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Miguel Zenon: Awake
by Tom Greenland
From its very first notes (played by a string quartet), Awake is identifiably Miguel Zenon: lyrical, spiritual and original. For his fourth date as a leader Zenon reunites his go-to posse--Luis Perdomo (piano) and Hans Glawischnig (bass)--but with a key change in the drum chair, Henry Cole replacing Antonio Sanchez. The strings are artfully employed on the opener as a contrapuntal foil for Zenon's featherlight interweavings and on “Lamamilla" as a trilling texture evoking birdcalls; Tony Malaby, ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon: Awake
by Mark F. Turner
Alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon delivers his most thought provoking recording to date with Awake , showing his growth as a performer and conceptualist. Whether performing with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, The SFJazz Collective, or leading his own groups, Zenon's piercing tonality and fierce playing is always identifiable. Not a trivial task, when considering a wealth of strong young altoists that includes Rudresh Mahanthappa, Loren Stillman and Steve Lehman. Zenon brought fresh interpretations of native Puerto Rican rural ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon Quartet at the Jazz Showcase
by Paul Olson
Miguel Zenón QuartetJazz Showcase, ChicagoSeptember 6, 2005Altoist Miguel Zenón's recordings do a pretty good job of demonstating his fusion of Latin music--especially the rural música jibara of his native Puerto Rico--with the instrumentation and harmonic language of jazz. Looking Forward (2001, Fresh Sound New Talent), Ceremonial (2004, Marsalis Music) and the new Jibaro (also on the Marsalis label) are all winning, memorable CDs with compositions and a group sound that are immediately recognizable.That said, Zenón's ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon: Jibaro
by Brian P. Lonergan
Jibaro consists of ten original compositions by the young Puerto Rican alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón. The session's inspiration comes from the music of jibaros--Puerto Rican peasants--but there's nothing simplistic about the material Zenón has penned for his quartet, which includes pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Antonio Sánchez. The forms of Zenón's compositions tend to be complex, and it's not apparent at first listen how they link directly to the original music. The style of Jibaro, ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon: Jibaro
by John Kelman
With the relatively concurrent release of Wayne Shorter's new live recording, Beyond the Sound Barrier, and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon's Jibaro, there are bound to be comparisons. Like Shorter, Zenon is a deep thinker, capable of taking the simplest Puerto Rican folk melodies--the basis of Jibaro--and placing them into more harmonically and rhythmically complex contexts. Also like Shorter, Zenon's cerebral music requires an intense focus that makes considerable demands on both the musicians who play it and the listeners who ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon: Jibaro
by AAJ Staff
For his second Marsalis Music release and third overall, alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón returns with the same crew from Ceremonial (2004) to celebrate the rural music of his Puerto Rican homeland. Jibaro refers to this creole musical culture, which has a lot of folk elements and tends to revolve around guitars and vocals—none of which appear here. Zenón's interpretations, therefore, are more figurative than literal. (He acknowledges this in the liner notes.) The overall flavor of the record is much ...
Continue ReadingMiguel Zenon: Jibaro
by Jim Santella
Alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón explores the country music of Puerto Rico on Jibaro, an album of Latin jazz originals. By applying these innate cultural ideas in a jazz context, Zenón's quartet creates an exciting program that's filled with melodic fragrance and traditional rhythmic charm. The leader was able to create the album's ten compositions through the support of New York's State Council of the Arts' Individual Artists Program.The leader was born and raised in the Santurce section of ...
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