo album, molto compatto e sostanzialmente corale, del polistrumentista e compositore texano Joe Santa Maria, che ha diviso la sua attività musicale, ormai piuttosto corposa, fra Houston, Boston, New York e Los Angeles. Nella musica che si ascolta in questa quarantina scarsa di minuti, come accennato, prevale largamente la mano dell'autore rispetto a quello che potrebbe essere ...
Continue ReadingJoe Santa Maria: Echo Deep
by Glenn Astarita
In the liner notes, L.A.-based multi-woodwind specialist Joe Santa Maria, known for his contributions to Vinnie Golia ensembles, Django Django, and Kim Richmond and others, reveals that this project took nearly a decade to complete, shaped by his extensive travels and dedicated studies. Notably, he emphasizes the cyclical, trance-like essence embedded within these compositions. The prolonged wait proves worthwhile as Santa Maria's fusion of worldly influences, rooted in his jazz expertise, culminates in an outstanding album poised to grace numerous ...
Continue ReadingCathlene Pineda: Rainbow Baby
by Jerome Wilson
Pianist Cathlene Pineda has a classical background which is reflected in the lyrical music her quartet creates on this disc. Her compositions here came out of a four-year period during which she became a mother for the first time, suffered two miscarriages and finally gave birth to a second child. The resulting work has a calm, introspective charm. The gentle flow of Pineda's piano mixes well with Kris Tiner's expressive trumpet playing on pieces such as the lyrical ...
Continue ReadingCathlene Pineda: Rainbow Baby
by Dan McClenaghan
Charlie Parker said: “If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." In Cathlene Pineda's case, it could be said: “If you don't live it, it won't come out of your piano, or your compositional pen." Motherhood is a big part of what Pineda has lived, an equilibrium of emotion on the spectrum of sorrow and joy resulting--over a four year period--from two devastating miscarriages and two joyous births. Now, she celebrates that experience in ...
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