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Miguel Zenón Quartet: Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at The Village Vanguard
by Mark Corroto
The perfect sports analogy for saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón might just be baseball legend Roberto Clemente. Both were born in Puerto Rico, and both are revered as masters of their respective crafts. Clemente was a perennial All-Star, a World Series MVP, a Gold Glove winner and a National League batting champion. Zenón, for his part, has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur “genius" grant and a Doris Duke Artist Award. He is frequently recognized as alto saxophonist ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon: Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at The Village Vanguard
by Doug Collette
Suffused with shadows as is the cover photo of Vanguardia Subterranea, it is a perfectly appropriate match for the title of the Miguel Zenon Quartet's first live album. Released in celebration of the ensemble's 20th anniversary, both the image and the music favorably hearken to the displays of healthy improvisational jazz behind graphic designs for vintage albums on the Blue Note and Prestige labels in the 1950s and 1960s. Recorded over two nights in September of 2024 at ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon and Luis Perdomo at Harlem Stage Gatehouse
by Paul Reynolds
Miguel Zenon and Luis Perdomo Harlem Stage Gatehouse Carnegie Hall Citywide New York, NY May 3, 2025 The duets between alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon and pianist Luis Perdomo are among the most affecting jazz collaborations of recent years, and the most acclaimed. The first of the duo albums they've recorded together, El Arte Del Bolero (Miel Music, 2021) was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album Grammy in 2022, and the second, El Arte Del ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenón: Golden City
by Alberto Bazzurro
La musica contenuta in questo album trae spunto da una commissione ricevuta da Miguel Zenón per la composizione di una suite basata sulla storia di San Francisco e della Bay Area, evidenziando in particolare i contributi offerti da parte delle comunità giapponese, cinese, messicana e, ovviamente, afroamericana. Ne è nata così questa Golden City, presentata in anteprima al San Francisco Jazz Center nel 2022 e incisa poi a fine novembre dell'anno seguente. Per l'occasione Zenón (portoricano, lo ricordiamo) ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon: Golden City
by Dan McClenaghan
The alto saxophone rose to jazz prominence in the 1940s, under the influence of Charlie Parker and the birth of bebop. Important players such as Art Pepper, Lee Konitz and Ornette Coleman took the horn in their own directions, crafting distinctive alto saxophone voices. Moving ahead to the new millennium, no alto saxophonist has entered the tradition with more style and panache than Miguel Zenon. His Alma Aldentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook (Marsalis Music, 2011), Tipico (Miel Music, 2017) and ...
Continue ReadingMisha Tsiganov: Painter Of Dreams
by Edward Blanco
A mainstay musician in the vibrant and exciting jazz scene of New York City, Russian-born pianist Misha Tsiganov presents his fifth Criss Cross album, Painter of Dreams, which features six original compositions and two familiar reimagined standards, with every piece but one running from between eight to eleven-minutes in length. The pianist expands his musical boundaries, implements new elements, augments the horn section and, with regard to his own playing, states that he was moved to include an “entirely acoustic ...
Continue ReadingMisha Tsiganov: Painter Of Dreams
by Neil Duggan
Like a fine wine, Russian-born and New York-based pianist Misha Tsiganov, seems to improve with age. His music continues to evolve and his creativity hits a high spot with Painter Of Dreams. He has appeared on countless albums over the years and has played with such musicians as Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson and Michael Brecker. His ability to shift tempos and mix meters in his compositions has always been notable. Recent work with the Romanian Radio Big Band has also ...
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