Jazz Articles about Sergio Martinez

About Sergio Martinez

Album Review

Alex Brown: The Dark Fire Sessions

Read "The Dark Fire Sessions" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 22, 2022

Pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Alex Brown delivers his second solo album and follow up to his amazing debut album, Pianist (Sunny Side, 2010), with the audacious The Dark Fire Sessions comprised of nine superb original compositions of all rhythm-based music without horns or brass. The album contains a delicious taste of the Latin, Afro-Cuban and south American rhythms Brown has come to appreciate strongly, though it is not an entirely Latin recording, as evidenced by the various mainstream sounds on ...

Album Review

Alex Conde: Descarga for Bud

Read "Descarga for Bud" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
October 21, 2021

Pianist, composer and arranger Alex Conde has a unique identity; he is a flamenco musician who combines flamenco with his jazz background. After the broad Latin fusion of Origins (Uprising/Ropeadope, 2018), Conde has returned to a focus on classic bebop. Like Descarga For Monk (Zoho Music, 2015), the pianist revisits a foundational bebop pianist. And the recording sessions took place in Oakland, with an ensemble which duplicates many of the players on the Monk sessions. Pianist Bud Powell ...

Album Review

Alex Conde: Descarga for Bud

Read "Descarga for Bud" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
September 15, 2021

Having demonstrated his mastery of flamenco-flavored jazz on Origins (Uprising/Ropeadope, 2018) by featuring principally his own compositions, pianist Alex Conde has once again turned back to a bebop master of old--continuing a project he began with Descarga for Monk (Zoho Music) back in 2015. In this instance Bud Powell is the dedicatee, and Conde brings characteristic Latin flair to nine of Powell's compositions in a way that is both accomplished and engaging. There is a certain irony to ...

Album Review

Matthew Halpin: Agreements

Read "Agreements" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
July 11, 2021

Irish tenor saxophonist Matthew Halpin has waited for his moment to strike with his debut CD as leader, having graduated from Berklee College of Music as long ago as 2013. Not that he has been coasting; since relocating to Germany, Halpin has recorded with The Owl Ones and Last Chance Dance, just two of half-a-dozen ongoing projects at the cutting edge of contemporary music. On Agreements Halpin surrounds himself with some of his closest collaborators from his various groups, to ...

Album Review

Lefteris Kordis: Mediterrana

Read "Mediterrana" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
May 10, 2017

Da tempo residente negli Stati Uniti e oggi professore al Berklee College, il pianista e compositore Lefteris Kordis è però originario di Atene e mostra di non aver dimenticato la musica ascoltata in giovane età e le tradizioni musicali delle sue terre, studiate nel corso della sua formazione artistica. Questo disco, basato su formazioni variabili di traccia in traccia, è dedicato alla Grecia e ne riprende, rielaborandoli, temi e atmosfere. Tre dei brani sono in trio (uno è ...

Album Review

Jussi Reijonen: Un

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 23, 2013

Il chitarrista finlandese, ma di base a Boston, Jussi Reijonen riversa nel suo album di debutto Un tutte le influenze stilistiche raccolte durante il proprio percorso di vita, nel quale ha conosciuto culture diverse e molto distanti tra loro. Ne è venuto fuori un miscuglio molto particolare, dove svolgono ruoli decisivi, per la risultante stilistica di questo lavoro, gli interventi del leader all'oud e alla chitarra fretless, le percussioni di Tareq Rantisi e Sergio Martinez e i contributi dei musicisti ...

Album Review

Jussi Reijonen: Un

by Eyal Hareuveni
February 20, 2013

The debut recording of Boston-based guitarist and oudist Jussi Reijonen is a remarkable crystallization of musical concepts and influences from the West and in the East. It is also a mature reflection of the musical experiences that Finland-born Reijonen accumulated in all the places that he grew up, including the Finnish Arctic Circle, the Middle East and East Africa. But more than that, it is the approach that Reijonen, a student of guitarist David Fiuczynski, Palestinian violinist/oudist ...