Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Luis Perdomo: Focus Point

143

Luis Perdomo: Focus Point

By

View read count
Luis Perdomo: Focus Point
Luis Perdomo's maiden voyage as a leader is as impressive a debut disc as any released by a young musician in recent memory. The pianist/composer presents ten original compositions (eight by himself) in a variety of settings (solo, duo, trio, quartet and quintet) that clearly demonstrate how woefully inadequate the term Latin jazz is in describing the work of such an immensely talented musician.

The opening "You Know, I Know" is a labyrinthine Afro-Cuban tour de force (propelled by Roberto Quintero's bata and Ralph Peterson's drums) through which the leader and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon cleverly navigate, aided by Ugonna Okegwo's solid bass line. "Fragment," a solo dedication to Henry Cowell and Anton Webern, exhibits the pianist's classical leanings. The intricate "Book of Life," featuring Ravi Coltrane (who produced the album) and Zenon, is a Jarrett-influenced piece that inspires intense soloing from the saxophonists and Perdomo.

Perdomo's "Procession" is a beautiful impressionistic piece built around Carlo DeRosa's arco bass and Peterson's mallet drumming. Quintero's Afro-Venezuelan percussion augments the trio on "San Millan," a sunny expedition on which Perdomo's piano shines. The influence of Jarrett is again evident at the beginning of "The Stranger," a trio piece that eventually opens up into some of the disc's strongest straight-ahead piano. Miriam Sullivan's "Spirit Song" begins with Perdomo's sensitive solo introduction, before the pianist is joined by the bassist composer and Peterson with Coltrane on soprano for the rest of the piece, which harkens to the '70s Afro-centric compositions of McCoy Tyner.

"Dreams," by tenor saxophonist Max King, is a moving duet between the composer and Perdomo. Perdomo's "Breakdown" is a swinging quartet piece that features Zenon and Peterson, who solos uninhibitedly over the composer's vamp and Okegwo's bass ostinato. The date closes with "Impromptu," a forward-looking solo piano improvisation that shows that Luis Perdomo's focus is unquestionably directed towards the future.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Focus Point | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: RKM Music

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.

Near

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.