Jazz Articles about Omar Sosa

Omar Sosa: Mulatos

by Chris May
November 24, 2004

"File under Latin Jazz" reads the message to the retailer on the cover of this adventurous, finely wrought and wholly delightful melange of Cuban jazz, Latin dance grooves, French chanson, North African trance music and European folk. And yes, it is Latin jazz, Jim, but not as we generally know it.

Less a conscious, structured world music fusion than some of Sosa's previous projects, and more a free flowing collaboration between musicians from different cultural backgrounds, Mulatos falls into none ...

Omar Sosa: Aleatoric EFX: Live Solo Concert - Radio Bremen

by C. Michael Bailey
August 7, 2004

It may be a bit disingenuous to say that Aleatoric EFX may become the next Köln Concert. Keith Jarrett's 1975 masterpiece could legitimately claim to have given birth to the New Age music genre. By today's standards, the Köln Concert perhaps does not seem so novel. It seems our sensibilities may need to be pushed a little, and Omar Sosa is here to do that. A native of Camaguey, Cuba, Sosa offers a quietly impressionistic vision of Latin-African-Caribbean music to ...

Omar Sosa and Adam Rudolph: Pictures of Soul

by Rex Butters
May 2, 2004

After several recorded sessions with large ensembles, hand drumming honcho Adam Rudolph finds himself on a duet recording with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa. On Pictures of Soul the match works, revealing two gifted expressionists, masters of their instruments with the imaginations to go beyond their builders’ designs. Which is not to suggest a raucous blow fest; these free improvisers fearlessly weave beauty into the fabric of their play. With Sosa inside the piano zinging strings, Rudolph lightly scatters ...

Omar Sosa: Ayaguna

by AAJ Staff
April 7, 2003

It's almost like the calm after the storm, but if you look carefully there are still whitecaps out there. Pianist Omar Sosa, who emigrated from Cuba eight years ago, launched his American recording career with the somewhat redundantly titled Omar Omar, an adventurous solo outing. His last three records (Bembon, Prietos, and Sentir) were incredibly ambitious ensemble affairs which brought together a virtual rainbow of New World styles drawing from common African roots. In each case, the intensity of the ...

Omar Sosa: Ayaguna

by Joel Roberts
April 5, 2003

Omar Sosa is a fusion artist in the best sense of the word. The virtuosic pianist mixes his Cuban roots with tastes of bebop, free jazz, even hip-hop and electronica, into a strikingly fresh and spicy modern stew that's much more than the sum of its ingredients. Sosa's new duo album with Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles was recorded before a live audience in Japan. Much of the energetic set sounds freely improvised, with Sosa moving from delicate, unabashedly romantic melodies ...

Omar Sosa: Sentir

by AAJ Staff
March 1, 2002

Whatever the title of Omar Sosa's new disc, the theme that runs throughout is Elegguá. For the uninitiated, Elegguá is the gatekeeper, the messenger, the courier, and the spirit of communication. He watches humanity for the Orishas (gods of Santeria), and he's the first to be received by initiates. During ritual musical ceremonies, believers forge a link with the Orishas.

In a sense, Sentir brings the listener into a intensely spiritual connection with Elleguá. Omar Sosa, a Cuban pianist, has ...

Omar Sosa: Sentir

by Glenn Astarita
March 1, 2002

Cuban composer/pianist, Omar Sosa’s brand of world-jazz is prominently conveyed throughout this release - featuring, Moroccan vocalist, El Houssaine, Venezuelan percussionist, Gustavo Ovalles, and others. Sosa and co. also multitask while performing on indigenous percussion and stringed instruments emanating from Cuba, and North Africa amid conventional Western fare. Nevertheless, this is a true world music venture, augmented by Sosa’s delicately rendered chord progressions and jazzy right hand leads. The pianist’s musical concepts and methodologies include his associates’ soft vocals, Rap, ...