Jazz Articles about Miguel Zenon

About Miguel Zenon

Album Review

Miguel Zenon & The Rhythm Collective: Oye!!! Live In Puerto Rico

Read "Oye!!! Live In Puerto Rico" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 13, 2013

Puerto Rican pride oozes from every album under alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón's name. Most recently, he explored plena music in a jazz context on the winning Esta Plena (Marsalis Music, 2009), and put a new spin on songs from the Puerto Rican Songbook with Alma Adentro (Marsalis Music, 2011). While those projects differ greatly, with rough-and-tumble antics on the former and an air of refinement on the latter, they're both built on sturdy conceptual platforms that are supported by Puerto ...

Album Review

David Gilmore: Numerology: Live At Jazz Standard

Read "Numerology: Live At Jazz Standard" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 7, 2012

Numbers and music are inextricably linked together. Numbers exist within every musical impulse and control the very nature of music through their connective ratios and relationships. This concept is explored to the fullest, without coming off as inaccessible “math music," on guitarist David Gilmore's Numerology: Live At Jazz Standard. Gilmore--not to be confused with Pink Floyd's guitar-wielding David Gilmour--has made a name for himself as a Berklee-based educator and go-to sideman, appearing on recordings with saxophonist Wayne ...

Album Review

Miguel Zenon: Alma adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook

by AAJ Italy Staff
March 5, 2012

Alma adentro è l'album della definitiva consacrazione dell'altosassofonista portoricano Miguel Zenon, nella duplice veste di arrangiatore e bandeader. Una inedita combinazione timbrica tra colori classici e jazzistici porta a livelli di assoluta eccellenza una musica di grande fascino. È un progetto che supera le rigide barriere delle convenzioni contemporanee per proporre qualcosa di diverso rispetto all'anima esuberante della musica centroamericana. La musica tradizionale di Porto Rico viene prima riattualizzata secondo l'ottica del jazz, poi (ri)considerata alla luce di sinuose sonorità ...

Live Review

The Miguel Zenon Quartet: Half Moon Bay, CA, November 20, 2011

by Bill Leikam
December 24, 2011

The Miguel Zenón QuartetDouglas Beach House aka Bach Dancing & Dynamite SocietyHalf Moon Bay, CaliforniaNovember 20, 2011 On a clear Sunday afternoon, alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón brought on his seasoned quartet to play the Douglas Beach House. With a near-capacity audience, it was a rare gift to hear this quartet--also featuring Venezuelan pianist Luis Perdomo, Austrian bassist Hans Glawischnig and Puerto Rican drummer Henry Cole--led by the Puerto Rican saxophonist extraordinaire. The concert, which ...

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Interview

Miguel Zenon: Jazz Sherpa

by Lawrence Peryer
October 10, 2011

At the dawn of the second decade of his career, saxophonist Miguel Zenón has established himself as one of the most sophisticated and stylish players of the new millennium. In a very short time, Zenón has made his mark as a composer, band leader, educator, and jazz advocate. He has performed and recorded with scores of the scene's most prominent musicians as leader, side man and member of the groundbreaking SFJAZZ Collective, where he is the sole founding member remaining ...

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Album Review

Miguel Zenon: Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook

Read "Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 24, 2011

The cover photo on alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón's Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook is of two people dancing in the middle of a boulevard. They are nicely dressed. The man's coat tail flies and their dance clasp is a passionate embrace, suggestive of a romantic yearning hitched to the side of a good time, a posture suggesting a sense of pride and dignity. And that's what the music on this release is, in large part, all about.On ...

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Extended Analysis

Miguel Zenon: Alma Adentro - The Puerto Rican Songbook

by Dan Bilawsky
August 21, 2011

Miguel ZenonAlma Adentro: The Puerto Rican SongbookMarsalis Music2011 When so-called “Latin jazz" comes up in conversation, music or musicians connected to Cuba or Brazil are usually the topic of conversation. While it's true that Afro-Cuban stylings, bossa nova beats and sizzling samba numbers seem to dominate in this umbrella category, they're only the tip of the iceberg that is the music of Latin America. Thankfully, some important jazz musicians are helping ...