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Jazz Articles about Francisco Mela
Francisco Mela featuring Matthew Shipp and William Parker: Music Frees Our Souls Vol. 1
by John Sharpe
Music Frees Our Souls furthers Cuban drummer Francisco Mela's ongoing ventures in freely improvised surroundings. Already well-established with heavyweight leaders such as McCoy Tyner, Joe Lovano and Esperanza Spalding, as well as a series of dates under his own name, Mela has now enlisted pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker, two of the best in this particular business, in his quest for spontaneous magic. When joining such a long-lasting partnership, (Parker and Shipp first hooked up ...
Continue ReadingJeff Pearring/Pearring Sound: Socially Distanced Duos
by Karl Ackermann
Jeff Pearring's background in jazz, classical, reggae and other genres has informed his creative process in ways that are not always apparent. That turns out to be a good thing as his ability to encapsulate influences without genuflecting is part of his music's appeal. The alto saxophonist, a Brooklyn-based Colorado native, is a Connie Crothers protégé with a similarly independent mindset. Billed as “Pearring Sound," the saxophonist surrounds himself with a rotation of players varying on three previous, self-produced albums, ...
Continue ReadingSanti Debriano: Flash of the Spirit
by Paul Rauch
Bassist/composer Santi Debriano has been prominently on the scene since the late seventies, when he worked for several years with saxophonist Archie Shepp. Born in Panama, and raised in Brooklyn from a very young age, his life was integrated with the many crosscurrents of jazz music in the Americas. He worked prominently with Sam Rivers in Paris for a few years, before heading back to New York to perform with the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Fortune, Larry Coryell, Freddie ...
Continue ReadingDrew Wesely/Kenneth Jimenez/Francisco Mela: Triangulate the Landscape
by Troy Dostert
An interesting trio comprised of a well-established veteran percussionist, Francisco Mela, and two relative newcomers, bassist Kenneth Jimenez and guitarist Drew Wesely, the musicians behind Triangulate the Landscape are engaged in that age-old challenge of free improvisation: how to create a substantial musical conversation that combines separate, independently-determined voices into a larger whole. While the three players aren't consistently successful in this regard, the album offers enough moments of enticing collective purpose to render the project worthwhile. Mela ...
Continue ReadingFrancisco Mela: Ancestros
by Karl Ackermann
One of the many fine musicians coming out of Cuba, Francisco Mela is an accomplished drummer/percussionist and composer. On Ancestros, his debut on the vinyl-only subscription label Newvelle, he has contributed seven original compositions to a collection that includes covers from Andrew Hill and Paul Motian. The album name--and its title track--are appropriated from Mela's prior release Fe (Self-produced, 2016). On two of Mela's previous releases, Melao (Ayva Musica, 2006) and Tree of Life (Half Note, 2011), progressive jazz shares ...
Continue ReadingFrancisco Mela & The Crash Trio: Fe
by James Nadal
Since departing Cuba to study at Berklee in 2000, drummer Francisco Mela has been on a meteoric trajectory throughout the jazz dominion. In 2005 he joined the Joe Lovano Quartet, and in 2009 the McCoy Tyner Trio, all the while releasing three critically acclaimed albums as leader. Fe is his first venture with The Crash Trio, a dynamic showcase of poly-rhythmic drumming and propulsive modernism. Fe translates into faith, and this is Mela's homage to his late parents, ...
Continue ReadingFrancisco Mela & Cuban Safari: Tree Of Life
by Dan Bilawsky
A safari, in essence, is all about the idea of an encounter between the tamed, usually in the form of adventure-seeking humans, and the wild, which they aim to explore. The same could be said for the music that drummer Francisco Mela creates with Cuban Safari on Tree Of Life. For his third solo outing, the Cuban-born drummer, best known for his work as part of the two drummer-and-bass team that anchors saxophonist Joe Lovano's Us Five outfit, assembled a ...
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