Jazz Articles about Pablo Menares

About Pablo Menares

Album Review

Many musicians have chosen their Blue Note moment to reveal themselves as the artist they are or intend to be. So it is not surprising that a young, gifted artist such as Grammy nominee Melissa Aldana, riding a sure, ascendant arc both creatively and professionally, goes big on her Blue Note debut. From the start, 12 Stars is the exact antithesis of the parlance of isolation. It is a confab of equals. Though in her notes the saxophonist ...

Album Review

Tomoko Omura: Branches Vol. 1

Read "Branches Vol. 1" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
January 7, 2021

Violinists come in many shapes, colors and sizes. In jazz, there are those who bridge the gap between classical music and a more improvised repertoire seamlessly, as seen with pioneers such as American avant-gardist Mark Feldman. There are others who go about their craft with a more rootsy approach to the improvised music tradition—as heard with virtuosos like Regina Carter. And then of course there's everything in between, from old guard veterans like Stephane Grappelli (also known as ...

Album Review

Tomoko Omura: Branches Vol. 1

Read "Branches Vol. 1" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
September 10, 2020

With Branches Vol. 1, award-winning violinist Tomoro Omura dives deep into exploring textures and melodic invention drawn from Japanese folklore. This effort is a contemporized display which validates Omura's vast instrumental abilities and also channels Japanese folklore as a launch-point for her superior composition skills. The recording is seductive, deeply emotional and meditative, and, simultaneously, elegantly refined. The album offers six tracks, each a fascinating voyage. “Moonlight in Vermont" gets such a re-imagined, polyrhythmic treatment that one ...

Album Review

Tomoko Omura: Branches Vol. 1

Read "Branches Vol. 1" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
August 28, 2020

If, as you start to yield willingly to the sumptuous, hypnotic Branches, Vol. 1, you should need to walk away and attend to other home/bunker business, try to keep at least one ear on the music. From any point in any room you might hear a gypsy laugh, a lover cry, a Celtic reel. A marvelous new touch on a centuries old instrument, bringing the ages together, gathering all the ley lines into one bustling hub. A rising ...

Album Review

Melissa Aldana: Visions

Read "Visions" reviewed by Serena Antinucci

by Serena Antinucci
March 31, 2020

L'ultimo progetto della sassofonista cilena Melissa Aldana, governato da invasioni e tensioni musicali, è il ritratto schietto della vita nel suo continuo divenire, fatto di stacchi improvvisi, passi indietro e sguardi critici sulla realtà. In Visions (Motéma Music, 2019) ci sono architetture sonore difficili da verbalizzare e, a volte, le parole scompaiono timidamente sommerse dai suoni. Gli undici brani del disco sono il risultato di un profondo studio, di una vitalità trascinante, a volte mista al dolore. Aldana, ...

Album Review

Melissa Aldana: Visions

Read "Visions" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
July 18, 2019

Compositional and instrumental virtuosity always walks along a razor's edge between self-indulgence and purposeful accomplishment. On Visions, sought after saxophonist Melissa Aldana proves that she doesn't only master balancing this edge but that she can also go beyond the complexities of structure, scales and improvisation and naturally create her very own musical aesthetic. In interplay with an all-star cast of equally dynamic sidemen—Sam Harris on keys, Pablo Menares on bass, as well as drummer Tommy Crane and Joel Ross adding ...

Album Review

Joanna Wallfisch: Blood & Bone

Read "Blood & Bone" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 5, 2018

Put quite simply, Blood & Bone is both the sound of a broken heart laid bare and the sonic summation of a journey toward its reconstruction. It's an album informed by the gravitas of naked truth, finding vocalist Joanna Wallfisch creating and delivering a singular blend of poise, pain, and passion with startling clarity. As with any path to discovery or healing, there are mixed emotions to be found along the way here. On the album's tied-together ...