Jazz Articles about Miguelito Valdés

About Miguelito Valdés

Album Review

As a composer, Canadian pianist Brent Jarvis' ear is irrestibly drawn to harmonies and rhythms from well south of his usual orbit; more spefically, to the island of Cuba, from where Jarvis draws the lion's share of his inspiration for Dragonfly, his sixth recording as solo pianist or leader of a group. On this studio date, Jarvis supervises a rhythmically fine-tuned sextet, one of whose members is percussionist Jose Sanchez, and another of whom--trumpeter Miguelito Valdes--plays congas, ...

Album Review

Chris Trinidad: Chris Trinidad's Changing Tides

Read "Chris Trinidad's Changing Tides" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
April 6, 2022

During the course of 2021's lockdowns and distancing, music educator and bassist Chris Trinidad began to wonder if technology was bringing people together or keeping people apart. During these reflections, he reengaged with music he had written years earlier, for a release he titled Certain Times (Iridium, 2014). “The compositions on that album were written in a span of seven days in the midwinter month of December 2013," Trinidad notes on Changing Tides. “During the liturgical season of Advent, the ...

Album Review

Chris Trinidad: Chris Trinidad's Changing Tides

Read "Chris Trinidad's Changing Tides" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
December 29, 2021

Bassist and composer Chris Trinidad released the quartet album Chris Trinidad's Certain Times (Iridium Records, 2015) five years after relocating from Vancouver to the San Francisco Bay area. The compositions were constructed from an assortment of sketches, built on grooves and simple harmonies to give the soloists freedom. For Chris Trinidad Y Con Todo (Iridium Records, 2019) he commissioned pianist Christian Tumalan of the Pacific Mambo Orchestra to arrange Latin jazz versions of songs from his Common Themes album series. ...