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Jazz Articles about Manuel Valera
Mike Boone Friends and Family: Confirmation
by Richard J Salvucci
Sometimes, a random listener intervenes to comment on music a reviewer is working on. “Who are those guys?" with a tone that means, “I should know this right?" Well, if you happen to be from Philadelphia, shame on you. This was some kind of party, maybe a party in a church, or as bassist Mike Boone comments, “a church in a party." Especially if you walk in on “Hymn," the idea that someone happened on a hip Sunday service is ...
Continue ReadingRachel Therrien: Mi Hogar II
by Richard J Salvucci
Rachel Therrien is a Canadian composer and trumpet player who has been around for some time, though her name may be unfamiliar. Therrien's musical journey has taken her from Rimouski, Quebec to Havana, Cuba via New York City and Colombia. Her Latin Jazz Project is nothing if not arresting, and probably merits a name like avant-garde Latin jazz, although labels inevitably just confuse matters. Listen very carefully, because if Jerry Gonzalez, Freddie Hubbard and Chicago all seem to stroll through ...
Continue ReadingDave Schumacher & Cubeye: Smoke in the Sky
by Jack Bowers
Chicago-bred, New York-based baritone saxophonist Dave Schumacher leans heavily toward Latin melodies and rhythms on Smoke in the Sky, his recording of an able septet he has dubbed Cubeye. Contemporary jazz lies at the core of Schumacher's cross- cultural endeavor, one that his like-minded teammates take readily to heart while lending their insight and expertise to the largely warm and engaging enterprise. While Schumacher's burly baritone, reminiscent of Pepper Adams, Ronnie Cuber, Nick Brignola, Gary Smulyan, Cecil ...
Continue ReadingReggie Quinerly: The Thousandth Scholar
by Chris May
The Thousandth Scholar is Los Angeles-based drummer and composer Reggie Quinerly's fifth album, each out on his Redefinition label. Quinerly themes his albums. His debut was Music Inspired By Freedmantown (2012), a tribute to the Houston neighborhood where he was born and raised. It was followed by Invictus (2015), a salute to hard bop, Words In Love (2018), which dealt with vocals, and New York Nowhere (2021), a portrait of life in the city (Quinerly studied at the New School ...
Continue ReadingBrian Lynch: Con Clave Vol.2
by C. Andrew Hovan
The jazz musician's road to success and sustainability is a rocky one, marked with more than its share of ups and downs. Becoming the norm as of late, those with the strongest staying power have increased their flexibility by becoming more diverse in their efforts. The affect is thus twofold-providing an income to pay the rent, as well as honing a well-rounded perspective of the music. Of course, trumpeter and educator Brian Lynch began the journey down this path many ...
Continue ReadingManuel Valera Quintet: Vessel
by Chris May
Cuban born and raised, pianist and composer Manuel Valera moved to the US in 1994, attending high school in Florida before moving to New York City in 2000 to study at the New School. His classmates included Robert Glasper, Mike Moreno, Michael Rodriguez, Marcus Strickland and E.J. Strickland. Fast company. Valera's career as a leader moved up a notch when his band New Cuban Express received a Grammy nomination in 2013 for Best Latin Jazz Album for ...
Continue ReadingSteve Smith and Vital Information: Time Flies
by Scott Gudell
As with so many prolific drummers, this guy is lean, energized, crisp and knows when to add the snap. Drummer/percussionist Steve Smith's early professional musical explorations were often in the world of jazz as he teamed up with fusion violinist Jean Luc Ponty and the progressive jazz/rock Dutch band Focus for about a year in the late 1970s. He took a call in 1978 from a soon-to-be arena rock band out of San Francisco that went by the name of ...
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