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Mike Freeman's ZonaVibe: Circles In A Yellow Room
by Jack Bowers
Circles in a Yellow Room, New York-based vibraphonist Mike Freeman's eighth recording as leader of his own ensembles, has a Latin flavor reminiscent of classic albums by West Coast maestro Cal Tjader. Stylistically, Freeman parallels Tjader and a host of others from Milt Jackson, Terry Gibbs and Gary McFarland to Bobby Hutcherson, Gary Burton, Joe Locke and Steve Nelson. Which is another way of saying that when it comes to the vibraphone, there is not much that separates the best ...
Continue ReadingGino Amato: Latin Crossroads
by Richard J Salvucci
The urge to take advantage of a successful commercial genre never really dies. Back in the 1960s, a studio orchestra nominally assembled by bandleader Glen Gray released a recording, Sounds of the Great Bands in Latin (Capitol, 1964). It took tunes like “Early Autumn" or “A String of Pearls" and added a “Latin" flavor with jazz enhancements. No doubt, this was an early recognition of the success of Cal Tjader. The vinyl may or may not have done well, but ...
Continue ReadingSteve Khan: Patchwork
by Rafael Vega Curry
Few artists have been as successful as Steve Khan in achieving a genuine blend of jazz and Latin sensibilities, rhythms and sonorities. In fact, it can be suggested that no one else has done what he has accomplished for the jazz guitar, offering both the extensions of what Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and Grant Green did in their day, plus the real sabor latino. Khan, of course, is one of the preeminent guitarists of the last few decades, ...
Continue ReadingCarlos Jimenez: Woods
by Richard J Salvucci
Carlos Jimenez is a kind of metaphor for Latin jazz, from Yonkers, New York, to Puerto Rico ("the island") and back, with instrumental and stylistic stops along the way. Jazz flute has had some storied practitioners, and Jiménez is obviously well along getting a foothold there too in this, his sixth album since 2005. Interestingly, Jiménez says Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaría spurred his transition from brass to woodwind, which speaks volumes about the importance of polyrhythms to Latin jazz. If ...
Continue ReadingConrad Herwig: The Latin Side of Horace Silver
by Jack Bowers
New York-based trombonist Conrad Herwig began exploring the “Latin side" of various jazz musicians in 1996, with The Latin Side of John Coltrane, which earned him the first of four Latin Grammy Award nominations. Since then, Herwig has done the same for Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson and, now, pianist Horace Silver. The formula is trim and solid; choose several of an artist's more notable compositions and recast them in a rhythmic Latin framework. For The Latin ...
Continue ReadingSteve Khan: Patchwork
by John Kelman
Amongst the many myths out there about music-making—especially in jazz, where the improvisation quotient is often so high—is that composing may, indeed, be work, but doesn't require the kind of relentless attention to detail that far more truthfully defines how many artists write and arrange their music. These days, one need only look to music by artists including Pat Metheny, Antonio Sanchez and Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah to find music conceived with intimate and painstaking detail while, at the same ...
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