Raúl Molina: Live at Ecuador Jazz Festival

Raúl Molina's Live at Ecuador Jazz Festival is a rare album that is more than just a collection of songs, it is a declaration of purpose. On his first live album, Molina carves out an artistic vision to blend Ecuadorian folklore with modern jazz music. The unique compositions on this record will establish him as a significant voice in Latin jazz for years to come. Many of the compositions on the album come from Molina's vision of creating a stable self identity within Ecuadorian music, while performing across genres and styles. Ecuadorian music is far from a monolith. The heavily indigenous Andes and coastal cities like Ezmeraldas, with a sizable Afro-Ecuadorian population, have very different rhythms and styles. Molina touches on all these traditions with his blending of traditional rhythms and modern jazz touches.

The complex syncopation of "Matria" is based on the bomba music played in the Chota Valley of the country, home to many Afro-Ecuadorians. Vocalist Taraneh Mousavi sings with a minimal piano accompaniment and a driving drum beat. Bomba is music made for dancing, and the high-energy track pays tribute to that heritage. The long notes of the vocal melody add a melancholy tone. That melancholia accompanying a dance beat reflects Molina's unease about not knowing where he came from and what the future holds, according to a paper he wrote at the Berklee College of Music that comments on several of these tunes. Camila Cortina's piano playing at some points in the music shifts to resemble the highly syncopated montunos characteristic of salsa music, another genre with its roots in Africa.

Other songs have creative instrumentation referring to indigenous music, which adds variety to traditional jazz instrumentation. The track "Karu Llakata" starts off centered around Cortina's piano but then shifts to the kena, a traditional flute played across the Andes. "Monos and Gallinas" features the albazo, a musical form with roots in indigenous Ecuadorian culture. Of all the songs on the record, "Monos and Gallinas" shows how live performances can bring out unique arrangements. Molina adapts a rhythm traditionally played on guitar to the piano for the live version of "Monos and Gallinas," but the studio version on his album Matria (Self Produced, 2023), he uses the traditional guitar style. The relaxed groove of the song quickly dissipates into a fiery saxophone solo by Luis Sigüenza midway through, representing the brief war between Peru and Ecuador that the song wants to interpret. Sigüenza's playing means the song's theme is more apparent on this live version than on the studio record, which maintains a more relaxed atmosphere.

Molina uses a similar arranging trick of a relaxed starting leading to a fiery middle section across Live at Ecuador Jazz Festival. "Matria" starts slow before the band builds off Cortina's piano solo after a vocal crescendo from Mousavi. Matria is a feminine version of patria, the Spanish word for homeland. Molina gives his bandmates many moments to shine in front of the crowd in Quito. "MA+" is an especially poignant free jazz showcase for the talents of his band. Like "Matria," Molina looks toward the feminine for inspiration, asking each musician to play their interpretation of "the mother."

Other groups have used an approach like Molina's to take elements of traditional folk music into the modern art form of jazz. Groups like Cleveland's Alla Boara take old Alan Lomax recordings from Italy and alter them to fit a contemporary American context. Other Ecuadorian musicians have also taken their country's traditions in a new spin. Standards of Ecuadorian music like "Antonio Mocho" have been interpreted countless times, with singers often changing the lyrics to reflect changing social norms. DJs like Nicola Cruz use indigenous instruments like pan flutes to create modern electronic dance music that sounds perfect in New York City clubs covered in strobe lights. Work like Molina's and these other artists' help keep traditional music alive by showing that sometimes the best way for a musician to innovate is by looking to the past.