Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Natalia Calderon Quartet: Flor Azul

73

Natalia Calderon Quartet: Flor Azul

By

View read count
Natalia Calderon Quartet: Flor Azul
If one were to examine the proliferation of jazz on a global scale, Spain might be a good place to start. Though it is recognized that Spanish music, primarily flamenco, has achieved a strong foothold with jazz aficionados, there are numerous artists in Spain that are performing jazz on a regular basis and their ranks appear to be growing. With the release of Flor Azul, vocalist, songwriter, and producer Natalia Calderón will be acknowledged as a rising talent in the Iberian jazz movement.

With years of vocal studies and the accumulation of an impressive resume of performances, Calderón is exceptional in that she composes lyrics in her native Spanish, as well as in Portuguese and English. Having penned all but one of the songs on this album, she weaves from ballads, blues, and sambas to up-tempo numbers with ease.

Special appreciation on this record goes to pianist Marta Sanchez for displaying ideal accompaniment with alluring technique. Sanchez should positively be included in those Spanish jazz artists which are making a name for themselves based on their talent, feeling, and knowledge of the music.

From the the opening "Danays," Calderón and Sanchez are in total synch throughout the process, each giving the other the proper amount of space and time to allow the progression of the songs. "Nada Me Retiene" and the Brazilian tinged "As Ondas" are standout numbers, as are the English renderings of the ballad "Pictures" and the soft standard "Don't Go To Strangers," which includes a virtuoso bass background by David Gonzalez.

Natalia Calderón is one of those confident musicians whom has quietly paid his or her dues acquiring an expanding audience which, propelled by the production Flor Azul, will take her music far from the Spanish border to an international level.

Track Listing

Danays; Flor Azul; Poema X*X; Nada Me Retiene; Al Sur; As Ondas; Pictures; De Profundis; Don’t Go To Strangers.

Personnel

Natalia Calderon: vocals; Marta Sanchez: piano; David Gonzalez: bass; Andres Litwin: drums.

Album information

Title: Flor Azul | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: Self Produced

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.