Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Fernando Huergo: Live at the Regattabar

188

Fernando Huergo: Live at the Regattabar

By

View read count
Fernando Huergo: Live at the Regattabar
Though released on Fresh Sound's "World Jazz" imprint, this live album by Fernando Huergo's Jazz Argentino band captures a fantastic set of Latin-influenced modern jazz that does not deserve to be pigeonholed. Bassist and composer Huergo reunited the musicians that made 2002's Jazz Argentino studio album (save for new pianist Mika Pohjola) for a burning gig at Boston's Regattabar, recorded in excellent fidelity for WGBH Radio. Expansive and exploratory, with memorable tunes (all by Huergo), excellent solos, and compelling rhythms, Huergo's music will have broad appeal.

The kick-off track, "Chacarera Para El Diego," is a clear standout. Huergo begins the main theme on electric bass (which he seems to favor simply for its fluidity and consistency of tone, since the sound he gets is classic rather than fusionesque), soon doubled on piano. A percussion break and a new, sinuous bass/piano vamp cues up an exciting series of solos, beginning with saxophonist Chris Cheek. Cheek is an impressive player who is at home in any setting, judging from his fine work on many varied Fresh Sound sessions; his solo here is fiery and propulsive, and well-supported by interesting figures from Pohjola, who also solos to good effect. Huergo's solo is full of life, its melodic phrases constantly bouncing off of the percussion backing in intriguing cross-rhythms. Then the percussionists turn up the heat, soloing against the piano vamp, before the main theme comes back to close out the tune to wild applause.

So exciting is the "Chacarera" that one might expect the remainder of this long (74 minutes+) set to be a let-down. Not so. The other seven originals all contain wonderful moments: the pounding, low-end piano figures on "Che"; the lilt of "Esperanza"'s melody; and the insistent rhythm of "El Tren De Las Nubes," to name but a few examples. Throughout, Huergo's compositions meld South American folk musics seamlessly with jazz, and the band is astonishingly tight, considering that each of the players is involved in multiple other projects.

This is one of the more consistently enjoyable live recordings in recent memory, and is highly recommended listening for fans of exciting jazz, "world" or no.

Track Listing

Chacarera Para El Diego; Che; Lucero; Esperanza; Serrana; El Tren De Las Nubes; Elusive Happiness; Espejos

Personnel

Fernando Huergo
bass, electric

Chris Cheek, tenor and soprano saxophones; Mika Pohjola, piano; Fernando Huergo, bass; Jeff Ballard, drums; Franco Pinna, bombo and cajon

Album information

Title: Live at the Regattabar | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: Blue Moon

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.