Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Negroni's Trio: Just Three

153

Negroni's Trio: Just Three

By

View read count
Negroni's Trio: Just Three
One way to keep a piano-led trio from sounding like so many others is to write original music for the group. Another is to take a page out of Jose Negroni's playbook, splitting time between acoustic and electric pianos.

The Puerto Rican composer/pianist taught for 16 years at the Island's Music Conservatory. After moving to the United States, he became director of Sony Music Publishing, a position he held for 10 years. He has been nominated for a Latin Grammy, and his music has gotten as high as 15 on the Jazz Week charts. Negroni's play on the electric piano brings Eumir Deodato to mind, while his acoustic play more closely resembles that of Chick Corea.

Negroni's Trio includes his son Nomar on drums and, for Just Three, acoustic bassist Marco Panascia.

"Fingers" is a free-spirited piece, the trio jamming from the first note, the solos that follow riveting, and the background instrumentation superb. "Bailando Rumba" is a danceable Latin tune, where the bass lays down a groove that's soon accompanied by drums before the piano comes in. As the song picks up, the trio engages in a series of stop-time phrases. "Milani," although very different, employs similar elements. The acoustic piano solo is among the album's highlights, with the intensity high and the fingering swift.

"Preludio en la Noche" is a solo acoustic piano piece. Without accompaniment, Negroni begins coolly; the piece slow, quiet, almost brooding, but a bit disjointed. It shifts from an ambient melody to a hypnotic, oceanic passage.

Negroni's Trio participates in recording sessions and teachings at Miami Dade College's Latin Jazz Institute. The group has also performed at numerous festivals around the world. The music mingles jazz, Latin and African styles, with a hint of classical composition.

Track Listing

Fingers; Emotions; Bailando Rumba; Milani; Just Three; Golden Man; Mi Triguena; Preludio en La Noche; Sabado en La Noche.

Personnel

Negroni's Trio
band / ensemble / orchestra

Jose Negroni: piano; Nomar Negroni: drums; Marco Panascia: acoustic bass.

Album information

Title: Just Three | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Mojito Records

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.