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Jazz Articles about Luis Deniz
Joaquin Nuñez: Ruta De La Clave
by Richard J Salvucci
Ruta de la Clave is everything a good recording should be: listenable, stimulating, thoughtful, a bit eclectic and, above all, musical. Joaquín Núñez and Habana Safari has set out to do a version of the “history of the clave." Of course, this is a unique vision, a distillation of Núñez's experiences as a Cuban-Canadian percussionist. But his overall goal is considerably greater, “a reinvention of Afro-Cuban jazz." That is a pretty tall order. Others will say ...
Continue ReadingTeri Parker: Shaping the Invisible
by Dan McClenaghan
Here is how to take an artistic vision to the next level: Find a room with a lock on the door. Step inside. Engage the lock. Examine the work of those who came before you. Then begin the process of your own creativity. This worked for pianist/composer Parker--so says her sophomore recording, Shaping The Invisible. Parker is a Toronto-based musician. Her debut album, 2017's self-produced In The Past (review here) is a highly engaging and beautifully ...
Continue ReadingErnesto Cervini: Tetrahedron
by C. Michael Bailey
Matthew Zapruder, in his book Why Poetry (HarperCollins, 2017), draws an informative parallel between reading poetry and listening to classical music: ...the act of treating poetry like a difficult activity one needs to master can easily perpetrate ... mistaken, and pervasive, ideas about poetry that make it hard to read in the first place. Like classical music, poetry has an unfortunate reputation for requiring special training and education to appreciate.... This same reasoning applies to jazz, ...
Continue ReadingErnesto Cervini: Tetrahedron
by Friedrich Kunzmann
A tetrahedron is a pyramid with a triangle base, thus a three dimensional shape consisting of four triangle faces. On the cover of his newest undertaking as a leader, Canadian drummer Ernesto Cervini uses this shape as an analogy to his working trio inviting a fourth member to the party. In this case the fourth person is New York-based guitarist Nir Felder, whom Cervini had met during his time studying at the Manhattan School of Music, between 2003 and 2007. ...
Continue ReadingJacek Kochan & musiConspiracy: Occupational Hazard
by Franz A. Matzner
Polish-born and current Canadian Jacek Kochan's 22nd release as a leader, Occupational Hazard, exists at the crossroads of straight ahead and electric jazz. A drummer, composer and arranger, Kochan has played with a variety of musicians over the course of his long career. On Occupational Hazard he leverages this broad experience to bring together an unusual mix of instrumental and vocal talent, establishing an intriguing blend likely to appeal most to fans of accessible tunes dominated by guitar ...
Continue ReadingErnesto Cervini: Tetrahedron
by Dan McClenaghan
Toronto-based drummer Ernesto Cervini juggles a lot of ensembles: the Turboprop sextet, a pair of co-led trios, MEM 3 and Myriad3, and chordless trio Tunetown. Add to that another trio, Tetrahedron, offing up an eponymous debut with guitarist Nir Felder and his Fender Stratocaster sitting in to add some electric chording to the mix, electric bassist Rich Brown adding a funkier vibe than is normally found on a Cervini project, and the Cuban-born and now Toronto-based saxophonist Luiz Deniz injecting ...
Continue ReadingRoberto Occhipinti: A Bend in the River
by AAJ Italy Staff
Quarto album nelle vesti di leader per Roberto Occhipinti. Il bassista e compositore, nato in Canada da genitori siciliani, nel suo percorso artistico si è immerso più volte nella musica afrocubana, e questo A Bend in the River - per determinati aspetti - non fa eccezione, anche se nelle sette tracce qui proposte si possono evidenziare altre chiavi di lettura. A cominciare dall'utilizzo degli archi, capaci di creare introduzioni suggestive e sfondi timbricamente molto morbidi, sui quali si muove a ...
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