Jazz Articles about Oscar Perez
Oscar Perez: Prepare A Place For Me

by Mark Sullivan
The heart of this album is found in pianist/composer Oscar Perez's trio with bassist Thomson Kneeland and drummer Alvester Garnett. Their four tracks showcase the cohesive sound they have developed together, Perez's elegant pianism matched by his empathetic partners. It's a modern piano trio, with a conversational style and all members contributing. There's enough trio music here to give a well-rounded picture of what they can do. Just Everything" opens the set with a trio version ...
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by Dan Bilawsky
If Oscar Perez hadn't taken to the piano, he might've had a promising career in music journalism. In the concise and profound liner essay for this album, Perez intelligently considers the meaning of music, the struggles and joys connected to the art of creating and performing, and the way an individual's very being seeps into the sounds they make and vice versa. His carefully chosen words say far more than most, but he needn't have penned the essay at all ...
read moreOscar Perez / Nuevo Comienzo: Afropean Affair

by Dave Wayne
On Afropean Affair , pianist/composer Óscar Pérez treads an appealing line between Afro-Latin jazz and modern jazz reminiscent of the Cuban band Irakere--or, perhaps, the first couple of Chick Corea Return to Forever discs, with saxophonist/flautist Joe Farrell and drummer Airto). A native of New York City, Pérez's early immersion in both Afro-Cuban and European classical music came courtesy of his parents, who hail from Cuba and Colombia. After studying violin, piano, and guitar as a youth, ...
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by Matt Merewitz
Pianist Oscar Perez has not exactly gone unnoticed. Sure, you may not have heard of him before now. But esteemed trombonist Wycliffe Gordon has taken note, as have saxophonist George Garzone, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and composer George Russell, all of whom have incorporated the young New York-based pianist into their ensembles. Perez shows his ample skill on this first self-released album, incorporating the stylistic elements of Tyner, Hancock, Larry Willis, and Chucho Valdes.
A graduate of the LaGuardia High School ...
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